Instructions: 1 Preheat the oven (gas mark 6 / 400F / 200C). Make some fairly strong tea, and soak the prunes in it.

2 Grease a flan dish with butter. Roll out the pastry to line the base and sides of the dish. Prick the base with a fork and bake for 5 minutes.

3 Now make the almond cream: soften the butter by pressing with a spoon, add the icing sugar, then pour in the almond powder, egg and Armagnac, stirring continuously. Mix together well, then pour into the pastry case, still in the flan dish.

4 Strain the prunes. Remove the stones, and arrange the prunes on the almond cream. Put the flaked almonds between the prunes. Return the tart to the oven for 2 minutes until the almonds are golden. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Allow to cool before serving.

In the 17th century, Frangipani, an Italian perfume-maker working in Paris, composed a fragrance for perfuming gloves using sour almonds. Pastry cooks later used his idea to make a cream.

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