ou know what’s a great idea in 30C summer heat? Laying around in the sun with a good supply of drinks. You know what’s not such a great idea? Making pastry.
So naturally, on Saturday afternoon/evening, the scene was me standing in my kitchen, swearing at an uncooperatively melty pastry case while I desperately tried to cool myself and it with a standing fan positioned next to us.
It doesn’t seem logical, perhaps, that this was the dessert I chose to make. But it had to be chocolatey; it had be suitable for transport across London on a hot day with two public transport changes in major stations; and it had to be so delicious it could win the hearts of strangers enough to make up for how bad I am at meeting people for the first time.
Here’s the good bit, though: it turned out absolutely beautifully. Shout out to the pastry gods for that.
This tart, adapted from a Konditor & Cook recipe that uses only dark chocolate ganache, is lifted for the summer months by the addition of milk chocolate in the dark ganache, which contrasts nicely with the sweet, vanilla-y white ganache.
45g unsalted butter
180ml double cream
100g high cocoa content chocolate (Lindt 70% is the bomb)
50g good quality milk chocolate
30g unsalted butter
120ml double cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
100g good quality white chocolate
200g fresh raspberries
Method
First up, make your pastry. Using a wooden spoon, mix together the caster sugar and egg yolk, then add the butter cubes and mix until it’s well blended. Add the flour, work into a dough, and shape into a ball. Flatten the ball and chill the pastry for about an hour.
To line a 25cm loose-bottom tart tin, roll your chilled pastry out to about 30cm in diameter. Working in the recent summer temperatures, I found it easier to roll between two sheets of clingfilm so it wouldn’t stick to the work surface. On a cooler day, a floured surface should be fine. Line the tin, and chill for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 180C.
When chilled, trim off the excess pastry. Prick the bottom with a fork several times. Line with foil, fill the foil with baking beans, and blind bake for around 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for 5-10 minutes, until the base is golden. Leave to cool.
For the dark chocolate filling, heat the cream and butter in a saucepan until warm but not bubbling. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate, and stir until combined. Repeat with white chocolate and vanilla filling.
Scatter the bottom of the pastry case with the raspberries, and fill with the ganaches however you like — I poured over all the dark ganache then added blobs of white, but it’d look cute done in concentric circles too (dark, white, dark). Create swirls using a cocktail stick, skewer, or chopstick, and chill until ready to serve.
Lick the bowls.
Notes: ideally, make this the day before you want to serve it! With chilling the pastry and letting the ganache set, a rush job this ain’t.
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