Chocolate tart with marzipan
Today, we are all kind of tense, anxious, thrilled. After two and a half months, our kids are back in their school desks. For some, it is the first time, so the excitement is even greater, both for parents and for the young ones.
We are supposed to mark this new beginning in some way, and there is no better way to do so, then with a present for all our senses. I still haven’t met a child nor a grown-up who doesn’t like the taste of chocolate.
components
- 200 gr marzipan
- 400 gr dark chocolate
- 300 gr mascarpone cheese
- 250 ml sweet cream, optional is 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons rum
- 2 tablespoon butter
- For dough 200 gr flour
- 3 tablespoons coco powder
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 egg (egg yolk only)
- 1/3 cup cold water
- some white chocolate for decoration
Instruction
- Dough preparation: combine dough, cocoa, 3 tbsp powdered sugar and salt. Add 1 tbsp butter, egg yolk, and 1/3 cup cold water (if it is necessary add more) and knead until you get smooth dough.
- Wrap the dough in foil and leave it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes, until you make the filling.
- Filling preparation: break chocolate and melt it on steam. Add 1 tbsp butter and stir. Then remove from the burner.
- Pour sweet cream (optional add powdered sugar) in the other dish and heat it till it boils.
- Add melted chocolate, rum, and vanilla extract to sweet cream, and combine it.
- When mixture has chilled add mascarpone cheese and stir it. Leave it on the side until you bake dough for tart.
- Take prepared dough from the fridge, dust the kitchen counter with flour and coco and spread the dough with rolling pin.
- Put dough in mold 23cm in diameter and remove the excess dough from the edges.
- Cover dough with the baking paper into which you’ve put beans as a substitute for weight and bake it for 15 minutes in the oven at 200°.
- After 15 minutes, remove beans and take the baking paper off, and bake it for another 5-10 minutes.
- When it’s baked, leave it for ten minutes to chill. In that time, spread the marzipan with the rolling pin.
- Tart should be composed by first placing the baked tart crust, then a layer of marzipan 7mm thick, and in the end the chocolate filling we’ve made.
- Decorate choco tart with season fruit and grated white chocolate.
Why chocolate?
Chocolate is so lovely and creamy. I wonder, how can we be allowed to enjoy in something as tasteful as this?
Chocolate used to have a reputation of unhealthy food, at least it did when I was a child. That has somewhat changed with the birth of my daughter, fifteen years ago. I remember I would go to the doctor, and the would cry that she wanted chocolate. I wouldn’t allow her to eat any before lunch because she would be full, I also wouldn’t allow it after lunch, because it would make her teeth go bad. The doctor gave me a piece of his mind and told me not to forbid the chocolate to the child because it feeds its brain. Then I turned over a new leaf and start giving her chocolate, because, for God’s sake, a competent person told me to. Now her brain is so well fed that she never closes her mouth, she speaks when she should and when she shouldn’t 🙂 .
It is a completely different situation today. People realized that there are benefits of the consumption of chocolate, or dark chocolate, to be more precise, especially among the younger population.
We love chocolate not only because of its flavor but also for its influence on our mood. It is among the top ten groceries that feed our brain, influence our mood and help us focus better, i.e. in this school example, it is referred to as ‘learning’.
We are going to deal with chocolate some more because I’m preparing you a surprise in one of the following posts. And until then, let’s focus on our today’s surprise upon the arrival from school.
What a surprise!
Chocolate tart or simply choco tart.
It is a very simple recipe to prepare, although at first, it may seem to have a lot to do with the crust part. However, based on my amateur experience, I can confirm that it is not exactly like that in practice. You can prepare faster than it may seem.
To make a dough, you can use a mixer at first, but it is easier if you do everything with your hands. According to the recipe, the dough should go through your hands twice (with just a little kneading), then wrap it in foil and leave it.
The basis for the filling of this tart is a classic chocolate ganache.
What is ganache?
Ganache is a chocolate cream for which we need just two ingredients- chocolate and sweet cream.
Depending what you use ganache for, the proportion of sweet cream and chocolate can vary. So, for example, for the glaze recipe, the proportion is 1:1. For the recipe for creams used as filling (thicker than a glaze), you need 100gr of chocolate for 50ml of sweet cream.
To prepare our ganache, you just have to add everything as it says in the filing preparation recipe, and that is all.
Not so complicated, is it?
When you bake dough, even though we’ve already talked about this in the goat cheese tart recipe, it doesn’t hurt to repeat it, you have to bake the dough twice.
First, layer it with the baking paper in which you put beans as a weight. Unless there are beans, the dough will rise and we won’t get the mold we wanted. Bake it for 10 minutes.
Afterwards, remove beans and paper, and bake it for additional 5-10 minutes, depending on the oven. My advice is to glance through the glass and be sure everything is under control.
And this is important too
There’s another important thing when you compose tart. You shouldn’t immediately put it in the fridge, especially if chocolate is still warm. Thus, it can turn white, which you wouldn’t like. You know how yucky those chocolates from the store which first melted and then firmed look. Let it chill first and then you can put it in the fridge.
The good side of this tart is that when you’re already kneading the dough, you can knead bigger amount. You can keep it in the fridge for a couple of days (the same thing with filling). When you need it, simply repeat the baking and composing process, and you have this delight in about 20 minutes.
And now, let’s do some tasting and improve our brain function, make an impact on our concentration and mood.
Happy beginning of new school year with this wonderful chocolate tart.
If you want to enjoy more in these chocolate delights, check this out:
Mascarpone cheese with chocolate
