Plum, Hazelnut & Chocolate Tart

I love reading food magazines. However in the recent months, the few that I subscribe prove to be a stack of disappointment. They no longer inspire me or make me dashed into kitchen to get cooking. All the recipes seem repetitive and pretty much similar to what they have already published in the past. In short, I find them boring *yawn*. Quite frankly, I am comtemplating to discontinue some of them.

Just when I almost lost interest in food magazines, I found the UK food magazines such as Olive and BBC Good Food at Borders. Boy are they interesting and my desire to cook has been resuscitated! How did they escape my radar for so long?! The recipes and pictures are refreshing. Admittedly, there are certain ingredients that may not be readily available in the US, but their food photography and the recipes are amazing. Suddenly, I have many ideas to try out. Along with a few recipes I bookmarked from the magazines.

One of them is this Plum, Hazelnut and Chocolate Tart from September issue of BBC Good Food.

I am sold when the ingredient list consist of chocolate and hazelnut. It's one of my favorite flavor combinations.(Nutella, anyone?)The recipe also features plum, which is abundant at the moment. The recipe just sounds too interesting to be missed.

I substituted the self raising flour that I don't keep with all purpose flour and some baking powder; and the muscavado sugar with brown sugar. The end result tastes more like a cake than a tart, but is delicious nonetheless. It is not as sweet as the desserts we are accustomed to, perhap because I have omitted the glaze suggested. But I think it works well as a morning treat or as a tea cake in the afternoon. I would probaby drizzle some melted chocolate on top the next time I make it. Or you could brush the tart with the suggested jelly in the recipe. Either way, a delicious treat is promised.

Plum, Hazelnut & Chocolate Tart
adapted from Sept 2008 BBC Good Food magazine

175g butter , plus extra for greasing
500g plums
175g light muscovado sugar ( I used light brown sugar)
175g all purpose flour
175g ground hazelnuts
3 large eggs
1.5 tsp baking powder
50g bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp hazelnuts
2 tbsp redcurrant, damson or plum jelly

Heat oven to 350F (180C). Butter and line the base of a round 8 inch cake pan. Halve and stone 4 plums, set aside for later, then roughly chop the remaining plums.

Put the sugar, butter, flour, ground hazelnuts, eggs and baking powder into a large bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or electric hand mixer for 1-2 mins, until smooth and light. Stir in the chopped plums and chocolate, then tip into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top.

Arrange the halved plums over the top of the mixture, pressing them down lightly, then scatter over hazelnuts. Bake for 40-50 mins until the top is golden and the cake feels firm to the touch. Cool in the pan for 10 mins, then turn out, remove the paper and cool on a wire rack. Heat the jelly, then brush over the top of the cake before serving.