As a child, I was obsessed with sugar. My family likes to relate the story of how I decided to collect sugar packets when I was about 6 or 7 years old. This resulted in my mother entering my room to find me frantically tearing open all the packets and tipping the contents straight into my open mouth. I must’ve been destroying the house hopped up on sugar the rest of the day. Anyway, like Jerry Seinfeld tells us in this video, my only clear thought was: ‘get candy get candy get candy’. However, around the age of 15 the need for sugar just tapered off and was replaced with my love for cheese and similar savoury snacks. I’m surprised there are even any recipes for desserts on my blog at all, since I rarely eat it. That’s not to say that I can’t appreciate dessert at all: a well-made cake or pie will always find a place in my stomach, but it’s just that given the choice, I’d rather eat something savoury. Anyway, all this needless info is just an introduction for, wait for it, a recipe for dessert. Yes, I’m contrary like that. I made this recipe when the whole family was invited to dinner at my brother’s girlfriend’s house, and it was a smash hit. Very easy to make as well!

Hazelnut Torte with Moscato Zabaglione (recipe taken from BBC Good Food Magazine)

You’ll need:

150 peeled hazelnuts, roasted in a pan (like you do with pinenuts) or in the oven

150 grams of plain flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

150 grams of caster sugar

2 eggs

100 grams of cream

100 grams of melted butter

powdered sugar, to dust.

For the Moscato Zabaglione:

- 4 egg yolks

- 90 grams of caster sugar

- 250 ml. Moscato wine (or plain old sweet Muscat wine)

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celcius. Grease a 20 cm. loose bottom cake tin and line it with baking parchment. Grind the hazelnuts in a food processor or just chop the hell out of them with a knife (be prepared to find hazelnuts everywhere for the next decade if you choose the latter option). Sieve the flour and baking powder and add the hazelnuts and the caster sugar. Add the cream, eggs and melted butter and mix thoroughly. Pour the mixture in the cake tin and bake for around 40-50 minutes. Check regularly to see if it’s not getting too dark: if you think it is going to quickly, lower the temperature somewhat. The cake is done when a cake tester (or fork) comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool and prepare the zabaglione. This is very easy: take a large heatproof glass bowl (if you don’t have one, just use a large saucepan) and put this on top of a pan with boiling water. Add the yolks and whisk them until they are slightly creamy and have bubbles (this takes about 20 seconds). Add the sugar and the wine. Now keep on whisking until the mixture becomes thicker and thicker and the bubbles have almost disappeared. Don’t let the heat get too high or you’ll end up with scrambled eggs. It took me about 10 minutes of stirring until I was satisfied with the texture. Don’t give up too quickly: the mixture can go from very liquid to almost pudding-like in texture in a minute or so!

When the zabaglione is finished, let it cool slightly, or you can just pour it in cups and put it in the fridge until needed. It’s pretty to serve it in cups alongside the cake, but I just spooned some on a cake plate and put the cake smack in the middle of the zabaglione, which maximises immediate access to it. It’s up to you to decide! I will leave you with this: this dessert made me rethink my allegiance to team cheese. That is all.