Chocolate & hazelnut torte

Preheat oven to 170C/ 325F/ Gas mark 3.

Toast all the hazelnuts in the oven for 10 minutes. Make sure they do not burn. Allow to cool, set aside 4 tbsp for the topping and grind the remaining nuts to a fine powder in a food processor.

Melt the chocolate and butter for the cake in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Let cool.

In a bowl, beat the egg yolks for about 2 minutes, or until they go pale in colour.

In a separate, large bowl, with a clean whisk or beaters, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar together until soft peaks are formed. Add sugar in stages, beating continually, until stiff peaks are formed.

Add the beaten yolks to the melted butter and chocolate mixture and whisk lightly. Add half the whites and gently fold together with a spatula. Transfer this to the bowl with the remaining whites, add the ground nuts and gently fold everything together.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake pan and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until the sides of the torte come away from the pan, and a skewer inserted into the middle of the torte comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan.

For the topping, melt the chocolate and butter together as described above. Add 2 tbsp warm water and stir until smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan and allow to cool. Spread over the top of the torte using a palette knife. Roughly chop the reserved hazelnuts and sprinkle over the middle of the torte to decorate.