This Chocolate, Coffee & Caramel Tart is every dessert lover’s dream! A decadent trio of flavours coming together, with a textural explosion for max pleasure. It’s comforting, it’s naughty, and it’s bloody delicious. I call this- dessert of the champions!

Let me just put it out there- this is not one of your quick, easy desserts. It’s a labour of love and fairly time-consuming. In this crazy world of instant gratification and attention span of a goldfish, it almost feels like a protest to spend more than 30 minutes on anything. Well, I encourage you to protest. Like most good things, this one is definitely worth the time. And love, lots of it.

I personally love tarts. They are the perfect little canvases to create a masterpiece. This tart is no different. Let’s break down the layers (top to bottom):

Coffee Whipped Ganache
Salted Caramel Sauce
Chocolate Cake (this is my go-to chocolate cake for all occasions and honestly, the only one you need. It’s a keeper!)
Hazelnut Croustillant aka fancy French word for crunchy
Chocolate Pâte Sucrée aka sweet shortcrust pastry

Yup, there’s a lot going on. It’s the combination of these flavours and most importantly these textures that make this dessert so irresistible. Bit of crunch and texture coming from the tart shell and the crunchy, paired with the soft oozing caramel, sponginess from the chocolate cake and a smooth, velvety yet light ganache that beautifully envelopes the palette to tie it all together.

The biggest component to tackle here is the tart shell. It’s fairly technical and does require a bit of practice to get it right. That’s okay. Practice makes perfect and literally the ONLY distinguishing factor between a great baker vs an amateur one. Now you know the cheatsheet :))

If you’re like me, and like to nerd out a little, I have a very in-depth post about getting your shortcrust pastry perfect. Check it out here. I’ve also shared my secrets for the best shortcrust pastry here.

The chocolate cake is incredibly easy to make. All it is is mixing dry ingredients with your wet ingredients and baking it. That’s about it. If you’d like to watch a video tutorial, you can do so here.

This salted caramel sauce is da shizzzzz. It’s sooo luscious, so velvety, and has the perfect texture to use as a filling. As a bonus, it’s also the ONLY caramel recipe you need. If you wanna know how you can use your base recipe for multiple purposes, watch this tutorial here.

Lastly, the whipped ganache. It’s fairly easy and basically like making a regular ganache, with added gelatine. Gelatine helps to stabilise the ganache so that it holds its shape once piped. It also helps to prevent over-whipping the ganache and turning it into butter. Since we’re adding gelatine to our ganache, we only need to whip it to medium-stiff peaks, allowing little to no room for over-whipping.

Watch a video tutorial here on how to assemble the tart

Andd that’s about it. That’s all you need to know to ace this tart. Like I said, make it with love. Spend time in creating this masterpiece. It’s a delight for both your palette and your soul :) Happy baking xx

Recipe

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the chocolate shortcrust pastry:

100g unsalted butter, cubed and frozen
67g icing sugar, sifted
20g almond meal
150g plain flour
17g cocoa powder
pinch of salt
33g whole eggs, beaten
1 egg yolk mixed with 30g cream, for egg wash

For the hazelnut croustillant:

50g good quality dark chocolate
35g feuilletine
10g cocoa nibs
10g hazelnut praline (or sub nutella)

For the chocolate cake:

1 whole egg
15 ml milk
30 ml extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
58 g sour cream (or sub greek yoghurt)
20 g good quality dark chocolate (min. 50%), melted
60g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp soda bi-carb
25g good quality cocoa powder
40g light brown sugar
60g castor sugar
a pinch of salt
65g boiling water

For the salted caramel sauce:

65g castor sugar
33g liquid glucose
25ml water
60g heavy cream
15g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the coffee whipped ganache:

215g heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5g instant coffee powder
60g good quality white chocolate
36g creme fraiche (or sub mascarpone)
3g gelatine powder
15g cold water
10g roasted hazelnuts, halved, for garnish

Method

For the chocolate shortcrust pastry:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, add the dry ingredients along with the frozen butter. Mix until all the flour is completely coated with butter, and the mixture resembles like wet sand.
With the mixer still running, once the dough starts to clump together, add in the egg and mix until the dough just comes together.
Transfer onto a work surface and use your hands to shape the dough into a disc. Cover with cling wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.
The next day, line the tart- on a lightly floured surface, roll out the chilled pastry to 3-4mm thickness, ensuring the pastry is larger than the tart case. Brush off the excess flour and line the tart cases. Refrigerate for 30mins- 1 hour.
Using a sharp paring knife, trim off the excess pastry by holding the knife horizontal to the tart case edge and simultaneously rotating the tart case. Freeze the tarts completely. To watch a video on how to line a tart shell correctly, click here.
Preheat oven to 170°C.
If using fluted tart shells, line the tart with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or beans. Blind bake the tart for 15-20 mins or until the tart no longer looks wet. For perforated tart shells, blind bake as is.
Carefully remove the pie weights and the parchment paper and return the tart to the oven for another 5-10 mins or until the bottom is well baked and the tart is completely baked through.
Eggwash the baked tart and bake for another 3 mins. Let it cool completely.

For the hazelnut croustillant:

Melt the chocolate in a microwave/ double boiler.
Add the hazelnut praline, feuilletine and cocoa nibs and stir to combine. Keep aside.

For the chocolate cake:

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 13.5”x9.5”rectangle baking tray and line with baking paper. Keep aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla and oil. Keep aside.
In a separate large bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, soda bi-carb and cocoa powder together. Add the two sugars and salt and whisk to combine.
Stream in the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until combined.
Pour in the melted chocolate along with the sour cream. Whisk to combine.
Lastly, add the boiling water in two parts, whisking after each addition until the mixture is homogenous and no lumps remain.
Pour onto the prepared baking tray and bake for 15-18 mins or until the cake springs back when pressed lightly. Allow to cool completely.

For the salted caramel sauce:

In a deep pot, weight out the sugar, glucose and water together. Put over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar caramelizes and turns a deep amber brown colour.
Meanwhile, heat the heavy cream in a separate pot or in the microwave. Keep hot.
Once the sugar reaches the desired colour, remove from the heat and slowly pour in the hot cream in 3 parts, whisking after each addition. The caramel will bubble vigorously so be careful.
Put the caramel back on heat and cook for 30 seconds, whisking continuously.
Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 mins. Add the butter and whisk to combine.
Add the scraped vanilla seeds and salt and whisk to combine. Emulsify using an immersion blender.
Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool completely before use. Transfer to a piping bag. Keep refrigerated.

For the coffee whipped ganache:

Weigh out the cold water in a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatine powder over it and allow to set in the refrigerator for 10 mins.
Weigh out the white chocolate in a small measuring jug.
In a pot, add the heavy cream, scraped vanilla seeds along with the pod and the coffee powder. Place over medium heat and heat until the cream is just about to boil.
Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and emulsify with an immersion blender. Alternatively you can also use a whisk.
Add the bloomed gelatine mass and creme fraiche and emulsify again.
Pour the ganache into a plastic container, place a layer of cling wrap on the surface of the ganache and refrigerate for min. 8 hours.
The next day, whip the ganache at medium speed until it reaches medium stiff peaks. Transfer to a piping bag, fitted with a nozzle of your choice. Refrigerate until use.

Assembly:

Spread a layer of the hazelnut croustillant at the base of the cooled tart shells.
Use a cookie cutter to cut the chocolate cake, a size smaller than the tart shell so that it fits perfectly inside. Place the chocolate cake inside the tart shell.
Pipe a layer of the salted caramel sauce over the cake. Use a palette knife to smoothen the top. Refrigerate for 5 mins.
Pipe the whipped ganache on top. Garnish with roasted hazelnuts. Serve immediately. Bon appetite!

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