Double chocolate raspberry tart

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Victoria Glass's entry to this year's Godiva Chocolate Challenge, a chocolate and raspberry tart recipe, is topped off with crunchy meringue 'pearls' for a pleasing texture. The white chocolate and raspberry mousse is encased in a rich chocolate pastry and topped off with a decadent dark chocolate glaze for a dazzling finish.

First published in 2015

Having recently completed my fifth book, Deliciously Chocolatey, you’d be forgiven for thinking I’d have had my fill of chocolate. But I’m not convinced I ever could and I’m certainly not alone. Stats published last year show the average Briton consumes 7.5 kilos of chocolate a year. We are only beaten by Germany (7.9 kilos per capita) and Switzerland, who eat a staggering 9 kilos of chocolate per head per annum. And who can blame them? From the tingle of anticipation, to the glorious reward as it melts slowly on your tongue, chocolate is a unique and matchless luxury.

The Latin for cacao, 'Theobroma', doesn’t mean 'food of the gods' for nothing. Indulgent and seductive, chocolate is the epitome of celebration, cheering even the darkest of days. It even has the added bonus of containing multiple health benefits. Generous levels of magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, copper, iron and calcium can all be found in chocolate and recent research indicates that cocoa products can actually help to lower blood pressure and alleviate stress – two of the leading causes of heart disease and stroke.

If that’s not enough of an excuse to satiate your cocoa fix, then Godiva’s latest competition certainly has to be. They have launched a new and delicious range of meringue mousse chocolates and are generously donating 10% of all future British sales to Breast Cancer Now. In honour of this, the Belgian giants of luxury chocolate have set a challenge to coincide with Chocolate Week. They are conducting a nationwide hunt to discover the UK’s best chocolate dessert, but they don’t want just any old chocolate dessert. They are looking for a chocolate dessert with meringue and a touch of pink.

I have rolled up my sleeves, tied up my apron strings and thrown my entry into the ring with my double chocolate raspberry tart. Chocolate pastry filled with a generous layer of white chocolate and raspberry mousse topped with a dark chocolate glaze studded with freeze-dried raspberry pieces and pearls of meringue.

What chocolate dessert will you make for your competition entry?

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Chocolate pastry

White chocolate and raspberry mousse

Meringue pearls

  • 1 egg white
  • 1 pinch of salt, small
  • 2 tbsp of caster sugar, heaped
  • 1/2 tsp cornflour
  • 1/4 tsp white wine vinegar

Dark chocolate glaze

Method

1
To make the pastry, blitz the icing sugar, plain flour and cocoa in a food processor until well mixed. Add the cubes of butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks, milk and salt, and pulse again until just combined. Tip the soft dough on to a sheet of cling film, wrap it up and pop it in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour
2
On a work surface lightly dusted with flour, roll the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin. Line an 8-inch (20cm) tart tin, gently pushing the pastry into place with your thumbs. Place the tart tin on a baking tray, leaving any overhanging pastry. Pop the tart case in the fridge until chilled and firm
3
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
4
Line the pastry with baking parchment – I find the easiest way to do this is to crumple the parchment roughly before sitting it snugly inside the tart case – and cover with baking beans. Blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the baking beans and parchment and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. Trim the edges of the pastry with a small sharp knife. Leave to cool
5
To make the white chocolate and raspberry mousse, begin by melting the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of barely simmering water. Leave to cool slightly before whisking in the egg yolks, followed by the raspberry purée
6
Whisk the cream until soft peaks form and fold into the raspberry chocolate mixture. Squeeze the excess water out of the gelatine and melt by whisking in 1-2 tbsp of boiling water. Whisk into the raspberry mixture. Using clean beaters, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff
7
Fold into the raspberry chocolate mixture until streak-free and pour into the pastry case. Pop it into the fridge for at least 4 hours or until set
8
Preheat the oven to 120˚C/gas mark 1/2 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment
9
In the meantime, make the meringue pearls. Simply whisk the egg white with salt until stiff and gradually add the sugar, whisking between each addition until stiff and glossy. Whisk in the cornflour and vinegar and transfer to a piping bag. Snip off the end and pipe 1cm drops, leaving enough room in between to allow for spreading. Bake for 20 minutes and then turn the oven off. Leave the meringue pearls to cool as the oven cools
10
To make the chocolate glaze, melt the chocolate, cream and butter together in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of barely simmering water. Leave to cool slightly before whisking in the egg yolk
11
Leave to cool a little more before pouring over the white chocolate and raspberry mousse and level the top with a palette knife. Decorate the top with freeze-dried raspberry pieces and meringue pearls and return the tart to the fridge for an hour, or until set
First published in 2015

Victoria is a London-based food writer and recipe developer. She was the Roald Dahl Museum’s first ever Gastronomic Writer in Residence and has written six books, including her latest, Too Good To Waste.

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