Dark Chocolate Spelt Tart

I made this for my sister’s birthday popup dinner this week and is went down a storm. It has a wonderfully velvety smooth and rich filling with a flavourful, light pastry. It’s actually quite simple to make as tarts go because there are only two stages but you must make sure you use a good quality chocolate. The main ingredient is choccy, so trust me, it has to be a good one. I recommend Lindt 70% coco for a good main stream one.

Serves 12

Ingredients:

For the pastry

300g spelt flour

180g unsalted cold butter, diced

100g unrefined caster sugar

1 medium egg yolk

Pinch of sea salt

For the filling

5 medium eggs (4 yolks and 1 whole egg - lightly beaten)

300g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

135g unsalted soft butter

3 tsp vanilla extract or seeds from 1 vanilla pod

1 tsp instant coffee

140g unrefined caster sugar

100ml maple syrup

Coco powder for dusting

Start by making the pastry and add the spelt, salt and icing sugar to a blender and pulse blend to mix it. Then add in the diced butter and blend. The mix should start to come together and after a couple of minutes add in the vanilla and egg yolk. Continue blending until the pastry comes together into a ball and wrap in cling film to rest in the fridge for at least one hour or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees on the fan setting. Use a brush to evenly grease a loose bottom tart tray (23cm) and then dust gently with spelt flour so that it is lightly coated. Place into the fridge/freezer to keep cool. Get the chilled pastry and use a grater on the larger seating and start to grate the pastry. I like to do this instead over rolling so that you end up handling the pastry as little as possible. You want to try and keep it cool at all times. Get the pastry tin and begin fitting the dough into the mould. I would make it around 1cm thick. Make sure you create neat tart edges and you may end up with a little excess pastry that you can make into small biscuits. Blind bake with some baking parchment and baking beans on top for 15 minutes and then carefully remove the beans and paper and bake for another 5-7 minutes. Bake until the top is lightly golden and then remove.

While the tart is blind baking you can make a start on the filling. Melt the chocolate and butter over a bains-Marie (bowl over a saucepan of simmering water) until completely melted being careful not to let the bowl touch the water or it can ruin the chocolate. Add the sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract to the beaten eggs bowl. Place a sieve over the eggs and use a spoon to push the instant coffee through and mix well. Now stir the eggs mix into the melted chocolate and butter until well combined. Slowly pour this into the tart case and use a spatula to scrape everything in. Bake for another 25-3o minutes until the top is gently firm but still seems delicate to touch (not too firm) and leave to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled carefully remove from the tart dish and onto a serving plate with a light dusting of coco powder. This tart keeps well for about 3-4 days in a cool dry place covered. When slicing, wet a sharp knife with hot water and then dry it with a tea towel. Then make the first slice and then wet and clean the knife once more. Continue doing this to achieve perfect slices.