Chocolate tart with blue gum salted caramel

Inventor of one of Australia’s most famous pastries, the Black Star Pastry watermelon cake, here Christopher Thé shares his chocolate tart with salted caramel.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  35 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 400 g butter, diced, room temperature
• 200 g icing sugar mixture
• 2 g vanilla extract
• 50 g egg yolks (around 3)
• 25 g whole egg (½ an egg)
• 500 g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
• 100 g cocoa powder
• 1 g salt
• Pepperberry salt, to garnish

For the blue gum salted caramel

• 332 g couverture white chocolate, roughly chopped
• 50 g caster sugar
• 133 g thickened cream
• 20 g butter
• 2 ½ tsp (3 g) fine salt
• 8 drops edible eucalyptus (blue gum) extract

For the smoked chocolate ganache

• 250 g milk chocolate, roughly chopped
• 200 g thickened cream
• 1–2 drops liquid smoke (see Note)

Chilling time: at least 1 hour 30 in total.

Cooling time and standing time: about 1 hour 15 minutes in total.

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment fitted, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla. Mix on medium speed, for 3 minutes. Stop before the butter lightens in colour. Add the egg yolks and whole eggs and beat on medium speed until well combined.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa and salt into a large bowl, then add to the stand mixer bowl. Mix on low speed until just combined, then remove the pastry, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until required (chill for at last 30 minutes).
3. Once the dough has chilled, lightly dust a work surface with flour, then roll the pastry out to a 3 mm thickness. Using a 10 cm round cutter, cut rounds of pastry and gently ease into 7 cm tart tins. Press on the edge between the side and the bottom, to ensure the pastry is flush with the tin. Work quickly to avoid the pastry becoming too warm. Return the pastry-lined tins to the fridge and chill for 1 hour. (See Note re using pastry scraps to judge baking time.)
4. Towards end of chilling time, preheat oven to 160˚C fan-forced (180˚C conventional oven).
5. Remove tins from fridge and evenly prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork. Cover with a sheet of baking paper and fill with baking beads or rice and blind bake for 20 minutes. Remove the baking beads and paper and bake for another 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
6. To make the blue gum salted caramel, place the white chocolate into the bowl of a food processor and grind to a fine powder. Heat the sugar with 1 tbsp water in a small saucepan, using a wet pastry brush to brush down the sides of the pan to dissolve any sugar crystals (this helps create a smoother caramel). Cook over high heat until it reaches 180 ̊C on a cooking thermometer and the caramel is very dark. Remove from the heat and carefully pour the cream into the caramel and stir to combine. Pour the hot caramel over the chocolate still in the food processor and mix on medium speed until smooth. Add the butter, salt and eucalyptus extract and process until smooth.
7. Pour the caramel into the baked tart shells. Set aside until it has set.
8. To make the smoked chocolate ganache, place the milk chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat until just below boiling, then remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Add the liquid smoke (or see Note below if uisng a smoking gun) and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Whisk to combine, until smooth and glossy. Set aside until the ganache is slightly thickened but retains a pourable consistency.
9. Pour the chocolate ganache over the caramel and allow to set. Sprinkle with pepperberry salt and serve.

Note

• Pepperberry salt and edible eucalyptus extract are available from specialist retailers and some bush food ingredient suppliers.
• The dark colour of the chocolate pastry makes it tricky to tell when it’s fully baked, so “try baking a piece of scrap dough next to the pastry as a taste tester” for best results, Christopher advises.
• If you have a smoking gun, make the ganache as above, cover with cling film, leaving a small gap to insert smoking gun tube. Once smoking, close the seal and let it sit for 30 minutes or until nearly all smoke has dissipated. Repeat up to 3 times to achieve desired smokiness.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.