And my love affair with chocolate continues with this uber delicious Salted Caramel Chocolate Ganache Tart. No, I’m not feeling very humble praising my own creation at the moment because I’m biting into layers of creamy rich chocolate ganache, sticky sweet caramel and buttery flakey tart pastry. I’m feeling happy and to be honest pretty proud to see my family going into a trance with the first bite.

This is what chocolate does, right! It makes us happy. And paired with caramel, I think I’m running out of superlatives to describe. I chose dark chocolate for the ganache to contrast with the extreme sweetness of caramel to balance the flavours. The two insignificant looking ingredients in the list actually make the whole difference to the flavour profile – coarse sea salt and orange zest. These two are sprinkled on top at the end and they cut through the bitterness of chocolate and sweetness of caramel, and bring the whole thing together.

There are many recipes to bake the classic chocolate tart but I like to keep the ingredients list short and procedure as simple as possible. You can see that my ganache and caramel are made with just two ingredients, and pastry with four. You can play around mixing and matching more flavours, like vanilla, almond or coffee but I like the chocolate to be the star of the show in this one and the other ingredients simply supporting cast.

Other toppings and garnishing that work well with this Salted Caramel and Chocolate Ganache Tart are walnuts, strawberries, cherries, blueberries and whipped cream.

Ingredients:

For Tart Crust:

2 cups plain flour
1+1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
4 tablespoons cold water or milk

For Caramel Sauce:

1+1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
A pinch salt

For Chocolate Ganache:

2 cups heavy cream
1+1/2 cup milk or dark chocolate

For Garnish:

Coarse sea salt
Orange zest

This Is What You Do:

Mix flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.

Rub in cold butter with your fingers till the mixture resembles coarse sand.

Add one tablespoon cold water or milk at a time. Keep mixing till the dough comes together.

OR you can chuck all the ingredients in your food processor and make a quick dough.

Whether mixing by hand or in a food processor, do not overwork the dough.

Wrap the tart dough in plastic sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile preheat the oven at 175 degrees C.

On a floured surface, roll out the tart dough into a large disc, almost 1/8 inch thick.

Lightly grease a pie dish or tart pan with remove able bottom.

Carefully wrap the pastry around the rolling pin. Move it over the pan and unroll it.

Press the edges in the sides of the pan, trim away the extra dough with a knife.

Poke holes in dough with a fork. Place a large parchment paper or foil paper on top of the dough and fill with dry beans so that the pastry doesn’t puff up while baking.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans, bake another 10 to 15 minutes or till the crust is light golden in colour.

Completely cool at room temperature before filling.

For Caramel Sauce-
Heat all ingredients of sauce in a pan on medium heat till it thickens to the consistency of thick custard.

For Chocolate Ganache-
Heat cream in a small sauce pan till it boils. Add chocolate and stir together till the chocolate melts and there are no white streaks left.

Pour warm caramel sauce into the tart shell. Refrigerate it for 30-40 minutes or till the upper layer sets completely.

Pour the warm chocolate ganache once the caramel sauce is set. Spread evenly with a spatula. Refrigerate again for an hour or till the whole thing is firm.

Or you can make a swirl tart by slightly mixing the two sauces with a fork in the tart shell.

Sprinkle orange zest and coarse sea salt over the tart before serving.

Serves 8