Soft, silky, gooey, decadent, melt-in-the-mouth gluten free Chocolate Torte with Walnut and Pear. Nothing short of a gift from heaven. Dairy Free too.
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Chocolate Torte with Walnut and Pear – A gift from the heavens
Meet the divine intervention that is my Chocolate Torte. Occasionally… Very occasionally… I make a dish that surpasses all expectations and makes me go weak at the knees both for the joy of eating it and the euphoria of the baking success. THIS is one of those bakes!
So, give thanks to the chocolate god…… for she has delivered perfection in the form of a heavenly Chocolate, Walnut and Pear Torte. A sumptuously delicious dessert which is not only gluten free, but is dairy free too.
Would you believe me if I told you this Chocolate Torte was an accident?
What makes this Chocolate Torte even more startling is that it wasn’t actually meant to be a Chocolate Torte.
Originally, the plan was for a pear brownie… A creation which began with nothing but a larder of ingredients, some paper and a pen. In particular, the brownie was to be dairy free as well as gluten free. And was to be made with ingredients that weighted to the healthier side of decadence… using coconut oil to replace butter and subbing with less refined sugars. It was also to incorporate anti-oxidant and flavanol-rich dark chocolate, nutrient-rich almonds and walnuts, protein-filled eggs and some fruit for good measure…
As a brownie it failed… The crumb was gooey yes, but it was not ‘sticky’ enough to hold together as a brownie should. Disappointed with the ‘failed’ bake, I took a disgruntled mouthful… and WOW! The flavour and texture were absolutely incredible.
What does chocolate heaven taste like?
At first mouthful, the brain processes and starts to make sense of its experience… This was soft, silky, gooey, melt-in-the-mouth chocolate heaven that was dissolving on my tongue. And with that recognition (for me at least) this Chocolate Torte was a truly accidental masterpiece. Deep, rich, nutty, chocolate-filled waves of wanton enjoyment washed across the senses. Serotonin-induced heaven on a spoon… A melting crumb, infused with a hint of coconut… interrupted and perfectly offset by the crunch of earthy walnut and the soft, but still slightly firm fruitiness of pear.
The walnuts are inspired… adding a beautiful nutty crunch to the experience. And the pear works wonderfully with the cocoa. If you have never tried it, pear and chocolate is such an underrated combination.
Mr GF offered that this recipe was the best gluten free Chocolate Torte I had ever made… A ‘very adult dessert’… ‘not over-sweet’ and ‘totally yummy’. I’ll take that! It’s high praise…
I usually hate ‘bigging myself up’… Confidence has never been a key part of my personality…… But you know what? This Chocolate Torte with Pear and Walnut is so delicious, I’m going to shout it from the roof tops.
A gluten free achievement reminiscent of a favourite ever (gluten) Chocolate Torte dessert
Many years ago and before Coeliac, I had a favourite dessert at a Mexican restaurant called Cafe Des Amis. A Chocolate Torte which is still on the menu today and (for those who can eat gluten) is to be recommended.
It was honestly the most incredible Chocolate Torte I had ever eaten… Served always with dark and white chocolate cream. Of all the things I miss, this is the one that hurts the most… It was the dessert that brought me total happiness.
But despite being gutted that it was no longer safe, I never tried to recreate it. Failure would simply have resulted in too much disappointment. So, imagine the joy when I tried the accidental Chocolate Torte shared here. For thisChocolate Torte is as close as I remember. And that calls for celebration.
These may indeed be pretty big claims for a humble dessert. And in an effort to ensure it wasn’t a fluke, it was made and devoured twice in a week. It disappeared in a flash… and once gone, was being demanded again. That makes me a happy woman!
How to eat my delicious dairy free & gluten free Chocolate Torte
With its very moist, dark, rich, pudding-like crumb, my gluten free Chocolate Torte is most definitely a dessert torte… It is therefore best eaten with a fork or spoon.
Like the best of desserts, it can (if you choose) be made even more decadent with a pillowy dollop of whipped cream… dairy free or not. For those who can’t eat dairy however, Whipped coconut cream marries perfectly.
This Chocolate Torte is eaten cold. But it’s important to eat at room temperature (rather than straight from the fridge), to ensure the best experience of soft and gooey. So, while you may store in the fridge ‘between eats’, always bring it out an hour or so early to allow it to warm naturally.
Ready to make Gluten Free Dairy Free Chocolate Torte with Walnut and Pear?
Thank you for visiting Gluten Free Alchemist… I share this recipe with my love. Should you make it, please let me know. I always love to get feedback and find out how recipes work for other people. Leave a comment, a star-rating or tag me on social media with your amazing bakes. You’ll always find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.
Of course, I did eventually achieve the perfect Pear and Walnut Brownies. But I’ve also linked a couple of other Chocolate and Pear favourites below… And for everything else, head over to our Gluten Free Recipe Index… It’s full of yummy photos of delicious food to inspire.
Shared with my love
Other Pear and Chocolate Recipes on Gluten Free Alchemist
Chocolate Torte with Walnut & Pear
Key equipment
- 9 inch/23 cm non-stick cake tin
- sharp knife
- oven + hob
- Small saucepan
Ingredients
- 220 g dark chocolate good quality dairy free – chopped
- 130 g coconut oil
- 75 g coconut palm sugar
- 75 g soft light brown sugar
- 85 g gluten free plain flour I used GFA blend A (see NOTES)
- 15 g cocoa powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp GF baking powder
- 50 g ground almonds almond meal
- 100 g walnuts rough-chopped
- 2 extra large eggs I used DUCK eggs which are a minimum 70g (in shell) weight and usually a little larger. (see NOTES)
- 50 ml almond milk or alternative
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ pears peeled, cored and cut into small cubes
- 50 g dark dairy free chocolate chips
- additional walnut halves to decorate
Instructions
- Base-line a 9 inch loose-bottomed cake tin (round or square) with baking paper.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 C/350 F/Gas 4.
- In a small saucepan, melt together the chocolate, coconut oil and two sugars. Stir until well-blended. Do not allow to boil.
- In a large bowl, weigh and mix together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, ground almonds and chopped walnuts.
- Add the chocolate-sugar liquid to the bowl and beat well with a silicone or wooden spoon.
- Set aside to cool slightly, stirring intermittently.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, almond milk and vanilla extract until well-blended.
- Add the beaten egg mix to the cooled chocolate batter and beat through with the spoon.
- Fold in the pear cubes and chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the cake tin and smooth the top.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 180 C/350 F/Gas 4 before turning the oven down to 150 C/300 F/Gas 2.
- Bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes until well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out more or less clean with a few crumbs.
- Remove from the oven and leave in the tin to cool completely. The centre of the cake may sink very slightly. This is fine. It should be very moist and a little gooey.
- When cold, carefully remove from the tin and place on a serving plate.
- Decorate with walnut halves (to keep them in place, stick with a little melted chocolate) and a further sprinkle of nuts and chocolate as you choose.
- Serve on its own, with poached pears or with whipped coconut cream or double/clotted cream (if you can eat dairy).
- Store in the fridge between ‘eats’. It will firm up, so be sure to bring back to room temperature before serving to regain a soft, gooey consistency.
Notes
Nutrition
© 2019-2023 Kate Dowse All Rights Reserved – Do not copy or re-publish this recipe or any part of this recipe on any other blog, on social media or in a publication without the express permission of Gluten Free Alchemist
I’ll take a slice or two! That looks incredible! Thanks for sharing with #CookBlogShare 🙂
Thanks Midge. You’re welcome x
Oh this looks so beautiful and moist!
Thanks Chloe. It certainly brought a smile. The perfect texture! xx
Wow what a beautiful chocolate torte and flavoured with walnut and pear which takes it to another level. Delicious.
Thank you Lesley. Chocolate and Pear are such a fabulous combo, it amazes me it isn’t used more often. x
I want this!! This looks wonderful! Happy St. Patrick’s day! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for dinner party. Hope you have an awesome week.
Thanks Helen. And Happy St Patrick’s Day to you too. xx
I’m pinning this one for my bookclub (once we meet again in person) where there is a member who needs both gluten and dairy free. Thank you so much for bringing it to Fiesta Friday.
Awww thanks lovely. Good choice. It was one of those desserts that seriously made me swoon xx
As accidental bakes go your chocolate, walnut and pear torte is pretty impressive. I wish I could have a slice right now. Commenting as BritMums Baking Round-up Editor.
Mmmm…. Not sure about mandarin. They will probably work if they are de-skinned. Apple? Cherries? Strawberries? Raspberries? Actually… it's probably very flexible, as it's meant to be very moist anyway. I'd give mandarins a go….
Let me know how you get on!
Oh what a very happy accident. You have well and truly sold this torte and I have bookmarked it for when pears are back in season. It looks beautifully gooey inside and despite the heat, I'm feeling very tempted right now. Thanks for the kind words and for sharing this with #WeShouldCocoa.
Well thank you! It was rather delightful and perfectly gooey x
It looks really good and my mouth is watering right now!
Thank you Alida x
Wow, I'm actually craving this for breakfast! Looks absolutely divine. I always find that coconut sugar works wonderfully in chocolate desserts, it seems to add to the chocolatiness! x
Thanks Aimee…… I may actually have sneaked the odd bit for breakfast before it disappeared….. But Sssshhh…. don't tell anyone!
Coconut sugar is fab though….. I am increasingly using it at the moment (although there have been a couple of (previously reliable) recipes where using as a substitute for sugar has caused disaster!)
Oh my word this does look extremely heavenly 🙂 Thanks for linking to #CookBlogShare
Thanks Haley. You're welcome x
Brownies seem to go either one way or another. The only competition I ever entered was a couple of years ago, the recipe was brownies. Cooking in a professional kitchen against two excellent food bloggers is hard enough but forgetting to incorporate the flour made it worse. However that little disaster cut down the cooking time as a result my brownies had the best texture and I won. Thank you for linking your story to the inheritance recipes
Wow! That's a great story! Did you leave out the flour altogether?
I know what you mean though….. and I am definitely in the gooey camp!
Sounds and looks amazing. I have also one similar torte in my childhood memories… I should probably try to recreate it as well. Thanks for sharing with Inheritance Recipes.
Thanks Margot. I love to try and recreate favourite recipes from the past. And I love to pass them on when I succeed!
I often give thanks to the chocolate gods! And I also love a recipe that is discovered from something out failing. Looks delicious. #freefromfridays
Ha ha! Those chocolate gods should be truly revered! x
That sounds and looks amazing. I love it when disasters turn into something delicious. I managed to turn a split ganache into a delicious cake once, only I never wrote down what I did and now can't remember how to recreate it. This looks the perfect gooey cake dessert. My favourite! 🙂
Thanks Katie. I agree. Some of my best dishes have been accidental!
I would love to know how you managed to turn a ganache into cake though. That sounds truly impressive! x
I could just dive into this right now. I am struggling with getting my head around selling on Amazon when all I really want to do is go to sleep…or eat your torte! It was so lovely to see you at the weekend. Thank you so much for coming by.
Aww thanks Vicki. I have to agree…… eating torte sounds way better than having to get heads round the world of internet commerce. You must be exhausted after the weekend. Make sure you rest…..
It was lovely to see you too at the weekend and to meet your sister (who is equally lovely!). Miss GF was very delighted to have met you both too!
And so excited to see actual bags of FFF Flour on sale. Wow! You must be so thrilled! I will be trying mine soon (I have downloaded the pastry e-book and am looking forward to testing) and will let you know how it goes.
Sending huge bundles of good wishes xx
wow this looks like my sort of cake – am glad you have discovered an old favourite and new favourite at the same time!!!
Thanks Johanna. I have a feeling it may make a number of appearances on our table! It's funny how things work out…… SO excited to have made the discovery!
This sounds FABULOUS!!! I love the combo of dark chocolate and pears. I have pinned this and will give it a try. I think my entire family will love this 🙂
Thanks Angela. I adore the pears and chocolate combo! This was so good. I really hope lots of others enjoy it as much as we did. Let me know how it goes if you do make it! x