As you may have seen with my previous article (the Father Christmas Yule log with pistachio, red berries and vanilla), Christmas recipes are arriving on the blog, to my great delight. I don’t know about you, but I love this festive season ♥ You now have a month left to practise and find THE dessert that will take pride of place on your table on Christmas Eve. You’ve got this!
But because there’s more to life than Christmas, I’ve decided to publish other recipes, perhaps more accessible, in any case ones that can be made at any time of the year. For this last month before the holidays, I’ve decided to speed up the publishing pace. So you’ll discover a festive recipe at the weekend (Saturday or Sunday evening) and a recipe of a different style on Wednesdays. I hope that suits everyone. I’ll go back to my usual publishing rhythm (one recipe a week, at the weekend) after the holidays.
For this new recipe, I wanted to pair a chocolate tart with banana, a well-known combination that works wonderfully. That said, I had a little salted butter caramel left in the fridge. So I decided to include this element in my recipe.
The tart base is spread with salted butter caramel to die for (and this is coming from someone who isn’t a salted butter caramel fan, which says it all!) and to echo this flavour, I made a caramel whipped ganache that I piped Jeffrey Cagnes-style (I’d already done it with the lime and yuzu tart). I absolutely wanted to make this ganache from a ready-made salted butter caramel, though, and I found a very simple recipe on the blog Casserole et chocolat.
You’ll easily notice that my caramel whipped ganache is rather pale. In fact, when I made my salted butter caramel, I made a very simple mistake: I didn’t cook the caramel far enough. So it was slightly paler than my usual caramel (you’ll find the recipe here). It was still very good, though perhaps slightly sweeter (but that’s precisely due to the cooking problem). If your caramel is made properly, you’ll see that your whipped ganache will be a little darker than mine, and all the better!
Verdict? It’s suuuuper indulgent and this tart was a huge hit. No need to serve overly large slices (although, you do as you like!) it’s so rich.Let yourself be tempted and don’t be put off by the length of the recipe. You just need to get organised:
- The caramel can be made several days in advance (it keeps easily in the fridge in an airtight container),
- The whipped ganache can be made in advance too (it stays in the freezer),
- The pâte sucrée can be made 2 days before or the day before.
Ingredients & method
5 components · Full recipe
Salted butter caramel (can be made in advance)
Ingredients
- 95 g (3.4 oz) sugar
- 50 g (1.8 oz) + 100 g (3.5 oz) glucose
- 50 g (1.8 oz) milk
- 1 vanilla bean
- 200 g (7.1 oz) heavy cream
- 2 g (0.1 oz) fleur de sel
- 70 g (2.5 oz) butter
Method
1
In a small saucepan, heat the cream, milk, 50 g (1.8 oz) of glucose, vanilla and fleur de sel.
2
In another saucepan, cook the sugar and the 100 g (3.5 oz) of glucose to reach a temperature of 185°C / 365°F.
3
Off the heat, deglaze with the hot cream. Be careful of splashes.
4
Return to the heat and cook to 105°C / 221°F, stirring with a spatula. Strain through a fine sieve if needed.
5
Let the caramel cool slightly and when it reaches 70°C / 158°F, add the butter cut into small pieces. Blend with a hand blender and transfer to an airtight jar.
Salted caramel whipped ganache
Ingredients
- 80 g (2.8 oz) white chocolate
- 50 g (1.8 oz) heavy cream
- 150 g (5.3 oz) very cold heavy cream
- 100 g (3.5 oz) salted butter caramel (recipe above)
Method
1
Break the white chocolate into pieces in a bowl and melt in a bain-marie or microwave.
2
In a small saucepan, heat the 50 g (1.8 oz) of cream with the salted butter caramel.
3
As soon as the cream simmers, pour a third over the chocolate and mix with a spatula to create an emulsion. Then add a second third, then the final third, to obtain a smooth and homogeneous mixture.
4
Add the 150 g (5.3 oz) of cold heavy cream and mix with a spatula. Blend with a hand blender for a few seconds to fully combine.
5
Blend with a hand blender, cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight. For piping the salted caramel whipped ganache:
6
The next day, whip the caramel ganache like a whipped cream.
7
Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a plain 10 mm tip.
8
On a tray lined with a guitar sheet and a 20 cm (7.9 in) diameter ring, pipe small balls of ganache starting from the outside to form a disc. Be careful not to make the balls too tall.
9
Freeze for 2 hours. Make sure the ganache doesn’t touch the ring (at worst, it just grazes it). Otherwise, you’ll get edges that are not very clean or tidy.
Sweet pastry (start 2 days ahead or the day before)
Ingredients
- 150 g (5.3 oz) butter
- 95 g (3.4 oz) icing sugar
- 30 g (1.1 oz) ground almonds
- 60 g (2.1 oz) egg (one large egg)
- 250 g (8.8 oz) flour
- a pinch of fleur de sel
- a knife tip of vanilla powder
Method
1
Place the softened butter and icing sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle and mix on low speed. Add the ground almonds, vanilla powder and fleur de sel and mix again.
2
Add the beaten egg and mix with a spatula this time (it’s easier than with the machine).
3
Finish with the flour and mix with the machine until you have a smooth ball of dough. Don’t overwork the dough. Bring it together without pressing too much. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions.
4
Wrap each portion in cling film, forming a flattened rectangle of dough. Place one portion in the fridge overnight and the other in the freezer (for another tart).
5
The next day, roll the dough to a thickness of 2–3 mm with a rolling pin. Cut out a 24 cm (9.4 in) diameter disc of dough.
6
Grease a 20 cm (7.9 in) diameter tart ring then lay the dough in, taking care to create a right angle.
7
Refrigerate for at least 6 hours (ideally). Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F.
8
Once the dough is well chilled, trim the excess dough with a small knife.
9
Place a sheet of baking paper and add baking beads or dried beans to blind bake the pastry (normally, if the tart shell has rested in the fridge overnight, you won’t need baking beads – the dough won’t move).
10
Bake for about 30 minutes (it may take longer if the pastry isn’t sufficiently coloured). I’m briefly outlining the lining and baking steps (as done traditionally), but in reality I now use La pâte de Dom’s method, which produces beautifully neat tart shells. Her method may seem a little lengthy but the results are outstanding. I’d suggest watching her video tutorial on her YouTube page to find out more.
Chocolate ganache
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate
- 50 g (1.8 oz) milk chocolate
- 125 g (4.4 oz) heavy cream
- 25 g (0.9 oz) honey
- 1 vanilla bean
- 0.5 g (0 oz) fleur de sel
- 40 g (1.4 oz) butter
- 6 g (0.2 oz) whole milk
Method
1
In a small saucepan, heat the cream with the vanilla seeds. Add the salt, milk and honey.
2
Meanwhile, break the chocolate into pieces in a tall container (I use a jug).
3
When the liquid reaches 75°C / 167°F, pour it over the chocolate. Blend with a hand blender to obtain a smooth and homogeneous mixture.
4
When the ganache has cooled to about 40°C / 104°F, gradually incorporate the pieces of butter and blend again until the ganache is smooth, taking care not to incorporate any bubbles.
Assembly
Ingredients
- 1 banana
Method
1
Spread salted butter caramel over the tart shell.
2
Slice a banana into fairly thin rounds (about 5 mm thick).
3
Pour the ganache over the tart shell.
4
Leave to cool at room temperature first, then refrigerate (for a minimum of 2–3 hours so the ganache sets properly).
5
Remove the disc of salted caramel whipped ganache, flip it over and carefully place it on the chocolate ganache, using a large spatula, centred. Do not hold the disc with your hands at the edges, or you risk a ball coming loose from the disc (I’ve tested it for you!).
6
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour until the whipped ganache defrosts.
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