Chocolate Amarula Tart with Chocolate Shards - Ina Paarman
Serves 8
If you have a loose-bottom flan tin use it to make this tart. The pecan crust will crisp up beautifully and brushing the inside of the baked crust with melted chocolate keeps it that way, even if filled the day before.
PECAN CRUST
1 cup (100 g) pecan nuts
11 tennis biscuits
4 T (60 ml) soft brown sugar
½ t (2,5 ml) ground cinnamon
4 T (60 ml) melted butter
90 g dark chocolate, melted
Adjust the oven rack to the middle shelf. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Chop the pecan nuts and biscuits in a processor until finely crumbed. Add the sugar, cinnamon and melted butter. Process until well blended. Press the mixture onto the base and up the sides of a 22-23 cm loose bottom flan tin. Bake for 15 minutes until golden and crispy. Leave to cool. Brush the inside of the crust with melted chocolate.
DARK CHOCOLATE SHARDS FOR GARNISH
90 g dark chocolate
2 rectangles of baking paper 40cm x 30cm
1 cardboard core from an empty roll of kitchen paper or foil - cut open along the length and roll up tighter until it is 2.5cm in diameter. Secure roll with cellotape.
Gently melt the chocolate in a small bowl over hot water. Spread the chocolate on one sheet of baking paper leaving a wide border. Lay the second sheet on top. Use a rolling pin to roll out the chocolate between the sheets of baking paper. Roll the paper, with chocolate in-between, around the cardboard core and secure with paper clips or pegs. Leave to set hard in the fridge or freezer. Unroll the paper, pull the top sheet straight while unrolling, this will splinter the chocolate on the bottom sheet into slightly rounded shards.
MOUSSE FILLING
1 x 310 g Ina Paarman's Chocolate Mousse Mix
½ cup (125 ml) Amarula
½ cup (125 ml) water
1 cup (250 ml) fresh whipping cream
cocoa powder for dusting
Measure Amarula and a quarter cup of the cream into a medium sized mixing bowl. Sprinkle contents of Chocolate Mousse pack over the Amarula and beat until well blended. In a smaller mixing bowl, whip the remaining cream until soft peak stage. Beat half of the whipped cream into the Mousse Mix then fold in the remaining cream with a spatula until well blended. Pour into the cooled pecan crust. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
TO DECORATE
Release the tart from the rim of the loose bottom pan and place it on a cake stand. Unroll the chocolate shards and pile on top of the tart. Dust with cocoa powder.
