Torta gianduja

Preparation:
Put the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast them in the oven before rubbing them with your hands against a sieve to peel them. Pour a teaspoon of sugar into a small saucepan, place over the heat and as soon as the sugar melts, add the hazelnuts. Pour it all into a mortar and using a pestle, make a paste. Grate 70g of dark chocolate, then butter and flour a 26cm diameter baking tin. Break 6 eggs into a small saucepan along with 3 egg yolks and 250g sugar and beat well with a whisk. Put the pan in a bain-marie and continue whisking as you warm the mixture but do not allow the egg to cook. Remove from the heat, add a tablespoon of honey and keep whisking until stiff. In another saucepan, put the butter and most of the flaked dark chocolate, the vanilla essence and the hazelnut paste. Melt in a bain-marie and mix carefully. Sieve the flour and potato starch into the eggs and delicately fold in before adding the melted chocolate mixture. Once amalgamated, butter and dust a cake tin with flour and pour in the mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at 190° for about 50 minutes. Once cooked, turn out the Gianduja cake onto a cake rack and leave to cool. Cut the rest of the dark chocolate into tiny pieces and put into a small saucepan, add the cream, put the pan over a low heat and melt the chocolate, stirring all the time. Pour the chocolate cream into a bowl and leave to cool, stirring from time to time. Put a tablespoon of apricot jelly into a small saucepan, add a tablespoon of sugar and place over a very low heat. Let it boil for a few minutes but keep stirring. Put to one side and keep warm. Melt the chocolate for the topping in a bain-marie and, with a small whisk, beat until stiff. Place the cake on a piece of grease-proof paper, shave off the crusty edges with a sharp knife and cut the cake in half horizontally. Mix together the cognac and maraschino and pour over one half of the cake. On the same half, spread the whipped chocolate cream evenly over the cake with a spatula (keep one spoonful for decorating) and then place the other half of the cake on top and pour over some liqueur as before. Using the spatula cover the edges and top with the jelly and then pour over the chocolate topping, making sure it covers the whole cake. Carefully lift the cake onto a cake platter with help of two spatulas and decorate.