Torta di pera e cioccolato Pear and chocolate cake

This is a rich, elegant dessert inspired by one from a favourite Florentine pastry shop. Sometimes you can find this cake encased in a shortcrust pastry, but I love to eat it on its own, particularly when it has a dense melt-in-the-mouth texture like this one. Serves 8 140g caster sugar 2 pears, peeled, cored and cut into eighths lengthways 150g dark chocolate 90g unsalted butter, cubed 90g ground almonds 3 eggs, separated 1tsp unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting Icing sugar, for dusting (optional) 1 Combine 50g of the sugar with 500ml water in a saucepan and set over a medium heat. Add the pears and poach for 10-15min, or until tender but not too soft. Drain and let them cool. 2 Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie. Remove from the heat, add the cubes of butter and stir until they’re melted. Add the remaining sugar and ground almonds, stirring to combine. When the mixture is cool, stir in the three egg yolks. 3 Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/ gas mark 4. Grease a 22-24cm round springform cake tin and dust with the cocoa powder. 4 In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to firm peaks, then fold gently into the chocolate batter. Pour the chocolate mixture into the tin. Arrange the pear pieces on top of the batter, pushing them slightly in. Bake for 40min, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 5 When cool, remove the cake from the tin and, just before serving, dust liberally with the icing sugar, if desired. Serve in modest slices.

I often bought these pretty pink cookies from the local bakery when I lived in southern Tuscany. Soft and crumbly and smelling of spices, they’re traditionally made with lard and lots of eggs, and perfumed with citrus zest. The bright pink pop of colour comes from Alchermes, a Florentine liqueur. It was common for corolli or other similar, ring-shaped biscuits to be strung up with a piece of string and hung like an edible garland across the counter, tempting customers to pluck them off to have with their coffee. Makes about 36 biscuits 400g plain flour 200g caster sugar Zest of 1 lemon 1tsp baking powder 3 eggs, beaten 60g melted butter, cooled FOR THE TOPPING 125ml Alchermes liqueur 200g caster sugar 1 Combine the flour, sugar, lemon zest and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the eggs and butter and mix to make a firm dough. If you find it’s a little crumbly, add a splash of the Alchermes (or some water). 2 Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4 and line one or two baking trays with baking paper, depending on size. 3 Roll 1tbsp of dough into a log about 14cm long. Bring the ends together and, overlapping slightly, press gently together to seal the ring. Continue making rings until you have used all the dough. 4 Place the dough rings on the baking tray about 4-5cm apart and bake for 20min, or until puffed and pale golden. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. 5 For the topping, pour the Alchermes into a small, shallow bowl. Put about a quarter of the sugar in another small, shallow bowl. Dip each cooled corollo face down first in the Alchermes (just halfway), then into the sugar. (The drips of liqueur will create an even finish on the cookies.) Place them on a tray to dry. As the sugar gets used up, top with fresh sugar. These will keep for several weeks when stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.