Being a foodie wheat intolerant is a serious pain. No matter what alternatives to wheat flour you use, bread is never going to taste the same. I’ve tried various wheat free breads (of which Genius is the best), but nothing compares to a fresh tiger loaf straight from the bakery. Wheat free pasta is generally only available in fusilli, spaghetti and lasagne sheets. And of course, there’s cake. There’s no way I, as a food enthusiast, can comfortably cut any of these foods 100% out of my life, so instead try to eat  a lot less of them and just deal with the consequences.

Of course, flourless cakes make this a whole lot easier for me. It’s nice to have cakes that I can eat completely guilt free and this particular one has to be one of my favourite cakes so far.

Again, my presentation skills haven’t lived up to the recipe picture.  But it would be hard to mess up the flavours. The combination of chocolate and pear is a classic for a reason. I’ve changed the recipe slightly to remove the brandy and changed the hazelnuts to ground almonds, which I had in the cupboard.

• 85g butter , plus 1 tbsp extra for tin
• 85g golden caster sugar , plus extra for tin
• 85g gluten-free dark chocolate , broken into pieces
• 3 eggs , separated
• 85g ground almonds, toasted and ground in a food processor
• 4 very ripe pears , peeled, halved and cored

1. Cut a circle of baking parchment to fit the base of a 25cm loose-bottomed tin. Melt 1 tbsp butter and brush the inside of the tin, then line the base with the parchment and brush again with more butter. Spoon in 2 tbsp caster sugar, swirl it around to coat the base and sides, then tip out any excess.
2. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of hot water, remove from the heat and leave to cool. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a large bowl until pale and thick; fold into the chocolate with the almonds.
3. In a separate bowl, with a clean whisk, beat the whites until they reach a soft peak (try not to whisk them too stiffly or you’ll have trouble folding them in). Stir a spoonful of the whites into the chocolate mix, then carefully fold in the rest of them in 2 additions. Spoon into the prepared tin. Level, then arrange the pears over the mixture, cut-side down. Bake for 40 mins until the pears are soft and the cake is cooked all the way through. Leave to cool in the tin slightly before releasing it, then place on a rack to cool completely.