The warmth of the chai goes perfectly with the autumnal feel of caramelised pear. And the peanut chocolate glaze is the cherry on top. Or chocolate glaze on top, chocolate glaze beats cherries! Unfortunately I don’t have any good pictures of these bites, as I am never big on the taking-pictures-when-I-have-guests.
The pear compôte makes much more than you need, but I store the rest in the fridge to have with yogurt for breakfast. It also goes well with blackberries.
You can find supporting recipes here: chai spice blend and chia egg replacement paste.
Ingredients:
For the Chai Cake:
- 110gr vegan butter, soft
- 100gr sugar
- 140gr unsweetened apple sauce
- 100gr soy milk
- 2 tbs chia egg replacement
- 200gr flour
- 2.5 tsp baking powder
- 1.5 tbs chai spice mix
For the Pear Compôte:
- 80gr sugar
- 20gr water
- 3 pears
For the Peanut Chocolate Glaze:
- 100gr almond milk
- 130gr dark chocolate
- 100gr chopped peanuts
Recipe:
Make the chai cake:
Cream together the vegan butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in the apple sauce, soy milk and chia egg replacement.
Combine the flour, baking powder and chai mix. Stir this into the batter. Spread out over a 20cm square tin.
Bake for 25min on 190°C.
Make the pear compote:
Combine the sugar and water and heat without stirring to make a caramel.
Peel and core the pears and cut them in small pieces.
Stir the pear into the caramel. Heat until the pears have fully softened, then puree well with a stick blender (lumps may later clog the piping nozzle). Simmer down to a semi-thick compôte, the consistency of apple sauce.
Make the chocolate glaze:
Heat the almond milk to 40°C. I do the finger test: it should feel only slightly warmer than your own body.
Add the chocolate.
Stir well, then heat the milk and chocolate together in 30sec bursts in the microwave, stirring after each time. When the chocolate has almost fully dissolved, stop heating and keep stirring to dissolve the last pieces. Stir in the chopped peanuts.
Assemble:
Cut the cake in 3cm cubes.
Place a piping nozzle in a piping bag, or use a sqeeze bottle with a larger opening. Fill with the pear puree.
Inject the nozzle into the middle of a cake. Poke it around to make a hole in the middle of the cake. Be gentle though, you don’t want to break the cakes. You will ruin a couple by doing this, find whatever method works for you. Fill the cakes with pear compôte.
Dip each cake upside down in the peanut chocolate glaze. I tend to dip mine in, then flip with a fork and lift them out as I flip. Tap a couple of times to let any excess glaze off. Set them on a cookie sheet to set.