chocolate cake with port glazed pear

I rarely eat puddings and cakes, and even more seldom do I cook them. I've always been more of a savoury foods person myself. During these last few days however, there was someone in my household who felt pretty much sorry for himself, recovering, as he was, from a minor op. Hence, a few extra cuddles were due. Here is one of the concessions I produced myself in...

Ingredients:
3 ripe but firm pears (abbot or kaiser variety)
2 tbs brown sugar
1 / 2 glass of port
200g flour 00
80g sugar
milk
8g baking powder
80g dark cocoa powder
2 eggs
80g butter at room temperature
icing sugar to garnish

       Preheat the oven to 170C. Meanwhile, peel the pears and cut into quarters eliminating the core. Glaze them in a pan with a knob of butter, the brown sugar and the port - we all know how well this goes with choccolate!
      Grease a 26cm spring cake tin and line its bottom with baking paper.
      Mix the ingredients beating the butter and sugar to a cream, then add
the egg yolks (I use the electric blender for ease and convenience). Sift in the flour, baking powder and cocoa and add the required amount of milk to give you a soft but not too runny cake mixture - it all depends from the size of the eggs. Beat the egg whites until peaky and add them delicately to the mixture. Pour into the tin.
      At this point,  arrange the pear quarters over the top and bake for 35 '.
      Once the cake is ready, let it cool for about ten minutes before transfering it on to a cakeplatter. Finally, sprinkle the cake top with icing sugar.

      I promise you, it was much appreciated and worked excellently as a mood booster.