We had a stall at the fabulous Kingussie Food on Film event in early February, and were asked to do a cooking demonstration on the stage with Pennie Latin. Decided to do a simple chocolate ganache tart; infact we did two - one flavoured with amaretto and decorated with little biscuits and the other flavoured with Raspberry Gin from Berry Good. (No picture of the tarts I am afraid as they got eaten before anyone could get a photo!)
Pastry case
For a 23cm flan case:
- 150g plain flour
- 25g icing sugar
- 125g butter (soft)
Mix until comes together as a dough. Wrap and put in fridge of 20 mins. Roll out and line the flan tin. Prick the bottom with a fork, chill for
another 20 minutes. Preheat oven to
190C/Gas mark 5; line the pastry case with paper and fill with baking beans.
Bake for 15 minutes. Remove beans and
paper and bake for another 15 mins.
Remove from oven and leave to cool
Ganache filling
- 200g double cream
- 300g 70% chocolate or 350g milk chocolate
- Fruit for decoration or inclusion, fresh berries, crystallised roses, ginger, nuts
- Liqueur for flavouring (eg Amaretto, whisky, ginger wine)
Place the chocolate in a mixing bowl; if it is a bar of
chocolate, break into small pieces, cutting if necessary so that the pieces are
the size of small chocolate chips
Warm the cream in a saucepan to just under boiling, and then
pour over the chocolate in the bowl, ensuring that all the chocolate is covered
in warm cream. Leave for a couple of minutes, and then take a whisk and slowly
stir to mix the cream and melting chocolate.
There is no need to beat the mixture, just slowly stir until all the
bits of chocolate have melted.
If you want to add a liqueur or flavoring, do so once the
ganache is made and still warm and liquid.
Use the whisk to slowly stir it in, and add enough to get the desired
taste.
Immediately poor this mixture into the pastry shell; knock
gently to ensure the ganache levels out in the shell. Decorate the top if desired.
