Tuscan chocolate tart

Preheat the oven to 150°C.

Grease a 25 cm ovenproof tart case or metal flan tin. Line the bottom with baking paper. 

Melt the chocolate and the butter together in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir well to combine. 

Whisk the egg yolks with the rice flour and icing sugar to form a stiff batter. Stir in the chocolate-and-butter mixture. 

Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then delicately fold them into the chocolate mixture, lifting from the bottom of the bowl to the top using a thin-bladed silicon or plastic spatula if you have one. 

Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared tin and jiggle the tin so the mixture spreads evenly. Sprinkle the hazelnuts evenly over the tart and bake for 20 minutes. The tart should still be fudgy in the middle. 

When cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool. 

Dust with icing sugar and cocoa. Slice and serve with fresh raspberries and crème fraîche on the side.

Cook’s note: Even though I’ve suggested rice flour here (because it’s a lot easier to find), the texture of this cake is better with potato starch.

“This recipe was given to me by a wonderful nonna I met in Greve the last time I took my wife to Italy on one of our annual excursions. I’ve changed it slightly but it is still obscenely rich, so a little goes a long way – sadly, that’s the tart and not me!” - Matt Preston