Torte
·4 eggs, separated
·3 tbsp sugar
·5 tbsp pecans, roughly ground
·1 tbsp breadcrumbs

·whipped cream, to serve

Sugar syrup
·1 cup sugar
· 1/2 cup water

· 1/3 cup brandy

Chocolate filling
·300ml cream

·125g chocolate

For the torte. Preheat the oven to 170C. Beat the egg yolks and sugar until they are light and creamy. Stir in the ground pecan and breadcrumbs. In the meantime beat the egg whites until they are stiff and fold gently into the pecan mixture. Spoon into 2, 10cm greased spring-form tins that have been lined and bake for 35-45 minutes.

For the syrup, heat the water and sugar in a small saucepan until dissolved. Remove from heat and add the brandy.

For the filling, melt the chocolate over a water bath and add 100ml of the cream. Stir until smooth. Whip the remainder of the cream and set aside.

To assemble, turn out cooled tortes and cut each in half. Place the 2 bases on 2 serving plates and, using half the sugar syrup, pour it over each base. Spoon chocolate filling over each then place the other halves of each torte on top. Spoon over remaining syrup. Top with whipped cream.

Chocolate hearts
Pour 30g melted chocolate into a piping bag and, using a fine nozzle, pipe 2 heart shapes on to greaseproof paper. You can draw the outline on to the paper first if you need to. Then place in the fridge for 10 minutes until set.