Two slices of brown loaf cake with half a pear inside being drizzled with runny white sauce. — Photography, Ashley van der Laan. Food styling, Heather Shaw. Prop styling, Jemima Sutherland.

Chocolate Chip Ginger Pear Loaf Cake

Soo Kim

All of your favourite holiday flavours merrily come together in this loaf cake. You’ll find bits of chocolate in every bite, highlighting the warm spices and molasses in joyful fashion.

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Ingredients

1¾ cups all-purpose flour spooned and levelled
2½ tsp ground ginger
1½ tsp cinnamon
1¼ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp ground allspice
¾ cup unsalted butter softened
¾ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
¼ cup fancy molasses
⅔ cup buttermilk
⅓ cup finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate
¼ cup chopped crystallized ginger
3 Spiced Ginger Poached Pears at room temperature, see Notes

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9x5-in (23x13-cm) 2-L loaf pan; line with parchment paper, leaving some overhang on the long sides.
In bowl, whisk together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cardamom and allspice.
In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter with brown sugar on medium until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping bowl after each addition. Beat in molasses.
Stir in flour mixture and buttermilk in 3 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture, until almost combined. Fold in chocolate and crystalized ginger; scrape into prepared pan.
Pat dry pears; slice enough off bottoms so they stand upright. Carefully nestle into batter.
Bake until puffed and a cake tester inserted into centre comes out clean, covering with foil if browning quickly, 55 to 65 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Turn out onto rack; let cool completely. Serve with Eggnog Creme Anglaise or vanilla ice cream.