Method

First make your mulled wine pears. Place all ingredients, except the pears, in a saucepan that is big enough to just fit the four pears on its base, and place over high heat. Meanwhile, peel the skins off the pears, keeping them whole. Once the sugar has dissolved in the wine, carefully place the whole pears into the liquid. Bring to the boil and once bubbling, reduce the heat to medium-low, place a lid on the pot and simmer for 30 minutes until the pears are cooked through. Remove the pears from the mulled wine and stand upright on a plate to cool. Return the mulled wine over medium-high heat, bring to the boil and simmer vigorously uncovered for 35-40 minutes until reduced to a syrup (to test, place a teaspoon of syrup on a plate. After a minute, draw a line in the syrup with your finger – if the line holds the syrup is ready). Remove from the heat and strain through a sieve into a bowl, discarding the whole spices.

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced (180°C conventional). Grease and line a standard 20cm round cake tin with baking paper. Place the cake tin on an oven tray - to catch any mulled wine syrup that may leak during baking.

Once your pears have cooled enough to easily handle, cut off the stems and bottom ends, cut them in half and spoon out the cores. Slice each pear half into 4-5 slices, approx. 1.5cm thick, and arrange the slices in a single layer on the bottom of the prepared cake tin with the flesh facing downwards (I like to fan them in a spiral). Spoon over 4 tbsp of the mulled wine syrup and set aside.

For the torte batter, place the chopped dark chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pot half-filled with boiling water, ensuring the water is not touching the base of the bowl. Keep the water heat so that it is just simmering and whisk the butter and chocolate together until melted. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, using an electric hand or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat together the brown sugar, caster sugar, and eggs for 4 minutes until pale, tripled in volume and slightly thickened. Add the 4 tbsp of mulled wine syrup and melted chocolate/butter, whisking until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, cocoa powder, and sea salt. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the torte batter. Pour the torte batter into the cake tin over the mulled wine pears and smooth with the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, until the cake no longer has any wobble and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake is mostly clean.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool at room temperature. Slide a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen and invert onto a plate so the pears are facing upwards. Brush the cake with a couple of tablespoons of leftover mulled wine syrup. Serve at room temperature with a generous drizzle of syrup.