Lately I've been obsessed with salted caramel because it just goes perfectly with almost anything. This tart takes it to the next level, basically serving as an excuse to spoon the caramel into your mouth by calling it 'dessert'. The chocolate pastry base is taken from Green & Black's Lemon Chocolate Tart (which tastes incredible), and then is layered with salted caramel and chocolate ganache, and topped with (optional) sea salt - a wonderfully indulgent dessert for a dinner party, or, in my case, just to snack on!
You will need a 23cm (9inch) tart tin with a removable base.
Recipe
Prep Time: 40 minutes + 4(+) hours chilling
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Serves: 8-12
Ingredients
For the pastry:
175g Plain Flour
25g Cocoa
Pinch of Salt
25g Icing Sugar
125g Chilled Unsalted Butter
1 Egg Yolk
2tbsp Cold Water
For the salted caramel:
225g Granulated Sugar
115g Butter
135ml Double Cream
1tsp Salt
For the ganache:
100g Milk Chocolate
125g Dark Chocolate
225ml Double Cream
Method:
To make the pastry, sift together the flour, cocoa, salt and icing sugar in a large bowl. Rub in the cold butter using a food-processor or your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Mix the egg yolk with the water, and add to the mixture to make a dough. You may need a little more water. Gather the pastry into a ball, wrap it in grease-proof paper/cling film and chill in the fridge for about 1 hour.
Lightly flour the surface and roll out the pastry from the centre and away from you, then back to the centre and down towards you, using your weight to push down on it to avoid stretching it. The pastry should be large enough to fill the tart tin and just under 0.5cm thick.
Grease the tart tin and line with the pastry (using a rolling pin to help you lift it off the surface). Press the pastry into the tin making sure the thickness is even all around and cut off the excess from the top (use this excess to fill any gaps).
Prick the bottom with a fork and chill in the fridge for 2 hours up to overnight.
While the pastry is chilling, make the salted caramel. Add the sugar to a saucepan and melt over a low heat, stirring often. Once fully melted, add the butter (in approx 6 chunks) and stir constantly until the butter is fully melted - you may need to whisk to prevent separation.
Once the butter has melted, remove from the heat and pour in the double cream, stirring constantly. Continue to stir until the mixture is completely combined and it has stopped bubbling. Mix in the salt and allow to cool.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Once the pastry has finished chilling, line the pastry case with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Blind bake for 15mins then remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 10-15 minutes. Allow to fully cool.
Once the pastry is cool, pour the salted caramel in and spread until even. Place in the fridge until the caramel is firm but not completely set.
While the pastry is in the fridge, make the ganache. Chop the chocolate into chunks and place in a large bowl. Bring the cream to a boil over a low-medium heat - stir often and remove from heat as soon as the middle starts bubbling. Pour over the chocolate and leave to sit for a few minutes before whisking until smooth.
Once the ganache has cooled to room temperature and the caramel isn't runny, pour the ganache over the caramel and spread until even. Leave to chill in the fridge until the ganache has set. Decorate with sea salt and serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
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