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Chocolate and Earl grey tea tartIf you are a chocolate-lover, it doesn’t get much better than this. Just make sure you use the best-quality chocolate you can find. I use Valrhona Caraïbe dark chocolate, which is 66 per cent cocoa, or Valrhona Jivara milk chocolate, which is 40 per cent cocoa. 
30 minutes prep. 
1 hour cooking
Serves 8-10 |
Ingredients
- 3 cups (750 ml) pouring cream
- 5 Earl Grey tea bags
- 50 g good-quality dark chocolate
- 420 g good-quality milk chocolate
- 50 g unsalted butter, softened
- good-quality cocoa powder, for dusting
- 50 g good-quality dark chocolate
- 5 egg yolks
- 100 g caster sugar
- 1½ tablespoons good-quality cocoa powder
- 4 egg whites
- 150 ml cream
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and reserved, pod set aside for another use
Method
- Firstly, make the chocolate sponge. Preheat the oven to 190°C and lightly grease a 30 cm × 40 cm baking tray, then line with non-stick baking paper.
- Melt the 50g dark chocolate in a dry heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that you don’t let any water come into contact with the chocolate. Once the chocolate has melted, transfer it to a mixing bowl and set aside to cool slightly.
- In an electric mixer, whisk the egg yolks with half the caster sugar until thick and pale. Fold this into the melted chocolate, then fold in the cocoa.
- Whisk the egg whites in the electric mixer until soft peaks form, then gradually add the remaining sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold this into the chocolate mixture until combined. Spread the mixture evenly onto the prepared tray to a thickness of 1 cm and top with another sheet of non-stick baking paper.
- Bake for about 10 minutes or until the sponge is just cooked and springy to the touch
- Meanwhile, bring the 3 cups (750 ml) cream to a simmer in a saucepan, then remove from the heat and add the tea bags, leaving to infuse while the cream cools to room temperature.
- Lightly grease a 23 cm × 24 cm × 2.5 cm depth lamington or Swiss roll tin.
- Remove the sponge from the oven and, when cool enough to handle, take a rolling pin and firmly roll it over the top sheet of non-stick baking paper. This will flatten the sponge and make it denser (you want it about 3 mm thick). Remove and discard the top layer of non-stick baking paper and then trim the sponge to fit the prepared tin.
- Pick up the ends of the bottom layer of non-stick baking paper and transfer the sponge to the tin – it should fit snugly. Fold the excess non-stick baking paper over the sides of the tin.
- Melt the dark chocolate in a dry heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that you don’t let any water come into contact with the chocolate. Once melted, brush the chocolate evenly over the sponge and place the tin in the fridge for about 10 minutes to set.
- Melt the milk chocolate in a dry heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that you don’t let any water come into contact with the chocolate. Once melted, pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer, then pour over the infused cream, discarding the tea bags. Mixing slowly, add the butter, a little at a time, and continue mixing until the chocolate cools, then pour this mixture evenly over the sponge and place the tin back in the fridge to set overnight.
- To make the creme chantilly, place the cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds into a large bowl and whip until firm.
- Just prior to serving, remove the tart from the fridge, cut into rectangles about 6 cm × 9 cm and dust with a thick layer of cocoa powder. Serve with a generous dollop of creme chantilly.
