Chocolate tart

There’s been a hiatus in the Great British Bake-off project, but the girls were never going to let me get away without making the double chocolate tart.

Chocolate pastry is new to me. My go-to pastry recipes have little or no sugar, and I wasn’t confident that would be enough to balance the bitterness of the cocoa. The pastry recipe I followed starts by creaming the butter and sugar, which resulted in a biscuity-crisp crust. 

I also found that adding cocoa powder in the pastry made it difficult to judge doneness by eye. I think I blind-baked the crust a few minutes too long. At least there were no “soggy bottoms” around here!

This chocolate tart is rich, but not particularly sweet – there is no sugar in the filling. Even so, a thin slice was enough, and it took four meals for the family to polish it off. If I make it again, I would serve it with a tart raspberry coulis.

Chocolate tart

• 140g unsalted butter
• 90g caster sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 250g plain flour
• 30g cocoa powder
• 300g dark chocolate (70 % cocoa), roughly chopped
• 125ml whole milk
• 200ml double cream
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• icing sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180°C).
2. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and mix to combine.
3. Whisk the flour and cocoa powder together and add to the wet ingredients. Knead lightly to combine, flatten into a disc shape, wrap in clingfilm and chill for twenty minutes.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry into a 2mm thick circle  big enough to fit a 25cm pie tin.
5. Line the pie tin with pastry, then chill for ten minutes.
6. Cover the pastry with aluminum foil and fill with baking beans. Cook for ten minutes, then lift out the foil and beans and cook for five minutes more.
7. Remove from the oven, and cool for ten minutes before trimming off excess pastry.
8. Reduce the oven temperature to 275°F (140°C).
9. To make the filling, place the chocolate in a mixing  bowl. In a saucepan, bring the milk and cream to the boil. Pour over the chocolate, whisking until melted. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth.
10. Pour the filling into the pastry case and cook for 25 minutes, or until just set.
11. Cool completely before removing the tart from the tin. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Tags: British food, chocolate, Great British Bake-off, pie, vegetarian