Millionaires' marbled chocolate tart

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Inspired by the teatime classic of millionaires' shortbread, this decadent chocolate tart recipe from Danny Kingston still has all the luxurious layers of the original – a crisp, golden base of shortcrust pastry, oozing salted caramel and an indulgent dark chocolate topping rippled with white chocolate. The perfect dessert for a celebratory occasion, or perhaps for treating mum on Mother's Day.

First published in 2016

The key to creating this sumptuous and gooey treat for Mother’s Day, in all honesty, is to get up extra early in the morning to cook it. Say about 4 o’clock. And yes, I know what you are thinking, that is a ridiculous time to get up on a Sunday morning. Especially since many Mums can look forward to a lie-in on that heralded day of the year. ‘What’s the rush?’ I hear you say. There should be plenty of time to bake this before delivering a well deserved cup of tea in bed.

However, with this tart, there is always the inherent danger of not having any dessert to present in the afternoon. Because once the kids get whiff of this, you are doomed. After bombing down the stairs, ignoring desperate pleas for quiet, not only will they want to help you make this tart, they will also want dibs on the chocolate bowl. To clean and lick with eager fingers. They will want to get their hands on the bowl covered in a veneer of white chocolate too. Not forgetting the caramel bowl and quite naturally, they will want eat up the scraps of delicate sweet shortcrust. Scraps that have been shaved off after blind baking.

This is all fine. It’s a truly organic way of cleaning up and eliminating food waste. But soon they will start eying up the final product. Wafting glorious smells of cocoa and butter throughout the kitchen, that tart will sit there, gently cooling down. And they will look at you. And you will look back at them. And then you will all look at the tart. And before you know it, it will be sliced and diced up and demolished in seconds. Time will blur in a frenzy of gulps, slurps and smacks of the lips. And when it’s done, you will all turn, to find Mum standing in the doorway, full of reproach and scorn. You won’t even have time to wipe your collective, chocolatey, grubby little guilty mouths to hide the evidence.

No, best you get up early to make this Millionaire’s marbled chocolate tart and, even if you don’t have children, it’s going to be struggle to make sure it hits the table later in the day. All unscathed and complete.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Base

  • 375g of shortcrust pastry

Salted caramel filling

Chocolate topping

To decorate

Method

1
Take the shortcrust pastry out of the fridge 45 minutes before using to allow it to come to room temperature
2
Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Lightly grease a 23cm square (or rectangular) tart tin with a removable base
3
Roll out the pastry to the thickness of a pound coin, making sure it is wide enough to line the tin completely with plenty of pastry to overhang the sides. Carefully lift the rolled pastry over the tin and gently press into the base and up the sides
4
Use a fork to prick the base a few times, then line the pastry with baking paper and weigh down with baking beans
5
Bake blind for 15 minutes, then remove the beans and paper and return the tin to the oven for another 5 minutes until the pastry is fully cooked through – it should be crisp and a golden biscuit colour
6
Leave to cool slightly, then trim off the excess pastry from the sides with a sharp knife to leave a smooth, neat edge
7
Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/gas mark 4
8
Smooth the caramel over the base of the pastry – if too thick to use, whisk the caramel briefly in a bowl to make it easier to spread. Sprinkle the sea salt flakes over the top and set aside while making the chocolate topping
9
Place the dark chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water on the hob, ensuring that the bowl is not touching the water. Do the same with the white chocolate in a separate bowl
10
Allow both to melt down gently, stirring the dark chocolate and butter together so that they are fully incorporated. When both are melted, turn off the heat but leave the bowls sat over the water to stay warm
11
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, yolks and caster sugar with an electric whisk for 5 minutes. When the mixture has thickened and is pale in colour, pour in the dark chocolate and fold through to create an even mixture
12
Pour this into the tart tin to completely cover the caramel. Spoon lines of the melted white chocolate over the dark chocolate mixture and drag a cocktail stick through the white chocolate to create swirls
13
Bake the tart for 20 minutes until just set on top – the centre should still have a slight wobble when shaken
14
Leave to cool for an hour so that it is slightly gooey when cut. Slice into portions to serve, preferably with a handsome dollop of vanilla ice cream

Danny is a food adventurer, home grower, supper club host and writer of the entertaining and quirky epicurean blog, Food Urchin.

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