Tom Kitchin, the one star Michelin Chef from Scotland, was my inspiration for this dish for round 5 of the Freshly Blogged competition. Dave and I met Tom last year when we went to eat at The Kitchin, and I have a signed copy of his recipe book. Tom believes in cooking regional and seasonal produce, which echoes with my blog philosophy. In his book From Nature To Plate, I was introduced to bavarois, a custard based dessert. This is set using gelatine and cream. With cream not being one of our pantry ingredients I knew I would have a challenge on my hands. I am also not used to working with gelatine powder so this was a double challenge for me. The custard has a hint of chocolate and you can taste the Amarula, so that worked out really well. The pears are soft and succulent and the dessert is tied together with the crumble, with the salt making it zing.

Chocolate Bavarois With Deconstructed Pear Crumble
Ingredients
For the bavarois
- 200 mls milk
- 100 g sugar - I used fructose
- 4 eggs separated
- 80 g dark chocolate finely chopped – I used sugar free
- 50 mls Amarula
- 20 g gelatine powder
For the crumble
- 25 g cream crackers finely chopped
- 50 g blanched almonds finely chopped
- 15 mls icing sugar
- 5 mls egg whites
- 2.5 mls salt flakes
For the caramelized pears
- 50 g butter
- 50 g sugar - I used fructose
- 4 pears peeled, cored and quartered
Method
For the bavarois
- Spray 4 dariole moulds with spray and cook
- Heat the milk in a sauce pan over a medium heat
- Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks until at a ribbon stage
- Slowly pour the milk over the eggs, whisking continuously
- Return the mix to the sauce pan and whisk on the heat for 5 minutes
- Remove from the heat and pass through a sieve
- Whisk the chocolate in and once melted whisk in the Amarula
- Leave to cool while you whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks
- Whisk in the gelatine and leave to cool completely
- Gently whisk in the egg whites and pour into the moulds
- Leave to set in the fridge for 45 minutes
For the crumble
- Preheat the oven to 180°Celsius
- Toss the crackers, almond and icing sugar together
- Mix in the egg white
- Spread out on a lined baking tray and bake for 8 minutes
- Crush the ingredients in a pestle and mortar
- Stir in the salt
For the caramelized pears
- Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat
- Add the sugar and leave it to dissolve
- Cut each pear quarter into 4 slices
- Cook the pear in the caramel for about 10 minutes, until soft, turning often
- Place into sprayed ring moulds and leave to cool in the fridge
To serve
- Tip the bavarois onto a plate and carefully lift the mould
- Remove the ring mould from the pears and cut the pears in half
- Place the pears onto the plate
- Sprinkle with a generous helping of the crumble
Click on the links for conversions and notes.

Disclosure: This challenge was sponsored by Amarula for the Freshly Blogged Challenge. This post is in line with my blogging policy.
What I blogged:
- one year ago – Saffron Buns
- three years ago – Pasta with Bacon, Chorizo, Tomatoes, Cream And Parmesan
Tandy
What a fabulous tasty dessert recipe, Tandy! I love it too! I love your chocolate soufflé & it looks lovely too!
I also love your deconstructed pear crumble with it: you are a genious!!! xxx
Thank you Sophie 🙂
I bet it tasted great, Tandy! I was wondering how on earth the cream crackers fitted in with the rest. I left them out altogether. I couldn’t manage without cream for mine, so splurged on it as my extra ingredient.
I had not even thought about making ice cream when I saw the challenge otherwise cream would have been my essential ingredient as well 🙂
Wow Tandy. It’s a beautiful dessert – definitely outside of my skill set but you’ve done a terrific job of putting it together.
Thank you Tammy!
Fab looking pud Tandy.
🙂 Mandy xo
Thanks Mandy 🙂
Beautiful chocolate pear crumble. I love how so many people who we meet in our lives have influenced us. this looks like one beautiful dish. Take Care, BAM
Thank you BAM, the pears were extremely tasty 🙂
It must be one delicious dessert
It was very delicious, thank you Marta 🙂