Refuge recipes: chocolate tart
Chef Paul’s chocolate tart is perfect for impressing that significant someone, or for any time you want to dig in to something super chocolatey.
Serve it with a little bit of what you fancy: cream, ice cream or raspberry sorbet. Or sneaking a piece au naturel when no one’s looking – we’re not judging your tart consumption method.
Chocolate tart recipe
Serves 10
Ingredients
For the pastry
100g butter, softened
70g caster sugar
3 medium eggs, beaten
200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
For the filling
300g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
185g double cream
110g whole milk
75g egg yolks (approximately 3 yolks)
Method
For the pastry
1. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.
2. Slowly add the beaten eggs, then fold in the flour.
3. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge for at least one hour (the pastry should be really cold before you roll it out).
4. Grease a 25cm pastry ring or tart tin and preheat the oven to 160°C fan or gas mark 4.
5. Scatter some flour onto a clean work surface and roll out the pastry to at least 0.5cm and slightly wider than you tin (rotate regularly while rolling to keep the pastry an even shape).
6. Drape the pastry over your tin and gently mould into the sides. Allow the pastry to relax in the fridge for 30 minutes.
7. Line the filled tin with greaseproof paper and add baking beans, rice or lentils to weigh it down. Blind bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Remove the baking beans and greaseproof and leave to cool.
8. Once cooled, trim the edges of the pastry with a serrated knife.
For the filling
1. In a saucepan, heat the milk and cream to a gentle simmer – take care not to let the mixture get too hot.
2. Add the chocolate pieces and stir until they’ve melted.
3. Take the saucepan off the heat and add the egg yolks, stirring until they’re completely incorporated.
To finish
1. Preheat the oven to 110°C fan or gas mark 1.
2. Add the filling to the tart case and bake around 30-40 minutes, or until the chocolate has just set (it should still have a jelly-like wobble). Remove from the oven and leave to cool.