Here’s a dessert I’d been wanting to make for months — ever since issue no. 3 of “Fou de Pâtisserie” came out, to be precise. A simple and delicious recipe for chocolate lovers like me. I took advantage of an evening last Saturday, when I had guests at home, to make this dessert 🙂 So it’s a Philippe Andrieu recipe: on a cocoa pâte sablée base (a marvel, by the way), a smooth chocolate cream topped with an indulgent chantilly cream (vanilla for me) for the “liégeois” touch — the whole thing isn’t too sweet and the chantilly pairs perfectly with the chocolate.
This recipe suggests using 70% cocoa chocolate, which is ideal for chocolate lovers. I’m not crazy about dark chocolate and I hesitated between Nestlé Dessert dark chocolate (52% cocoa) and milk chocolate. In the end I went for the Nestlé chocolate, but it was still a little strong for me. Next time I’ll try it with milk chocolate — it will be pure bliss!
Tips & Tricks
To pipe the chantilly in a rosette, start from the outside of the tartlet and work your way in.
If you are not making the cocoa sweet pastry the day before, bear in mind it can be quite tricky to work with as it warms up quickly.
I only served 6 tartlets, so I cut my ball of dough in half and put all the surplus dough in the freezer.
Ingredients & preparation
4 components · Full recipe
Cocoa Sweet Pastry (to make the day before)
Ingredients
- 250 g (8.8 oz) plain flour
- 150 g (5.3 oz) butter + 15 g (0.5 oz) for the tins
- 100 g (3.5 oz) icing sugar
- 30 g (1.1 oz) almond powder
- 15 g (0.5 oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 pinch of fleur de sel
- 1 whole egg
Preparation
1
In a bowl, sift the flour and add the cold butter cut into small pieces.
2
Add the icing sugar, cocoa powder, almond powder and fleur de sel.
3
Rub together between your palms until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4
Once the mixture is crumbly, add the egg and mix, but do not overwork the dough — it just needs to be smooth and homogenous. (If you have a stand mixer, you can do all of this in the bowl fitted with the paddle attachment.)
5
Wrap the dough in cling film, shaping it into a square or rectangle about 0.75 cm (0.3 in) thick. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using. You can also make it the day before — the dough will be easier to roll out.
6
On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out to 2 mm thickness, then line the buttered and floured tartlet tins. Leave to rest for 1 hour in the fridge.
7
Preheat the oven to 170°C / 340°F.
8
Meanwhile, dock the pastry with a fork to prevent it from puffing up during baking.
9
Line the tart cases with a round of baking paper, pressing it carefully into the corners and bringing it up over the edges to hold the pastry in place during baking. Fill with ceramic baking beans or dried pulses.
10
Bake the pastry cases for 25 minutes. Leave to cool.
Smooth Chocolate Cream
Ingredients
- 340 g (12 oz) dark chocolate
- 6 egg yolks
- 50 g (1.8 oz) sugar
- 250 g (8.8 oz) milk
- 250 g (8.8 oz) full-fat whipping cream
Preparation
1
Chop the chocolate into pieces and place in a bowl.
2
Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar.
3
Bring the milk and cream to a gentle simmer, then pour one third of the hot liquid over the egg yolk and sugar mixture. Return everything to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the cream thickens. This is known as cooking to a nappe (like a crème anglaise, around 85°C / 185°F). The cream should coat the back of the spoon — but must not boil.
4
Once the cream is ready, remove from the heat and pour over the chopped chocolate to stop the cooking. Continue stirring so the cream stays smooth and combines evenly with the chocolate. The texture should be silky.
5
Pour the slightly warm chocolate cream into the cooled pastry cases. Refrigerate the tartlets for 1 hour to allow the cream to set.
Vanilla Chantilly Cream
Ingredients
- 500 g (17.6 oz) full-fat whipping cream
- 40 g (1.4 oz) icing sugar
- 50 g (1.8 oz) mascarpone
- 1 vanilla pod
Preparation
1
For the chantilly cream, the full-fat cream must be refrigerator-cold. Place the bowl and whisk attachments in the freezer for 15 minutes beforehand.
2
Pour the cream into the chilled bowl along with the vanilla seeds, and whisk vigorously (by hand or with a mixer — the mixer is far easier).
3
As soon as the cream thickens (the whisk begins to leave trails), add the icing sugar and continue whisking until the cream is firm enough.
4
Transfer the chantilly to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and keep refrigerated.
Assembly
Ingredients
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- chopped almonds or cocoa nibs
Preparation
1
Remove the tartlets from the refrigerator.
2
Using the piping bag, pipe a pretty rosette of chantilly onto each tartlet.
3
Scatter a few chopped almonds over each tartlet and dust lightly with cocoa powder using a sieve.
4
Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
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