INGREDIENTS

For the chocolate pastry

• 225g pastry flour
• 20g cocoa
• 75g caster sugar
• 75g cold butter, cubed
• 1 tablespoons light sour cream
• 50g dark chocolate, melted over a double boiler and cooled
• 1 egg

For the chocolate frangipane

• 150g unsalted Butter
• 130g caster sugar
• 165g almond meal
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 100g dark chocolate, melted over a double boiler, cooled

• 9-10 plums, halved and stones removed.

METHOD

1. Pre-heat oven to 200C fan-forced
2. To make the chocolate pastry, add flour, cocoa, caster sugar and butter into the bowl of a food processor and whizz until breadcrumbs form. Add the sour cream and egg and cooled melted chocolate and whizz again until combined and a dough forms in the bowl. Add a little more flour if you feel the dough is too sticky. Remove from bowl, form into a smooth ball, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30-40 minutes.
3. While pastry is chilling, make the chocolate frangipane. To do this, add all ingredients into a stand mixer bowl and beat until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and cover with cling film, chill in the fridge for 20-30 mins along with the pastry.
4. Remove pastry from fridge and roll out in-between 2 pieces of non-stick baking parchment until approx. .5cm thick ‚ note this pastry will still be a little soft so you may need to piece it together in some parts in the pie tin, to aid in the rolling stage, roll in between the paper as opposed to rolling on a floured surface as when you go to transfer it to the pie tin it’ll probably break apart if you skip the paper rolling method.
5. Line a greased spring form tin (mine measured a rather whopping 28cm x 5cm!) with the pastry patching any parts you have to. Don’t worry too much about patching pastry, I don’t, no one notices anything once it’s cooked and at the end of the day it’s all about the actual taste and texture of the pastry.
6. Prick the base of the pastry all over with a fork, then line the case with a flattened piece of baking paper (I find if you crumple it up then spread it back out flat again, it makes for easier lining), fill with pie weights (or I like I use  rice) and press down firmly to spread rice into the full pie cavity, then blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and rice/weights and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
7. Spread the frangipane all over the partially cooked base, and then push the pre-cut plum halves cut side up into the mixture. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the frangipane has risen and is cooked through.
8. Serve hot with good quality vanilla bean ice-cream and a sprinkling of Amaretto liqueur (latter optional).