chocolate miso tart

chocolate miso tart

• 19 Feb 2025

I have a container of white miso in my fridge that I've barely used. I've wanted to make a chocolate miso tart for some time and now that I'm on leave and have a bit more time on my hands, the time had arrived.

First things first, I needed to make a tart shell, l so I turned to my tried and true chocolate shortcrust pastry from the Popina Book of Baking. I haven't made this pastry in an age and I found it a bit sticky so I rolled it out between a silicone baking sheet and some plastic wrap before I lined the tin with the pastry.

After the tart shell was blind baked, I noticed there were a few cracks in the shell that needed to be patched and sealed with egg white. I must have done a good job because the shell remained watertight and thankfully there were no leaks. 

This is a multi step process with lots of rest and chilling time, so if you make this tart I suggest blind baking the tart shell the day before making the tart, which is best served the day that it's baked. For the filling I adapted the Valli Little recipe I always turn to. I upped the quantity a little and added a little of the miso to the mixture.

When the tart came out of the oven the chocolate filling was pretty smooth and in retrospect, it didn't need the final glaze. I'm sure a light dusting of cocoa would have been fine but I decided to gild the lily with a glaze I found here. The glaze was quite runny so I left it overnight just to check that it would indeed set, then glazed the tart the next day.

Here’s the recipe for you, which makes a 11 x 33 cm rectangular tart. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Chocolate miso tart - serves 8

Chocolate pastry
115g plain flour
12g cocoa powder
pinch salt
60g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
40g caster sugar
1 egg, separated, reserve the white to seal the tart shell
1 tbs iced water

Filling
250g dark chocolate (45% cocoa solids), chopped
2 eggs
30g white miso 
¾ cup (185mls) thickened cream
½ cup (125mls) milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping (optional)
2 tbsp cream
1 tsp corn syrup
1 tbsp warm water 
60g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) chopped
sea salt flakes 

To serve

cocoa powder

whipped cream

berries

Pastry
Place the flour, cocoa, salt, butter and sugar in a food processor and blitz until crumbs form. Add the egg yolk and sufficient cold water and mix again until a dough starts to form around the blade of the food processor. Take the dough out of the mixer and bring together into a ball. Flatten the ball into a rectangle then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for one hour.

Roll out the pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper until 4mm thick. Line a 11 x 33 cm rectangular tin tart tin with the chocolate shortcrust pastry. Hold any of the excess dough to patch any cracks after blind baking. Refrigerate the shell for at least 1 hour before blind baking.

 

To blind bake, preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional. Remove the tart shell from the fridge and trim the edges of the pastry with a sharp knife. Cover the dough with a piece of aluminium foil (dull side down), tucking it snugly into the corner of the tin. Fill the lined tin with caster sugar, rice or baking beans. Place in the oven on a baking tray, then reduce the heat to 170°C and bake for 40 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and the baking beads and bake for another 10 minutes. 

If there are any large cracks or dipped sides, soften some leftover dough and gently patch any large fissures – taking care not to press hard and break the crust. Brush a light layer of the egg white on the inside of the still warm tart to seal any fine cracks, then bake for 5 more minutes to seal the egg white. Set the shell aside to cool while you prepare the filling. No need to switch off the oven.

Filling
Place the chopped chocolate in a large heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, not letting the bowl touch water. Allow the chocolate to melt, then stir until smooth. Remove from heat and cool. 

Gently whisk the eggs in a separate bowl to just combine (don't allow to froth).
Combine the miso with the cream, milk and vanilla extract in a small saucepan and whisk until smooth. Place the saucepan on the stove over medium heat and heat until just below boiling point, then pour over eggs, stirring. Return the mixture to the same pan, turn the heat to low and stir for about 5 minutes until thickened. Pour the mixture through a sieve over the bowl of chocolate, stirring gently until smooth. 

Place the tart shell on a tray on the centre rack of the 170°C conventional oven. Carefully pour the chocolate custard into the tart shell to the lowest edge of the crust and bake for about 25 minutes or until the edges are set but the middle is still jiggly. Leave the tart to cool for 30 minutes in the switched off oven, with the door held ajar with a wooden spoon. Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool completely before dusting with cocoa powder or applying the glaze.

Glaze

Place the chopped chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Bring the remaining ingredients to a boil in either a small saucepan or in the microwave. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and stand for 5 minutes. Slowly stir the ingredients until smooth then set aside to thicken. When the glaze has thickened, pour the glaze over the tart moving the tart around so it spreads evenly. Let the glaze set for another hour before sprinkling a few sea salt flakes over the top.

I baked the tart on one day and kept it out on the bench lightly covered with foil. The next day I glazed the tart and when cut, the pastry was still crisp. The next day the pastry had softened considerably so while best baked and served on the same day, the unglazed tart can be made the day before serving.

This is one wickedly rich chocolate dessert so keep those portions small and I would serve the tart dusted with cocoa, topped with a dollop of cream with a few berries on the side.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian