Salted chocolate tart with hazelnut praline & raspberry coulis

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the pastry: tip plain flour, cocoa powder, icing sugar and fine sea salt into a large bowl. Rub in the cubed unsalted butter with your fingertips until the mix resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the beaten large egg and bring together quickly to a firm dough — do not overwork. Flatten into a disc, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

2. 2

   Heat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C conventional. Roll the chilled pastry on a lightly floured surface to a circle large enough to line a 23cm loose‑bottom tart tin. Gently press into the tin, trim the edges and prick the base with a fork. Line with baking paper and baking beans, then blind‑bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes until the base is set.

3. 3

   Toast the hazelnuts on a baking tray in the oven for 8–10 minutes until fragrant; rub them in a tea towel to remove loose skins.

4. 4

   Make the hazelnut praline: in a heavy‑bottomed saucepan warm 100g of the caster sugar over medium heat without stirring until it melts and turns a deep amber. Remove from the heat and stir in 15g of the unsalted butter and a pinch of the fine sea salt, then quickly fold in the toasted hazelnuts. Tip onto a lined baking tray and spread thinly. Leave to cool and harden, then break into shards and roughly chop a few pieces for garnish.

5. 5

   Make the raspberry coulis: put the fresh raspberries, 25g caster sugar and the juice of the lemon into a small saucepan with 15ml water. Gently simmer for 3–5 minutes until the fruit breaks down. Blitz with a stick blender (or purée in a blender) then press through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Cool to room temperature.

6. 6

   Make the ganache filling: gently warm the double cream and golden syrup in a saucepan until it just begins to simmer. Remove from the heat and pour over the chopped dark chocolate and the remaining unsalted butter in a heatproof bowl. Leave for a moment, then stir gently until glossy and smooth. Season with a small pinch of fine sea salt to taste.

7. 7

   Pour the ganache into the warm blind‑baked tart shell and gently tap the tin on the work surface to level. Let come to room temperature, then chill in the fridge for 2 hours to set.

8. 8

   To finish, scatter shards of hazelnut praline and the reserved chopped hazelnuts over the set tart, arrange the remaining fresh raspberries, and sprinkle a little flaked sea salt across the surface. Serve slices with raspberry coulis drizzled alongside.

Tips

• Keep the butter for the pastry cold and handle the dough as little as possible to avoid a tough case.
• If you don’t have baking beans, dried rice will do in a pinch for blind‑baking — just discard afterwards.
• Make the praline ahead and store in an airtight tin for up to 3 days; it adds texture and lifts the tart beautifully.
• For clean slices, warm and dry the knife between cuts using kitchen paper; a neat trick for glossy ganache tarts.
• Leftover coulis keeps in the fridge for 2 days — dilute with a little water if too thick when serving.

Substitutions

• dark chocolate → milk chocolate (use a minimum of 50% cocoa solids), flavour will be sweeter and less intense

  Noticeably different

• hazelnuts → almonds in the same quantity, toasted and used for praline (different flavour and texture)

  Stays close

• double cream → single cream mixed with 30g unsalted butter (keeps ganache richer), but mouthfeel will be slightly lighter

  Stays close

Nutrition

Per serving · estimated

870

Calories

9 g

Protein

60 g

Carbs

66 g

Fat

4 g

Fibre

36 g

Sugar

150 mg

Sodium

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