Chocolate & Caramel Custart Tart

So this is a recipe I found whilst flicking through my GBBO Celebrations recipe book – a present from my brother last Christmas. The reason I chose this is because it looked pretty in the picture, and I thought it would be a challenge for me as pastry is something I often struggle with. I’ve never made or even eaten a custard tart before so also thought it would be good to try something new!

THE RECIPE

Ingredients: 
175g plain flour
pinch of salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
100g unsalted butter, chilled & diced
2tbsp icy cold water
1 medium egg white, for brushing

125g + 1tbsp caster sugar
125ml water
90g unsalted butter, at room temperature & diced
500 ml double cream, at room temperature
7 medium egg yolks, at room temperature
pinch of fine sea salt

50g dark chocolate, chopped

Method:
1. Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the pieces
   of butter and toss in the flour to lightly coat, then rub the butter
   into the flour until the mixture looks like fine crumbs. Add the
   water and stir into the crumbs with a round-bladed knife to make a
   firm dough; if there are any dry crumbs work in more cold water a
   teaspoon at a time.
2. Shape the dough into a thick disc, wrap it in clingfilm and chill
   for 20 minutes.
3. Roll out the pastry dough on a lightly floured worktop to a large
   disc about 32cm across and use to line the flan tin. Leave the excess
   pastry hanging over the rim for now. Prick the base with a fork and
   chill the pastry case for 15 minutes.
4. Heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Neaten the edge of the pastry
   case, trimming off the excess pastry. Line the case with greaseproof
   paper, fill with baking beans and bake blind in the heated oven for
   12-15 minutes until the pastry is set and firm. Remove the paper and
   beans, then bake the empty case for a further 5-7 minutes until the
   pastry is crisp and lightly coloured.
5. Transfer the tin to a heatproof surface and quickly brush the inside
   of the hot pastry case with a thin layer of beaten egg white. This
   will help to seal the pastry and keep it crisp. Reduce the oven
   temperature to 170°C/325°F/Gas 3, and put the baking sheet into the
   oven to heat up.
6. Start making the filling while the pastry case is chilling (end of
   step 3). Put the 125g sugar and the water in a medium pan, set over
   low heat and stir occasionally to help dissolve the sugar - do not
   allow the syrup to boil before all the sugar has dissolved. Once the
   syrup is clear, bring it to the boil and let it boil rapidly until it
   has turned a rich chestnut brown. Remove from the heat and stir in the
   pieces of butter, followed by the cream - the mixture will turn lumpy,
   so return the pan to medium/low heat and stir until melted and smooth.
   Leave to cool until lukewarm.
7. Put the yolks in a heatproof bowl with the remaining tablespoon of
   sugar and beat well with a wooden spoon for about 1 minute until very
   light and smooth. Stir in the lukewarm caramel cream and the salt,
   then transfer the caramel custard to a large jug.
8. Set the flan tin on the heated baking sheet and place this on the oven
   shelf. Carefully pour the custard into the pastry case, then gently
   slide the shelf in and close the oven door. Bake the tart for 25-30
   minutes until the custard is just set when you jiggle the baking sheet.
   Remove from the oven and set the tin on a wire rack. Leave the tart
   until completely cold.
9. Meanwhile, make chocolate shavings to decorate the tart.
10. Carefully unmould the tart and set it on a serving plate. Transfer
   the chocolate shavings to the top of the tart using a palette knife
   rather than your fingers. Serve at room temperature, the same or the
   next day - keep in an airtight container in the fridge but remove 30
   minutes before serving.

How it went…

I didn’t get off to the best start. Like I said, pastry has never been my strong point. Because it was so hot in the kitchen when I was making it, the butter began to melt, meaning I didn’t manage to achieve the fine texture I needed. So my ‘breadcrumbs’ ended up looking like this:

The rest of the pastry went ok, but when it came to rolling it out was when the real problems arose.

I don’t know enough about the science of baking to know why this is (and if anyone does know please teach me!) but my dough kept cracking when I rolled it out. Was this because I chilled the dough too long, or because I covered the work surface in too much flour? Please tell me if you know! It was difficult getting the pastry into the flan dish all in one piece, and I have to admit I didn’t quite manage it. There were a couple of holes I had to patch up – Paul Hollywood would be shocked. No photos because it’s too embarrassing *hides face in shame*.

The pastry didn’t come out as I would have hoped, and I have a feeling this is because I didn’t blind bake it for long enough. The bottom wasn’t exactly soggy, but it wasn’t as crispy as I’d have liked.

The custard didn’t have quite so many disasters. I’ve never made caramel before, so that was a new and exciting experience. However it did come out quite weird tasting, and not as sweet as I thought it would. I think this is because I either cooked the caramel too long before adding the eggs and cream, or because I added too much salt. Either way, with the caramel being the main flavour of this tart, the end result was not what I would have hoped.

When it came to baking, I ended up leaving it in the oven for longer than the recommended 25-30 minutes – I cooked it for about 40. This being a new recipe, I thought it was best to be cautious and I’d rather have it overdone than underdone, especially as it contains eggs, and I know my oven generally tends to take slightly longer. This overbaking, I feel, may also have contributed to the slightly strange flavour!

To finish, instead of just the chocolate flakes in the recipe, I also drizzled white chocolate over the top. As you can see from the photos, this also didn’t go exactly to plan! The chocolate began to cool and harden quicker than I expected, so I ended up with large clumps of chocolate rather than the elegant drizzle I had envisaged!

All in all, I would have to say this was not my most successful experiment! Although I learned a lot, the odd flavour means this is a recipe I probably won’t be having another go at!

So, to sum up…

Here are a few things I learned:

• Don’t try to make pastry in a hot kitchen
• Stick to the dough chilling times recommended in the recipe
• Don’t go overboard on the flour when rolling out
• Stick the caramel into a pan of cold water to ensure it doesn’t continue cooking longer and end up bitter
• Less is more when it comes to salt
• Make sure chocolate is liquid enough for drizzling before taking it off the heat, and don’t hang about

If anyone more experience than I has any tips or tricks they would like to share, or anyone has had similar problems in the past, please share them with me in the comments below! I am keen to learn from my mistakes and always enjoy hearing about others’ baking experiences!

 

*If you fancy trying  the recipe out yourself, or want to see how it’s meant to look, it can be found on page 276 of The Great British Bake Off Celebrations recipe book, available here.*