Nashi Pear - Sunchoke Loaf with White Chocolate and Vanilla

While enjoying the first bites of a nashi pear, suddenly I noticed that it smells in a way like chocolate. Immediately everything was clear and I just knew how to combine the ingredients for the cake I was planning during the weekend. I wanted to bake a loaf using sunchoke and nashi pear. If sunchoke, well then hazelnut is a must, but what about the rest? So that chocolate fragrance that filled the air in the morning brought me the idea to add white chocolate and vanilla to the loaf. The neighbour's eight years old daughter loved it, so I am pretty sure that I made the right choice with the ingredients. Besides a slice with a cup of hot tea was just perfect in this cold and snowy afternoon.

Ingredients:
150 g butter
200 g sugar
1 pinch of salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
130-150 g sunchoke
150 g flour
100 g ground hazelnut
1 teaspoon baking powder
juice of 1/2 a lemon
100 g white chocolate
2 nashi pears

Cook sunchoke until soft, then peel as long as it is lukewarm and puree. Whisk butter with sugar and a pinch of salt until fluffy, then whisk in the eggs one by one. Stir in 100 g of sunchoke puree, vanilla extract, flour and ground hazelnut. Sprinkle baking powder on top and squezze lemon juice over it. Fold in coarsly chopped chocolate and the peeled and diced nashi pears. Bake for 50-60 minutes in the preheated oven on 180°C.