Tuesday 4 March 2008

Raspberry and White Chocolate Tart


On Sunday I cooked Sunday lunch for my inlaws. It was also Mothers Day here so I wanted to do something a bit special for them. It was actually my husband that invited them as he thought it would be nice for his mum not to have to cook. Note that he didn't actually volunteer to do the cooking instead though.


I had decided to do roast chicken but when I went up to our local butchers on Saturday, he didn't have any left. This meant a swift change of plan and I decided to do beef instead. I got carried away and bought rather a large piece. It was far more than I needed to feed the four of us but meant that we had plenty of leftovers.


I then needed to decide what to make for dessert. I don't normally make a lot of desserts when it is just the two of us but wanted to make the effort and do something yummy. I did think about a crumble but my mother in law makes such delicious ones that I didn't think mine would measure up. I also wanted to try something new and different.


When I went shopping I came across some delicious looking raspberries so bought them and thought I could come up with something when I got home. Raspberries are one of my favourite things and I did think about making a pavlova with them. In the end I decided to make a raspberry and white chocolate tart. This also gave me the chance to try out my new KitchenAid mixer that I had got for my birthday.


This tart had a pastry case that was made using cocoa powder for a delicious chocolate flavour. While the tart case was cooking I melted some white chocolate and whipped up some cream. I then combined the two and filled the cooled tart case with the chocolate cream mixture. The cream was topped with raspberries and I made a raspberry coulis to serve with it. I was very impressed with this tart and will definately be making it again. Everyone really liked it and my father in law even said it was the nicest dessert he had ever had. For that I had to give him a second slice to take home for later.


Serves 8


For the pastry:

150g/5½oz plain flour
25g/1oz cocoa powder
75g/2½oz icing sugar
125g/4½oz unsalted butter
2 tbsp ice cold water


For the white choolate cream:
200g/6oz white chocolate
1 free-range egg yolk
dash hot water
300ml/7fl oz double cream, whipped
200g fresh raspberries


For the raspberry coulis:
2 tsp icing sugar
200g/7oz fresh raspberries


1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.
2. For the pastry, sieve the flour, cocoa powder and icing sugar together into the bowl of a food processor or mixer. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Slowly add the iced water to the mixture and continue to pulse until it comes together in a ball of dough. Place into a bowl, cover in cling film and allow to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out the dough as thinly as possible on a lightly floured surface. Line a tart tin with the pastry. Prick the base with a fork, line with non-stick baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Place the tart tin on a baking tray and blind bake in the preheated oven for ten minutes. Remove the beans and baking parchment and bake for a further five minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and cooked through. Leave to cool.
4. For the white chocolate cream, melt the white chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water. When melted, add an egg yolk and a dash of hot water and whisk together. Allow to cool slightly. Fold in the whipped cream. When the tart case is cool. fill it with the white chocolate cream mixture and top with the raspberries.
5. To make the raspberry coulis, place the raspberries into a small blender with the icing sugar and process until smooth. Check the sweetness and add more sugar if necessary. Then pass the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds.
6. Serve the tart with a drizzle of the raspberry coulis and some vanilla ice cream if you wish.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks delicious Teresa, a really good flavour combination.
Lovely plate too :)

Anonymous said...

That looks lovely. I think I'll try that next time I have guests.

Jules said...

Sounds like a lovely Mother's Day lunch. I adore raspberries and this sounds like a delicious dessert.

Thinking About Food said...

looks gorgeous Teresa!

violets said...

Oh my goodness that just looks so delicious!

Vi xx

Kelly-Jane said...

Oh it looks gorgeous! I'm a big raspberry fan =)

Anonymous said...

Teresa, that looks lovely. Well done!

AmyGray xxxx

hungryandfrozen said...

That looks seriously delicious...I absolutely love white chocolate!

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sweetmate! said...

That looks amazing Teresa - I want to try making it, but you don't actually cook the white chocolate filling, is that right?