As you might already know, I offer dessert to our guests twice a week. I personally have a super-heavy sweet tooth, but I usually do not care for the overly rich and heavy type of sweets. I rather dig my fork into a light and creamy fruit based dessert than into a rich chocolate cake with heavy cream.
However, occasionally I have chocolate cravings as well. So I came up with this semi-sweet baked chocolate mousse tart and it’s the bomb. It’s super rich and I bet you won’t be able to go for seconds. At the same time though, it’s not overwhelmingly sweet and a bit tart (pun intended).
The base is a quick and easy pastry and my go-to recipe for almost all the tarts I make. The filling is only as good as the chocolate you use, so make sure to head for the good stuff.
I usually serve it with a mixture of whipped cream and sour cream, spiked with some extra cinnamon and topped with some seasonal fruit. Cherries work extremely well here, but also figs or pears add a nice fruity counterpart to the richness of the tart.
You can easily prepare the crust in advance and bake the tart whenever needed. Feel free to serve it semi-warm or completely cooled. However, I feel like the taste diminishes when cooled in the fridge and I prefer to store it at room temperature.
- 250g butter (room temperature), plus extra for greasing
- 80g confectioner’s sugar
- 250g white, pastry flour
- 2 egg yolks
- 4 eggs
- 2tbsp. cold milk
- 150g dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa content)
- 75g unsweetend cocoa powder
- 1tsp. cinnamon
- 1tsp. vanilla extract
- 150g unrefined cane sugar
- 2tbsp. agave nectar
- 125g sour cream
- seasonal fruit & whipped cream for topping
- salt
- To prepare the crust, combine 125g butter with the confectioner’s sugar and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl and mix using an electric mixer. Once combined add 250g flour and 2 egg yolks. Mix until you have a coarse consistence. Add 2 tbsp. cold milk (or water) and quickly knead into a smooth dough, using your hands. Form a ball, wrap in plastic foil and let dough rest in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- Lightly grease a tarte/quiche tin (24-26cm) and set aside. Using a rolling pin roll the dough 2-3cm bigger than the tarte tin and place the dough into the form. Use your hands to even out the dough and form a roughly 2cm high wall. With a fork prick the dough 10-15 times. Place in the freezer for at least 1 hour.
- The crust can be easily made ahead and placed in the freezer until further use.
- In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160°C. Add the remaining butter (125g) and the chocolate to a heatproof bowl and slowly melt over a pot of boiling water (Make sure the bowl does not touch the water), stirring occasionally. Add the cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt to the butter-chocolate mixture. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a medium bowl whisk the remaining 4 eggs with the cane sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add the butter-chocolate mixture, the agave nectar and the sour cream to the eggs and whisk until combined.
- Add the filling to the prepared crust and bake in the preheated oven for 40-45mins or until the filling has grown solid in the center and the filling lightly springs back.
- Let cool or serve slightly warm. Serve with seasonal fruit and whipped cream.
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