Easy profiteroles

Put the butter, sugar and salt for the profiteroles in a pan with 250ml of water and bring to a simmer. Add the sifted flour and stir for a good 5 minutes over a low to medium heat, until the paste comes away from the pan

Transfer this immediately to a food mixer or processor with a beater attachment. Add the eggs, one by one, and beat to a smooth, shiny paste. Put this in a bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to cool

Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas mark 5. Spoon the choux paste into a piping bag with a plain nozzle and pipe 2.5cm blobs on to a baking tin. Each one should stand up nice and high, and you should get roughly 30 profiteroles in total. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden in colour. Pierce each one to let out the steam and cool on a wire rack before filling

To make the crème Chantilly, add the vanilla seeds, scraped from the pod, to the whipping cream along with the caster sugar and vanilla extract and whip until firm. Pipe into the choux buns

To make the chocolate sauce, put the butter, double cream, 180g of sugar and vanilla extract into a pan and bring to a simmer. Add the cocoa powder and whisk while continuing to cook for 5 minutes at a slow simmer. Break up the dark chocolate and put it into a bowl. Pour over the hot chocolate mixture and stir until the dark chocolate has melted, then pass the sauce through a fine sieve

Drizzle the choux buns with warm chocolate sauce and sprinkle with the chopped almonds