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Feb. 14 is Oregon Statehood Day (colloquially known as “Valentine’s Day”) and I thought a gooey treat would be a nice way to celebrate. Pear is Oregon’s state fruit after all, and pinot noir put the state on map as a formidable wine-producing region of the world. Oregon is no slouch when it comes to chocolate, either. Importantly, pears, chocolate and Pinot Noir all taste incredible together.

When French chef August Escoffier discovered the magical combination of pears with chocolate he kept it simple, serving the chocolate-sauced poached pears over scoops of vanilla ice cream. His Poires Belle-Hélène is as standard a dessert in French restaurants today as the lava cake is in American ones.

A lava cake seems fitting for Oregon Statehood Day, doesn’t it? After all, our geologic history is as rich as this dessert — the Northwest’s fertile soils were formed by volcanic eruptions, with cataclysmic floods and fast-moving glaciers helping out along the way.

I can’t tell you how hard I tried to shoehorn a zingy science pun into this week’s recipe — I had “pyroclastic” and “Pyrus” sitting right there in front of me, for crying out loud! — but you’ll have to settle for “lava kind of sounds like love” instead.

You could even use fine hazelnut meal instead of flour if you wanted to really drive home the whole state-products angle (then this recipe would also be gluten-free, to boot). Serves 2.

Ingredients

Poached pears

2 cups pinot noir (or other red wine; nonalcoholic is fine)

⅓ cup sugar

1 star anise clove

1-inch piece of cinnamon stick

½ teaspoon peppercorns

2 ripe but firm pears (Bosc are elegantly shaped), peeled and cored at the bottom

Molten chocolate cake

2 ounces (4 tablespoons/½ stick) unsalted butter, plus more for buttering the ramekins

1 3.5-ounce dark chocolate bar (at least 70% cacao)

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

2 egg yolks

1 egg

3 tablespoons sugar

Fat pinch coarse sea salt

1 tablespoon flour

Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

1. Poach the pears: Bring the wine, sugar and spices to a boil in a small saucepan (big enough for two pears), stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Add the pears, then once the poaching liquid comes back to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the pears, turning occasionally, until they’re dark-rosy and tender enough to pierce with the tip of a knife, about 20 minutes.
2. When the pears are ready, remove them from the poaching liquid with a slotted spoon and set them aside, upright, in a shallow bowl. Continue simmering the liquid until it’s reduced to a thick but spoonable syrup, another 15 minutes or so.
3. Make the cakes: While the pears are poaching, preheat the oven to 450 F. Generously butter two ramekins and dust them with the cocoa powder, shaking out any excess. Set the ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet.
4. Bring an inch of water to a boil in a medium saucepan, and set a heat-proof bowl on top and reduce the heat to a simmer. Melt the chocolate and butter in the bowl, whisking until smooth (about 10 minutes), then remove from the heat and set aside.
5. In another bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and salt together until thickened and lighter in color (almost like mayonnaise), about 2 or 3 minutes. Whisk in the melted chocolate/butter mixture and the flour, mixing until no streaks remain.
6. Scrape the batter into the two ramekins and bake until the edges are springy and set and the tops are dry but still jiggly, about 9-11 minutes. Leave the ramekins on the baking sheet to rest for a minute, then set an inverted dessert plate on top of each. Carefully flip the ramekins to dismount the cakes onto the plates, then dust with powdered sugar. Nestle the poached pears on top, brush with the Pinot Noir syrup and serve.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/13/superabundant-recipe-oregon-statehood-lava-cake-chocolate-pears/