Chocolate, Ricotta, Amaretti, Cinnamon: 5 Pear Cakes That Taste Like Fall

Pears are mild and juicy, with a gentle sweetness that doesn't compete with whatever sits next to it. That's what makes them so easy to bake with. They soften into the crumb, keep it moist, and let dark chocolate, ricotta, almond cookies, or cinnamon do the talking. These five recipes each pair them differently.

Pear and Chocolate Cake sautés pear slices in Moscato wine, then layers them in the middle of a batter made with melted dark chocolate, butter, crumbled amaretti, and softly whipped egg whites. It bakes at 350°F for about 45 minutes and is pulled from the oven while the center is still slightly creamy.

Pro tip: do the toothpick test and take the cake out while it's still slightly creamy inside. Then let it cool completely at room temperature, so the batter doesn't dry out.

Soft Ricotta and Pear Cake is a Campania classic with no butter or oil at all. Fresh cow's ricotta whipped with sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla makes the batter, and small cubes of Abate pears are folded in. It rises tall and fluffy, then gets a dusting of powdered sugar.

Pro tip: toss the diced pears with a little lemon juice as soon as they're cut, so they don't brown. If the top darkens too much in the oven, cover it with a sheet of foil.

Chocolate, Pear and Walnut Cake swaps butter for a little sunflower oil and milk. One pear goes into the batter along with dark chocolate chips. A second, left unpeeled, is arranged in a spoke pattern on top with more chocolate and walnut kernels. It bakes in two stages at 356°F, first with the fan on, then without.

Pro tip: leave the cake to cool in the mold before taking it out. Then dust it with powdered sugar once it's unmolded.

Cake with Pears and Amaretti blends amaretti into a powder and mixes them with the flour, then whisks eggs and sugar until frothy, adds oil in a thin stream, and folds in cubes of Coscia pears. It's cut into squares after baking, the kind of cake Italians serve at merenda, the afternoon snack break.

Pro tip: grind the amaretti to a fine powder before mixing them with the flour and baking powder. That spreads the almond flavor evenly through the crumb instead of leaving pockets of it.

Pear and Cinnamon Tart is pastry chef Gianluca Fusto's Lombard tart: a crisp almond pasta frolla filled with a jam of two kinds of pears (green Decana and red Bartlett) and cinnamon, then topped with a pyramid of almond streusel. It's the weekend project of the group, since the jam needs about eight hours in the fridge and the pastry rests for a few hours.

Pro tip: work the pastry only as long as strictly necessary, and keep the butter at the temperature the recipe gives. Overworking the dough develops gluten and makes the pastry harder and less crumbly.

Sautéed in Moscato first, a pear picks up the flavor of the wine. Diced into a batter, it leaves soft, juicy pockets in the crumb. Sliced and arranged across the top, it decorates the cake as much as it flavors it, and cooked down with cinnamon, it becomes the filling itself. These five recipes put the same fruit in all four places.