Preheat the oven to 350°/180° F

Lightly grease the sides of your muffin pan and line the base with a circle of parchment paper.

Roast the hazelnut on a pan over medium heat, until golden and let it cool completely. Chop 50 gr. (⅓ cup) of the cooled nuts and set aside, you’ll use it later for garnish. Place the rest of the hazelnuts in the bowl of a food processor along with the flour. Process until fine, then tip into a medium bowl. Add the chocolate and the almond meal, mix together and set aside.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes, until light and creamy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, then add the choc – nut- flour- mixture and mix until combined.

Stir in ricotta, vanilla extract, and salt.

In a separate bowl beat the whites on medium-high speed until you get peak stiff and fold them into the cake mixture, carefully, without deflating the whites.

Fill your lined and buttered muffin pan and bake for 25/30 minutes. When ready, let cool and remove the cakes from their pans.

To make the water ganache, place the chocolate in a medium bowl and set aside. Put sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Stir to combine and when the sugar has melted, increase the heat to medium and bring to a boil stirring gently from time to time. Continue to boil for about 5 minutes until the color is pale amber.

Remove from the heat and carefully pour in the water (it could seize, don’t worry).

Return the pan to the heat, add the scraped vanilla seeds and stir gently and continuously until it returns to a boil. Remove from the heat and wait a minute before pouring the water-caramel over the chocolate.

Allow to stand for 5 minutes, then whisk to combine. Add the butter, a couple of cubes at a time, whisking after each addition. Continue until all the butter has been added, whisking to combine until the mix is smooth and shiny.

Final step: spoon the ganache over the cakes letting it drip down the sides. Sprinkle with the reserved hazelnuts and serve.