Perfecting this chocolate tart has been a labour of love for me.
I’m not pretending it’s been a hardship to make and devour 7 iterations. My quest has provided dessert for two dinners, one lunch, the Christmas-pudding alternative on Christmas day and New Year’s Eve dinner too. And the latest version is chilling and waiting for Valentine’s Day as I write this.
I have kept at it as I really wanted a delicious, reliable, sophisticated dessert in my repertoire. I started with Heston Blumenthal’s chocolate tart when I saw that he used a crushed biscuit base. I couldn’t find popping candy even if I’d wanted to and wasn’t up for spray painting the tart with chocolate either. Having given the passion fruit flavour a chance (at quite considerable expense), my bank card was relieved when I decided it would be better without. Subbing in a little orange blossom water to the chocolate ganache topping pleased me, but not all my dinner guests, and especially not my husband.
All in all, this was turning out to be a very simplified chocolate tart but I couldn’t resist adding a layer of cream with ground praline folded through. Hazelnut is a classic flavour, and the easy option here in France where you can buy powdered hazelnut praline at the supermarket. However, my absolute favourite is peanut.
Finish it off with a sprinkling of cocoa powder or more praline powder and you’ll have a dessert that looks special, tastes divine and is quite straightforward to make.
If you’re in the market for a chocolate dessert but don’t want to make a tart, check out my recipe for chocolate pots, chocolate mousse and the very best brownies.
Notes:
I have tried to make this with the sort of cream available in French supermarkets, but have not succeeded yet. This part of my quest continues … For those of you with access to ‘double cream’, I implore you to make this chocolate tart as soon as you can procure a pot.
As for the crème pâtissière, my recipe will give you more than you need. I have tried halving the quantities (as obviously so can you) but the result has been less reliable – I ended up with quite a thick custard. I prefer to make the 2 egg yolk amount and then have leftovers.
This Christmas I noticed ‘fresh’ custard being sold in the UK in the chiller cabinet of the supermarket and used it in place of homemade crème pâtissière with great success. I have also tried shelf-stable custard in both UK and France and both worked well.
Ingredients
Base
- 100g speculoos/Biscoff biscuits (or digestive or ginger biscuits)
- 50g butter
Chocolate ganache
- 275ml double cream
- pinch of salt
- 150ml crème pâtissière
- 165g dark chocolate
- 75g milk chocolate
Creme patissiere
- 250ml whole milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large egg yolks
- 40g caster sugar
- 10g plain flour
- 10g cornflour
Praline Cream
- 150ml double cream
- 50g peanut praline
Peanut praline
- 125g white sugar
- 100g roasted peanuts
- 1/2 tsp table salt
Method
Creme patissiere
First make the crème pâtissière (unless you’re using readymade custard):
Heat the milk and vanilla extract until it just comes to the boil.
Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale. Add the flour and cornflour and whisk in.
Pour the hot milk slowly onto the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.
Now pour it all back into the saucepan over a low heat and keep whisking as it thickens. Take it off the heat once it’s thick and smooth. To stop it forming a skin as it cools, take a piece of baking paper big enough to cover the surface. Scrunch up the baking paper and dampen it under the tap before opening it out and lying it directly on the surface of the crème pâtissière.
Base
To make the base of the tart, reduce the biscuits to crumbs in a food processor before adding the melted butter and whizzing again. (Alternatively, crush the biscuits by putting them in a plastic bag and bashing them with a rolling pin. Then tip the biscuit crumbs into a bowl and stir in the melted butter.)
Tip the mixture into the tin and press flat with your fingertips. Place the tin in the fridge for the base to set.
Chocolate Ganache
Now for the ganache. Heat the cream over a medium heat with two good pinches of sea salt flakes. Take it off the heat once it comes to the boil.
Melt the dark and milk chocolate together, in a bowl set above simmering water in a saucepan on a low heat or in the microwave. Either way, go slowly as milk chocolate can go grainy if it’s overheated. I put the dark chocolate at the bottom of the bowl and the milk chocolate on top to avoid this. Remove from the heat once the chocolate is molten and put to one side.
Take your saucepan of hot cream and add 100ml of creme patissiere or shop-bought custard and stir to combine.
Tip the cream and custard mix through a sieve into a jug to strain out any bits.
Pour a third of the strained cream and creme patissiere/custard into the melted chocolate and mix in. Then add another third and do the same and finally tip the last of the cream and custard and stir until smooth. Don’t panic if the mixture suddenly thickens up after the first or second addition. Keep going and the warm cream will bring it all together.
Take the base out of the fridge and pour the chocolate ganache over it. Put the tin back in the fridge for the chocolate to set. This usually takes 2 hours but leave it longer if you can to be on the safe side.
Peanut Praline
Line a baking tray with some greaseproof paper and set it close to your hob so it’s ready to receive the caramel-coated peanuts as soon as they are done.
Put 60ml cold water (1/4 cup) in a saucepan with 125g sugar.
Swirl the pan over a low heat to dissolve the sugar in the water and then crank up the heat to boil the mixture. Don’t stir it. It will take a few minutes for the water to evaporate (during which time the mixture will look like frogspawn – don’t be alarmed) but it will eventually change colour, first a light straw colour turning into a deep golden brown. When about half of the mixture is golden brown, turn the heat off and add the salt and then the peanuts, whilst standing as far back as possible. Now you can use a spoon and stir them gently to make sure the peanuts are coated in caramel. Immediately tip the whole lot out onto your prepared baking paper.
Leave the mixture to cool completely and harden.
Break the big slab of caramel-coated peanuts into smaller pieces and blitz to a powder in a food processor.
Praline Cream
Lightly whip the double cream and 50g praline powder until it increases in volume and starts to thicken. Don’t keep whisking it or it becomes too stiff.
Spread the whipped praline cream over the set chocolate ganache. Sprinkle with more praline powder or cocoa powder to finish and pop the tart back in the fridge until you need it.
This tart is best when it’s not fridge-cold so take it out of the fridge at least an hour before you want to serve it.
Run a knife around the inside of the tin, release the tart and serve with a flourish.
Keep leftovers in the fridge for up to a week.