For an after dinner treat or something to go with a cuppa, these stand-out confections will bring love at first bite

Tahini florentine tray cake

Babka buns with Nutella and tahini filling

Chocolate & tahini baklava

Makes 20-25 pieces

Hands-on time 30 min, plus cooling

Oven time 65 min

You’ll also need 20cm x 30cm roasting tin, 5cm deep; digital probe or sugar thermometer

MAKE AHEAD

Keep the baklava covered in a cool place for up to 3 days.

• 450g shelled walnut pieces, toasted in a dry pan and chopped

• 175g good quality dark chocolate, finely chopped

★ 100g Belazu Tahini

• 600g granulated sugar

• 250g butter

• 2x 270g packs filo pastry

• 6 cloves

• 1 small cinnamon stick

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

1 Heat the oven to 140°C fan/ gas 3. For the filling, mix the walnuts, chocolate, tahini and 50g of the sugar, then divide into 3 equal amounts.

2 Very gently melt the butter in a small pan until all the milky solids have settled in the base of the pan. Slowly pour the clear butter (about 200g) into a bowl and discard the cloudy liquid left behind.

3 Unroll the filo pastry, putting the sheets in one big stack.

Using the roasting tin as a template, cut the filo sheets to fit snugly into the base. You’ll need 28 sheets so you might need to overlap and join together some of the larger trimmings to make a complete set. Set them aside, covered with a clean damp tea towel.

Chocolate & tahini baklava

4 Brush the base and sides of the tin with some of the clarified butter. Put 1 sheet of pastry in the base of the tin, then brush with more butter.

Repeat until you have 10 sheets.

5 Scatter one third of the filling in an even layer over the pastry, then cover with 3 more sheets of buttered filo. Repeat with another third of filling and 3 sheets of filo, then scatter over the remaining filling and cover with the remaining 12 sheets of the filo, buttering each sheet.

6 Using a very sharp knife, cut the baklava lengthways into 4 or 5 evenly sized strips, then across at an angle to make diamond-shaped pieces. Drizzle over any remaining butter.

7 Bake the baklava for 1 hour until crisp and richly golden.

Meanwhile, make the syrup. Put the remaining 550g sugar, cloves, cinnamon and 350ml water in a pan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook until it reaches 107-108°C on a thermometer. Remove the spices with a slotted spoon (discard), stir in the lemon juice and set to one side.