In this Chocolate Passion fruit tart recipe silky & rich chocolate ganache meets floral & tropical yet tangy passion fruit curd! If you have not tried pairing passion fruit and chocolate before, you are missing out, they are truly match-made in heaven!
Measure and cut butter into chunks and place it into the freezer for a few minutes
Sift together dry ingredients; flour, cocoa powder, icing sugar, almond, salt
Add very cold butter chunks into the dry ingredients, and rub the mixture between your hands until it becomes a sand-like consistency
Knead the dough with the palm of your hand for a minute or two, just until the dough becomes smooth. Do not over-knead the dough and do not use a mixer, neither a food processor
If the dough is too warm and sticky, place it into the fridge for 10-15 minutes first. Otherwise, continue with rolling the dough out into 2mm thickness between two Silicone baking mat.
Place the dough into the freezer for 15 min in between the two Silicone baking mat. Do not remove the mat at this point
Place the dough into the freezer for 15 min in between two Silicone baking mat.. Do not remove the mat at this point
Take the dough out from the freezer, remove the top of the silicone mat and using one of the Perforated tart rings, cut out 8 circles - this will be the bottom of your tart. Carefully move the dough circles with the help of an Offset spatula and place them into the rings one by one
If at any point the dough gets too warm to work with, pop it back into the freezer for 5 minutes. You might need to take the dough in and out of the freezer many times depending on the temperature of your kitchen. It is extremely important to work with a dough that is cold enough to be able to handle (so not sticky) but not too cold which would result in breaking it
Cut 8 long strips out of the dough, this will be the side of the tart
Carefully place the strips into the ring one by one. Press each strip onto the ring so it sticks to it
Place the Perforated tart ring with the pastry dough in them into the freezer for 1 hour
Pre-heat oven to 160C / 320F
After 1 hour, trim the top of the pastry with a sharp knife
Bake for 20 min, then carefully remove the rings and bake for another 5 -10 min until golden brown. At the 20 min mark, the pastry should be already somewhat baked and therefore will contract within the ring. If the pastry feels stuck into the ring, bake it for further 1-2 minutes
Once tart rings are removed, you will need to place the tart cases back to the oven. Bake them for another approx. 10 minutes
Place all ingredients (except butter) into a heatproof bowl and cook the curd over medium-high heat whisking constantly. Other option is to cook the curd over double boiler (see tips above)
After about 5 minutes (depends on your stove!) the mixture starts to thicken like a custard. I find the temperature at this stage is around 80C/176C
Remove passion fruit curd from the heat, pour the cooked curd through a sieve so you will get rid of any potential egg bits in there
With a rubber spatula mix in room temperature butter in small pieces one by one. Make sure that each chunk of butter is fully incorporated before adding the next
Pour curd into a shallow container and place plastic wrap directly on top so it is touching the top of the curd. The curd will continue to thicken as it cools in the fridge
Use it to fill your tart cases once room temp or slightly cooled
Heat cream in a saucepan over medium heat just until simmering
Pour warm cream over chocolate, let it set for a minute until chocolate gently melts then stir or hand blend together
Chocolate shard decoration
To make the chocolate shard: Melt and temper chocolate (see tips above)
Spread chocolate over a sheet of parchment paper in a thin and even layer then roll it up. Let it set in the fridge for 60 minutes then carefully start rolling the parchment out. The chocolate should naturally break into shards as you are rolling it out
Assemble
Once tart shells cooled to room temperature, pipe warm but not hot ganache into the tart shells to fill ½ of them. Pop the tarts into the fridge for the ganache to set for a few hours (or freezer 30 min)
Once the chocolate ganache layer sets, pipe room temperature passion fruit curd on top
The tart will need to set in the fridge for a few hours before serving
Once tart filling fully set, place the chocolate decoration on top