If you’re still looking for your Easter dessert, I may have the solution: a milk chocolate and passion fruit tart inspired by Carl Marletti (and his Tanariva passion fruit tart).
It’s a recipe I’d spotted in issue 16 of Fou de Pâtisserie magazine (quite a while ago, then). It’s not difficult to make and it pairs 2 flavours that go together wonderfully: milk chocolate and passion fruit. The combination of these two ingredients was popularised by the famous pastry chef Pierre Hermé under the name “Mogador”.
This milk chocolate and passion fruit tart is made up of a pâte sucrée, a praline crunchy layer, a passion fruit crémeux and a milk chocolate whipped ganache. It’s a real delight for the taste buds! It’s at once melting, crunchy and tangy, and will delight all lovers of chocolate and exotic fruit.
In this recipe, the chef uses passion fruit pulp. Although a little sceptical about finding the passion fruit seeds when tasting, I wanted to try his version. But I must admit I didn’t like feeling them crunch under my teeth (it didn’t bother my other half). It’s up to you — you can just as well replace the passion fruit pulp with passion fruit purée.
Ingredients & preparation
6 components · Full recipe
Milk chocolate whipped ganache (make the day before)
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) Valrhona Jivara 40% milk chocolate
- 65 g (2.3 oz) full-fat whipping cream
- 7 g (0.2 oz) mild honey
- 7 g (0.2 oz) glucose syrup
- 125 g (4.4 oz) full-fat whipping cream
Method
1
Break the milk chocolate into pieces in a bowl (you can melt it slightly in a bain-marie or in the microwave).
2
Heat the 65 g (2.3 oz) of cream in a saucepan with the honey and glucose syrup and bring to a boil.
3
Pour one-third of the cream over the milk chocolate and stir with a spatula to create an emulsion. Then add a second third, then a third, until the mixture is perfectly smooth and homogeneous.
4
Add the 125 g (4.4 oz) of cold cream and stir again. Blend briefly with an immersion blender to bring the mixture together completely.
5
Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate overnight.
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) eggs (1 large egg)
- 250 g (8.8 oz) plain flour
- 1 pinch of fleur de sel
- a knife tip of ground vanilla
Method
1
Place the softened butter and icing sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Add the ground almonds, vanilla powder, and fleur de sel, and mix again.
2
Then add the beaten egg and mix with a spatula (easier than using the mixer at this stage).
3
Finish with the flour and mix with the stand mixer until the dough comes together into a smooth, uniform ball. Do not overwork the dough. Bring it together gently. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions.
4
Wrap each dough ball in plastic wrap, shaping them into flattened rectangles. Refrigerate one overnight and freeze the other (to use for another tart).
5
The next day, roll out the dough to a thickness of 2–3 mm using a rolling pin. Cut out a round of dough measuring 24 cm (9.4 in) in diameter.
6
Grease a 20 cm (7.9 in) tart ring, then lay in the pastry, taking care to create a right angle at the base.
7
Refrigerate for at least 6 hours (ideally overnight). This quantity of dough makes 2 tarts. You will have leftover pastry which you can freeze for another dessert — very handy to always have some sweet pastry to hand.
Baking the sweet pastry
Ingredients
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 g (0.1 oz) whipping cream
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F.
2
Once the dough is well chilled, trim any excess dough that overhangs using a small knife.
3
Place a sheet of parchment paper over the tart shell and weigh it down with baking beads or dried beans for blind baking (if the tart shell has rested overnight in the fridge, the beads are usually not necessary as the pastry will not move).
4
Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the tart from the oven, remove the ring, and allow to cool slightly.
5
Smooth out any imperfections in the dough using a Microplane grater if needed.
6
Brush the tart shell and edges (inside and outside) with a mixture of egg yolk and liquid cream to give them a glossy finish (the liquid cream represents approximately 10% of the weight of the yolk).
7
Continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes (the pastry should be a deep golden brown). Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Croustillant praliné
Ingredients
- 50 g (1.8 oz) praline
- 27 g (1 oz) crêpes dentelle (feuilletine)
- 17 g (0.6 oz) Valrhona Jivara 40% milk chocolate
Method
1
Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave or in a bain-marie.
2
Crumble the feuilletine wafers and add the praline.
3
Then fold in the melted chocolate and mix everything together.
Crémeux passion
Ingredients
- 50 g (1.8 oz) fresh passion fruit pulp (about 2 fruits)
- 50 g (1.8 oz) passion fruit purée
- 52 g (1.8 oz) egg yolks (3 yolks)
- 60 g (2.1 oz) whole eggs (1 large egg)
- 55 g (1.9 oz) caster sugar
- 50 g (1.8 oz) butter
Method
1
In a saucepan, combine the passion fruit purée, the passion fruit pulp, the whole eggs, the egg yolks, and the sugar, then mix with a whisk.
2
Heat to 83°C / 181°F, stirring constantly. The cream will thicken. This is like cooking a crème anglaise — be careful not to exceed this temperature. If you have no thermometer, here is chef Michalak’s tip: whisk the mixture rapidly, then stop. If the “whirlpool” stops immediately, the cream is at the right temperature.
3
Pass the mixture through a sieve into a jug. When it has cooled to around 40°C / 104°F, add the cold butter cut into pieces and blend with an immersion blender until smooth and homogeneous.
Assembly
Ingredients
- Aucun
Method
1
Spread the praline crôustillant evenly over the base of the sweet pastry in a thin layer using a small offset spatula.
2
Pour the passion crémeux over the top — it should reach the edge of the tart. Leave to set in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour (or longer in the fridge, depending on your schedule).
3
Whip the milk chocolate ganache in a stand mixer until not too stiff. Transfer to a piping bag without a nozzle and cut the tip to the desired size. This allows you to achieve a Saint-Honoré-style piping without a nozzle. The idea is to keep the piping fairly fine.
4
Arrange a few chocolate eggs, crunchy pearls, and small chocolate decorations on top (or any other decoration of your choice).
5
Spread the praline croustillant evenly over the base of the sweet pastry in a thin layer using a small offset spatula. Pour the passion crémeux over the top — it should reach the edge of the tart. Leave to set in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Whip the milk chocolate ganache with an electric mixer until it reaches a soft, spreadable consistency. Transfer to a piping bag with the end snipped off (this gives a Saint-Honoré-style pipe at whatever width you like). The aim is to keep the piping fairly fine.
6
Pipe parallel lines of ganache as evenly as possible. Add a few chocolate eggs, crunchy pearls, and small chocolate decorations (or any other decoration of your choice). Refrigerate until ready to serve.
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