The base

1. Blitz the biscuits, almond meal and cocoa in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Add the butter and blitz it through until it’s combined. The mixture should stick together if you press it together, but not be runny at all.
3. Press the mixture into a greased tart, flan or cake pan. The pan I used has a diameter of 26cm, but a you’ve got some room to move, a little narrower or wider will still work. You need to press the mixture down hard onto the base and around the sides of the tin, so it’s compact. To avoid having really thick corners, really press in at the edges (where the sides meet the base) it can be a little lower than the rest of the base.
4. Cover the tin and put it in the fridge to set for about 30 minutes to an hour (see note for details of how you could pre-prepare this dish)
5. While this is happening you need to make your filling.

The filling

1. Blitz your ricotta and marscarpone together in a food processor or in a mixer. Set aside while you prepare the chocolate mixture.
2. Put about 4-5cm of water in a sauce pan.
3. Put a pyrex or metal bowl on top of the pot, the water should NOT be touching the base of the bowl. Bring the water to the boil then lower to a simmer (low, steady bubbling).
4. Put your chocolate and port into the bowl on top. Mixing all the time, melt the chocolate into the port. This is a technique called DOUBLE-BOILING. It’s good for chocolate because it ensure you don’t burn it by having it too close to the flame.
5. Remove the molten chocolate/port mixture from the heat and blitz (in the food processor or using a hand mixer) into the ricotta/marscarpone straight away.
6. Refrigerate until the base is done with its refrigeration time. You will need to get the filling into the base at least an hour before serving to allow it time to set.
7. About an hour before serving (or several if that suits you better!), spoon your ricotta mixture into the tart base, then spread it out evenly and gently. Re-cover the tart, being careful not to have the cover resting on the ricotta mix (otherwise it’ll stick). Leave to refrigerate for 1 to 6 hours, whatever best suits you.

Fig Topping

1. About half an hour before serving, prepare your figs.
2. Slice them up, into something that looks aesthetic, then prepare their simple marinade.
3. Heat the honey for about 10 seconds in the microwave, so that it’s thin and runny, then mix through the lemon juice and cinnamon.
4. Drizzle this over your figs, cover and refrigerate for about an hour.
5. Just before serving top your tart with the figs. This will stop the figs from getting a bit too squishy and collapse into the tart, ruining the aesthetics of it.
6. You can arrange your figs however you like; I like to splay them out from the centre, overlapping one another (as pictured above)
7. Very carefully remove the sides of the tin from your tart. This may take some careful manoeuvring. I usually place the base of the tin on a large glass or a couple of food tins to do this, it means I can pull the tin sides down without fiddling too much. If one of the sides comes off, it’s not great catastrophe, just squash it on and refrigerate for about 20 minutes (without the cake tin sides) to get it reattached.
8. Slice it carefully with a sharp knife and use a cake slice to get it off the tin (be careful, the base needs a little gentleness, remember it’s just butter holding those crumbs together!)
9. Serve by itself or with