The Bottom Less Pit

Chocolate Cake batter
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Place a rack in the center of the oven.
Melt together the chocolate and butter. Set aside to cool.
Quarter and core the pears. Slice each quarter into thin slices no thicker than 1/4".
In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy.
Pour in the melted chocolate and butter and whisk again until just combined.
Pour in the sifted dry ingredients, use the whisk attachment by hand and gently mix in the dry ingredients.

Assemble and bake the cake
Spray a 9" springform pan with baking spray.
Pour the chocolate cake batter into the pan and smooth it out with a rubber spatula.
Fan out each quarter of pear and lay on the surface of the cake.
Optionally add a sprinkling of chopped chocolate onto the cake batter that does't have pears on it.
Bake the cake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes.
Rotate the cake after 20 minutes to ensure even baking.
The cake is finished baking when a toothpick inserted comes out with clean or just with cake crumbs.
Once fully baked, remove the cake from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan and serving. Optionally dust with powdered sugar.