If coffee and chocolate are your thing we may just have the perfect dessert for you right here.
This is one of those tarts that’s so delicious that the people you serve it to will be delighted and shower you with compliments, completely unaware of the secret to it’s simplicity… Green’s tiramisu mix! You may have noticed the Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Brownies we made recently, using another of their mixes to make your baking life that bit easier and more fun!
The magic of this recipe is the fluffy and creamy tiramisu topping that sits on top of the luxurious chocolate filling, making the tart rich but keeping it light enough that it’s hard to resist eating the whole thing in one go… (we definitely didn’t do anything like that, we promise). It all starts with a chocolate pastry case, our recipe makes for a fairly bitter dough as to have anything sweeter tends to make the dessert a bit too much! The cocoa in chocolate pastry makes it a little trickier to work with and more brittle but just be delicate and make sure it’s plenty chilled before baking.
Once your case is baked, it’s onto the chocolate filling, this is made up of just 3 things – chocolate, cream and mascarpone, which really work swell to bring it together with the tiramisu topping. So all you need to do is heat your cream, add in your chocolate and stir till melted, then combine with the mascarpone and pour into your case. You’ll need to pop it in the fridge for a while before topping it so that it can firm up, it doesn’t need to be completely set, about 30 mins to an hour should do it.
Next for the Green’s mix to work it’s magic, we just followed the instructions that were on the box, with the addition of a little coffee so the flavour would definitely come through against the rich chocolate but it’s purely optional. Or if you’re a complete caffeine addict you can add more (feel free to add it bit by bit for a great excuse to eat some of the mixture). Then we decided to pipe small, sort of meringue kisses like shapes of the mixture to create a simple but decorative finish which we then dusted with cocoa powder to finish. Then it needs to go back in the fridge for at least another hour to firm up but preferably 2-3 if you can. This makes it the perfect make ahead dessert to whip out at the end of a dinner party/family meal/evening with friends to impress those sat around the table.
- 140g unsalted butter
- 90g caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 30g cocoa powder
- 250g plain flour
- 1 pinch of salt
- 200g dark chocolate
- 150g mascarpone
- 100ml cream
- 1 box Green’s tiramisu mix
- 150ml cream
- 100ml milk
- 25ml espresso (optional)
- Place the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and butter into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, or rub together with your hands.
- Add in the egg and pulse until the mixture comes together to form a dough.
- If it is too dry you may need to add a tiny splash of ice cold water.
- Roll out on a floured surface so it is big enough to fit a 25cm fluted tin.
- Lay the pastry over the tin and push into the base, leaving any excess hanging over the edge.
- Chill for 10 minutes.
- Blind-bake the pastry at 200C for 15 minutes.
- Lift out the paper and beans and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then trim off the excess pastry.
- Heat the cream in a pan until small bubbles begin appearing around the edge. Remove from the heat and add in the chocolate, let sit for a minute or 2 so the chocolate begins to melt then stir until you have a smooth mixture and all the chocolate has completely melted. Add in the mascarpone and stir until combined.
- Pour into your pastry case and pop in the fridge to firm up for about half an hour.
- Add all the ingredients into a bowl and whisk until smooth and thick like whipped cream, this should take a few minutes.
- Transfer to a piping bag with a 1cm round tip (or just cut the end off a disposable one like we did!) Pipe the mixture in small blobs in concentric circles on top of the chocolate until you have fully covered the surface.
- Dust with cocoa powder and leave in the fridge for at least 1 hour to firm up before serving.
