Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

1. Peel and halve the pears, remove the cores and smear them with 100g dulce de leche. Bake the pears in the oven for about 30 minutes or until soft but still holding their shape. Leave to cool.

2. Mix the remaining dulce de leche with the double cream, eggs, egg yolks, ground almonds and the vanilla seeds and set aside.

3. Grease one 1 litre ovenproof dish, or 6 individual shallow gratin dishes, with the butter followed by the demerara sugar.

4. Pour the dulce de leche mixture into the prepared dish, or dishes.

5. Once the pear halves are cool enough to handle, slice each one into about 5, widthways at an angle towards the tip and gently spread the pear out into a fan shape. Gently lift and place each pear half on top of the dulce de leche mixture. Scatter over the almonds and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and puffy.

6. Serve with the double cream.