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Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart | DonalSkehan.com, The perfect end to any special meal!
  • desserts-baking

Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

February 08

Nothing says I love you like chocolate and this rich dark chocolate ganache tart makes a wonderful after-dinner Valentine’s Day treat but is perfect all year round too! I finish mine off with a dusting of gold powder but for an extra decadent finish you could add a dusting of cocoa powder or some chocolate curls.

  • serves Serves 8
  • time 50 mins + resting/setting time

Method

  1. 1. To make the pastry, rub the flour and butter together in a bowl with your fingertips until the mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs. Stir through the sugar and a little beaten egg until the mix comes together to form a ball. Press it into a flat oval, cover with cling film and place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
  2. 2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°/ Gas Mark 4. Dust a work surface with a little flour and roll out the pastry to 3mm in thickness and large enough to fit a 20cm diameter, 4cm deep fluted tart tin with a removable base. Line the tin with the pastry and press it into the sides before trimming the edges. As you line the tin, if the pastry crumbles, don’t panic, just patch it together.
  3. 3. Prick the base with a fork all over and line with foil, shiny side down, and fill with baking beans. Place the pastry shell in the oven to blind bake for about 15 minutes until the pastry is a light golden brown. Remove the tin from the oven, lift out the foil and beans and cook for a further 6–8 minutes until cooked through and lightly golden. Remove the tin from the oven again and allow it to cool on a wire rack.
  4. 4. To make the caramel sauce, add the sugar to a heavy based saucepan and let it melt down on a medium heat, swirling (never stirring) until it begins to change colour. Once the sugar has melted and turned an amber colour, pour in the cream and add the butter. It will sizzle and sputter but keep stirring and it will come together. Allow to cool.
  5. 5. Spread the cooled caramel sauce into the base of the pastry case then prepare the ganache filling by placing the rest of the ingredients in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Mix until smooth and then pour on top of the caramel, sprinkle some sea salt on the top then allow to set at room temperature for 1 hour before serving.

Ingredients

For the pastry:

150g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

75g cold butter, diced and chilled

25g caster sugar

1 large egg, beaten

For the caramel sauce:

150g caster sugar

125ml double cream

10g butter

pinch of sea salt

For the chocolate ganache filling:

240ml double cream

200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely chopped

75g caster sugar

pinch of sea salt

You'll Need

Large mixing bowl

Sieve

20cm diameter, 4cm deep fluted tart tin with a removable base

Rolling pin

Baking beans/ dried pulses

Wire rack

Heave based saucepan

Heat proof bowl

Small saucepan