L’ Atelier Vi: Tarte au chocolat et caramel

Tarte au chocolat et caramel (makes four 8cm/3-inch tarts)

Sweet pastry crust
270g all purpose flour
100g unsalted butter, softened
80g caster sugar
2 eggs
40g Dutch-process cocoa powder

Caramel
275g caster sugar
110ml whipping cream
135g unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup water
1tsp fleur de sel

Chocolate truffle ganache filling
165g bittersweet chocolate (65 -70% cocoa solids), finely chopped
250ml whipping cream
20g unsalted butter, room temperature
25g caster sugar
25ml rum (Myers)

For the sweet pastry:
Sift together the flour and cocoa powder; set aside. Beat butter, sugar and a pinch of salt using an electric mixer until pale, add eggs and mix. Add cocoa flour, mix until just combined, then turn onto a lightly floured surface and form into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

Preheat the oven to 360°F/180°C. Rollout the pastry as thinly as possible on a lightly floured pastry board. Use an 11cm/4-inch diameter round cookie cutter to stamp out 4 circles and line four 8cm/3-inch pastry rings. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm then trim off excess pastry.

Line each pastry ring with foil, then fill with pie weight/baking beans/uncooked rice. Bake blind for 15 minutes. Remove foil and pie weight, return the pan to the oven for 10 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and let cool.

For the caramel:
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook for 8-10 minutes or until dark-amber in color then remove from heat. Carefully add cream, butter and fleur de sel (mixture will spit) and stir. Return to heat and cook for 3 minutes or until smooth, then spoon into pastry crusts and refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. Pour any left over caramel into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.

For the ganache:
Place the finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl then set aside. Combine cream and sugar and bring to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and slowly pour the hot cream to the chopped chocolate, let sit for 2 minutes then use a rubber spatula and stir until smooth. Using a whisk, whisked until chocolate completely melted, add the butter and whisk to mix. Add the rum, and stir until incorporated. Pour ganache into the pastry crusts on top of the caramel and fill it to the top but not overflowing! Let refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until set. Remove from refrigerator 15 minutes before serving.

As for garnish:

Caramelized almond crisp
1 cup skinless almond, coarsely diced/toasted
2/3 cup sugar

Caramel-glazed hazelnut needles
10 pieces whole hazelnuts, skinless/toasted

Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper, spread out the diced almond and whole hazelnuts and bake at 320°F/160°C for 10 minutes or until light golden. Remove from oven and let cool.

Line another jelly roll pan with parchment paper; set aside. Put the sugar in a heavy skillet, heat over low heat until sugar melts around the edges. Do not stir the sugar. Swirl the pan if necessary to prevent the melted sugar from burning. Brush the sides of the pan with water to remove sugar crystals. If the sugar in the center does not melt, stir briefly. When the sugar is completely melted and medium amber in color, remove from heat; this process can take 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, poke each hazelnut with a toothpick and set aside.

Working at a fast pace; dip 1 hazelnut into the melted sugar, swirl it to completely coated then pull upward and let it drip to form needle. Carefully place it on lined sheet to set; repeat as many times as you need to. Move on to make almond crisp.

Stir in the almonds with a wooden spoon, toss, and separate the clusters. Return to low heat and stir to coat the nuts on all sides, meanwhile use the wooden to separate the clusters. Cook until the mixture starts to bubble (**Handle with care – extremely hot mixture**), then spoon onto the parchment lined sheet and make whatever design you fancy. Let cool completely before use.

Star chocolate decoration
135g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Chop the chocolate into tiny pieces and place in a dry heatproof mixing bowl. Temper the chocolate by melting it in the microwave. Need to do it on medium for 4~5 times and at 30 second interval. Stir the chocolate each time the microwave stops until becomes completely melted and smooth. Cool for 1 minute.

Spread the melted chocolate evenly with a spread knife on the back of a jelly pan. When the chocolate became set but not firm, stamp stars using varies size of star shaped cookie cutter then place jelly pan in refrigerator to chill and set. Carefully loosen chocolate stars with a small knife and poke it into tart.

How to dress up the tarts:
First, add a dollop of Chantilly cream onto the tart, poke 1 or 2 pieces of the caramelized almond crisp behind the cream, arrange hazelnut needles and a couple chocolate stars, and sprinkle some mini dragée all over the tart then add some edible gold!