The juiciness of the pear, the nutty crunch of the hazelnut, and the supreme deliciousness of very very dark chocolate combine to make this fairly ordinary cake seem like something special. This is a nice combination of autumnal flavors, and it goes well with your coffee in the morning, but with a dollop of cream whipped with a little sugar and vanilla, it can seem like a fancy dessert as well.

Here’s Miles Davis’ Chocolate Chip

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
1 t baking powder
1 t. baking soda
pinch salt
pinch nutmeg
1/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted and finely ground
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
3 ripe pears, peeled and cored
6 oz very very dark chocolate (I used ghirardelli 70 % cocoa)
1 T milk

1. Cut the pear into thing slices and arrange prettily in a cake pan that’s been buttered and lined with parchment (or foil). Or cut them into small chunks and throw them in there any old way.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs and the vanilla and mix till nice an fluffy.

3. Add the flour, hazelnuts, bp, bs, salt, nutmeg. Stir it all together. It should be a nice, thick but pourable consistency.

4. Chop half of the chocolate bar into chunks. Uneven sizes are fine, but nothing should be bigger than 1/2 inch. Stir this into the cake batter.

5. Pour the batter over the pears.

6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 1/2 hour, till it’s brown on top and pulling away from the sides. Let it cool, and then turn it upside down onto a plate.

7. In a small heavy saucepan (set inside a larger saucepan with water in it) warm the chocolate until it melts. Add the milk, and stir till it’s smooth and creamy. Drizzle the chocolate over the edge of the cake, letting it run down the sides. You can pull some of it into the middle as well. Or you can just coat the whole top of the cake, and let the extra run down the sides. Whatever you prefer!