Dark Chocolate Tart

Ingredients

• 320 g sweet shortcrust pastry
• 300 g dark chocolate, 70%, chopped small
• 350 ml double cream
• 100 ml whole milk
• 50 g butter, cubed and cold
• 1 egg, beaten
• sea salt flakes, to finish
• crème fraîche, to serve

Method

1. Blind bake

   Line a 23 cm tin, chill, then bake at 190°C for 20 minutes with beans and 10 without, until properly dry and sandy.

   30 min

2. Seal the case

   Brush the hot base with a little beaten egg and return it to the oven for 2 minutes. That thin cooked film seals any pinholes, so the ganache cannot leak out underneath and the base stays crisp.

   2 min

3. Heat the cream, not the chocolate

   Bring the cream and milk to just below a simmer and pour it over the chopped chocolate. Leave it two full minutes without touching it — stirring straight away is the main cause of split ganache.

4. Stir from the centre

   Stir slowly from the middle outwards until it comes together glossy and dark, then beat in the cold butter. Working from the centre builds the emulsion gradually; whisking from the edges breaks it.

5. Fill and set at room temperature

   Pour into the case and leave at room temperature for 3 hours. Setting it in the fridge makes the ganache firm and waxy rather than dense and silky.

   3 h

6. Serve

   Scatter with sea salt flakes and cut with a hot dry knife. Serve with crème fraîche — it needs something sharp against it.