Ingredients:

1 cup soft brown sugar
150g salted butter, melted
1/3 cup olive oil
3 large eggs, room temp
1 1/2 cups ground almonds
1 cup plain flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp flaky seat salt
2 ripe medium sized pears, peeled and diced 2cm
200g Whittaer's 62% Cocoa Dark Salted Caramel chocolate, broken into pieces

Butterscotch and Icing: 

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup maple syrup
100g salted butter, soften
1/2 tsp flaky salt
1 cup icing sugar
250g traditional cream cheese

To decorate (optional)

1/2 green pear, thinly sliced
50g Whittaker's 62% Cocoa Dark Salted Caramel chocolate, broken into pieces .

 

 

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 25cm cake tin with baking paper.
2. For the cake, add the brown sugar, melted butter, olive oil and eggs to a large mixing bowl. Whisk together, until combined. Add the ground almonds, flour, ginger, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and whisk together, until just combined. Add the diced pear and chocolate pieces, then gently fold into the batter.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and spread into an even layer. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until the cake is golden and risen. A skewer inserted should come out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs.
4. Set the cake aside to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Meanwhile, make the butterscotch. Add the brown sugar, cream, maple syrup, 50g of the butter and salt to a medium pot. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer for a further 5-6 minutes, until thickened and glossy. Transfer to a bowl or container and set aside in the fridge to cool completely.
6. Once the butterscotch has cooled, make the icing. Add the remaining butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and ¼ cup of the maple butterscotch sauce to a large bowl. Using hand-held electric beaters, beat on high speed for about 2 minutes, until smooth and fluffy.
7. Spoon the icing on top of the cooled cake and spread out evenly over the top of the cake.
8. Drizzle 3 Tbsp of the maple butterscotch sauce over the icing, then decorate with the slices of pear and remaining chocolate pieces.
9. Serve slices of the cake with the remaining maple butterscotch sauce.