McAlpine says: “There is something innately nostalgic and ever-comforting about the fudgy, sweet stickiness of treacle tart. Mine is made with bitter marmalade, which I prefer to golden syrup as I find it less cloying and more layered with flavour. I then top the tart with ruby-stained slices of orange, juices seeping out into the tart, and edges gloriously chewy and caramelised. I love the flakiness of puff pastry with the rich filling, but use the more traditional shortcrust if you prefer. I make this in winter, when intensely red blood oranges are in season, but milder, paler ones do well too; though blood oranges are smaller so you’ll need more fruits. Store in a cake box (I buy these in bulk online) with instructions to reheat gently in the oven (or a slice at a time in the microwave). Include a tub of thick cream or ice cream.”

Hands on time: 25 minutes

Hands off time: 1 hour to roast the oranges; 45-50 minutes to bake the tart

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 6 blood oranges (or 4 regular oranges), half sliced into roughly 4mm rounds, half juiced
• 80g caster sugar
• 320g sheet of ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
• 420g bitter orange marmalade
• 200g soft white breadcrumbs
• Thick double cream, to serve (optional)

Method

Arrange the orange slices in a double layer in a shallow baking dish. Pour over the orange juice and sprinkle over 4 tbsp sugar, then cover with foil. Roast for 1 hour until the oranges are tender, then set to one side.

Drape the pastry over a 23cm tart tin with a loose base, press it into the tin and prick the bottom with a fork to stop it puffing up too much in the oven. Cover with baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Blind-bake in this manner for 15 minutes, until the pastry looks golden on the edges. 

Remove the baking beans and parchment and cook for a further 5 minutes, until the pastry feels dry to the touch.

While the pastry is baking, warm the marmalade in a medium-sized saucepan over a medium heat, until all melted and syrupy. Take the pan off the heat, add the breadcrumbs and stir together with a wooden spoon until you have a thick, sticky paste.

Spoon the syrupy filling into the pastry case and smooth out with the back of your spoon. Arrange the orange slices over the filling, overlapping and in concentric circles, so the entire surface is covered in a blanket of candied orange. Drizzle the last of the orange juices over the fruit, then set the tart back in the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes. 

Take the tart out of the oven, sprinkle with the remaining sugar, then pop back in one last time for 5-10 minutes until the oranges are deliciously caramelised. Serve warm, ideally with thick cream. 

McAlpine says: “I can’t tell you how much I love this recipe: it’s simple really, a pool of melted chocolate mixed with just a dash of cream, with fresh fruit for dipping. You could of course adopt the same principle and make this with plain dark – or indeed even milk – chocolate, and that would be very fine thing indeed; but melting Toblerone instead gives the fondue an especially velvety texture, with shards of chewy, toffee-like nougat, honeyed and sweet, in the dipping sauce. The sauce is perfectly fine at room temperature, but especially nice warm, so if you want to make it in advance (and I probably would) you can leave it resting in its pan on the hob, then just before serving set it over a low heat for a few minutes, just long enough to warm it through like hot chocolate, then pour into a bowl. Serve with fruit for dipping: strawberries and other berries, of course, but also physalis and even sliced, peeled citrus, chunks of white peach in summer, and – my particular favourite – sweet crisps of dried apple, mango or fig.”

Hands on time: 10 minutes

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 90ml double cream
• 200g Toblerone, finely chopped
• Sea salt flakes
• Fresh or dried fruit, to serve 

Method

Warm the cream in a small saucepan over a medium-low heat. Just before it begins to boil, when you see the tiniest bubbles rising up at the edge of the pan, take the pan off the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and you have a velvety smooth sauce with shards of nougat. Add a generous pinch of salt and stir it in.

Pour the warm sauce into a small bowl and serve with fresh and/or dried fruit.  

McAlpine says: “A wonderfully fudgy dessert somehow in the same family as sticky toffee pudding. The tortino or ‘little cake’ is made from white chocolate, which gives it that intensely dense texture, then baked at its centre is a dollop of melting sweet pistachio cream. This you can buy in jars – most Italian delicatessens or specialist online suppliers stock it – or make for yourself following my recipe below. I love white chocolate and pistachio together, but you could equally substitute a dollop of chocolate-hazelnut spread for the pistachio cream. Once prepared, these need to rest in the freezer for a few hours, so you do need to think ahead; but on the flip side you can make them in advance and have them ready to pop in the oven when needed. These will keep in the freezer in their little ramekins for three months. Make sure to include a note with baking instructions, if you’re dropping them off as a gift.”

Hands on time: 20 minutes

Hands off time: 3 hours in the freezer; 25 minutes in the oven

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 100g salted butter, plus more for the ramekins
• 100g white chocolate, finely chopped
• 60g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 level tbsp plain flour
• 2 heaped tsp pistachio butter (recipe below), shop-bought pistachio cream, or chocolate-hazelnut spread, such as Nutella
• Icing sugar, to dust (optional)
• Finely chopped pistachios, to serve (optional)

Method

Butter two 10cm ramekins, making sure to liberally coat the bases.

Combine the white chocolate, butter and sugar in a small saucepan and set over a low heat to melt. Stir regularly to stop the chocolate from catching and take the pan off the heat as soon as it is melted.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork. Add the eggs to the melted chocolate and stir vigorously until well combined. Now add the flour to the chocolate and stir vigorously until you have a smooth, chocolatey cream.

Pour one-quarter of the mixture into each of the prepared ramekins. Spoon a dollop of pistachio butter, pistachio cream or chocolate spread into the middle of each, then pour over the remaining white chocolate mix, dividing it equally between each ramekin so the pistachio or chocolate is completely covered. Cover and set in the freezer for a couple of hours (longer if you like).

When you are ready to serve, heat the oven to 200 ̊C/180 ̊C fan/Gas 6. 

How to make the pistachio butter

Makes 4 x 220ml jars

Ingredients

570g unsalted, roasted shelled pistachios

300g white chocolate, coarsely chopped

90g caster sugar

50ml sunflower oil

Method

Sterilise 4 x 220ml jars while you get on with making the pistachio butter. Heat the oven to 160 ̊C/140 ̊C fan/Gas 3. Wash the jars in hot, soapy water and set to dry in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz for 5-7 minutes until smooth and creamy; it should be the texture of a soft butter. Pause every now and then and use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides before blitzing again.

Spoon the pistachio butter into sterilised jars: sealed, they will keep happily in the fridge for up to 1 month.