Pear-Chocolate Yogurt Cake

I love yogurt cake, as my mom can attest to - when I was a teenager, she once came back from an evening event to find I'd eaten half of a yogurt cake she'd just baked!  Luckily, now I can make my own yogurt cakes to devour, and this one is certainly a tasty one.  The moist cake is studded with chunks of pear and milk or dark chocolate (I've made it both ways, and both are fantastic).  I think the pears go especially well with the slight tang of a yogurt cake, and the chocolate makes the cake feel a bit more decadent.  This is sweet enough for dessert, but since it has fruit it feels like an acceptable breakfast option as well!

Pear-Chocolate Yogurt Cake (adapted from food 52, original recipe here)
Makes one loaf cake (and possibly some extra batter, which you can bake up in ramekins)

1-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup plain yogurt (low fat is okay)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large firm-ripe pear, peeled and diced
3.5 ounces good-quality milk chocolate (I used 44% cacao milk chocolate), chopped or 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a loaf pan.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Beat together the sugar, eggs, and vanilla with a rubber spatula.  Beat in the yogurt.  Beat in the flour mixture gradually, being careful not to overmix.
4. Add the oil and fold into the batter with the rubber spatula until combined.  Gently fold in the pears and chocolate.
5. Scrape the batter into the loaf pan.  Make sure to leave room for the batter to rise without overflowing the pan.  If you have too much batter, you can bake some of it in ramekins or another small baking pan.
6. Bake 55-60 minutes, checking any ramekins earlier as they will cook more quickly.  The cake is done when a tester comes out clean.