Bittersweet Chocolate Tart

Bittersweet Chocolate Tart

• 23 Nov 2009

I'd hate to give the impression that all my baking turns out perfectly each time, because that just wouldn't be correct. I've made this tart on many occasions and have never had any problem with the pastry until now. I used my usual almond shortcrust pastry which I'd stored in the freezer. I prebaked the shell and when I tried to remove it from the tin, it shattered into a hundred pieces. When I looked closely at the pastry, it looked aerated as though some raising agent had been added. I thought I must have been tired when I made the pastry and used self raising flour by mistake.

Instead I decided to try the tart with chocolate pastry. I made the pastry and placed it in the fridge to cool. When I tried to roll the pastry out, it cracked...over and over again. Eventually I gave up trying and for the first time ever, I pressed the pastry into the tin before I baked the shell. In the end, it seemed to make little difference to my work colleagues who devoured the tart in record time.

I made some chocolate ivy leaves to decorate the tart, a real throw back to the 80's. It was 40 degrees C on Sunday and it took me 2 goes but I managed to get a few decent ones in the end. I've had a small sliver of the tart and the wickedly chocolate, just set custard filling almost tastes of coffee, although there is no coffee in the tart I made.

I have a deadline to make this week so I may not be back until Friday with a few more film images. So until then,

Jillian