Sweet chocolate tart

If you like chocolate and want to surprise at home with a deliciously cocoa-rich chocolate cake, this recipe is ideal for you. It’s a very simple recipe but with results in appearance and flavor that are utterly delicious: a cocoa-flavored sponge base, and covered with a glaze and chocolate shavings that are very easy to make, yet look spectacular.

So you can call it a chocolate cake or tart, but this recipe is perfect for a celebration day, or those Sundays when you decide to make a really special dessert to celebrate the weekend.

This is one of the recipes included in the Conjunto HomeBaking Repostería De Buyer pack. It’s a complete set to equip you with some essential molds if you enjoy baking at home. It includes a high-walled square pan ideal for all kinds of cakes (the pan we use today), a rectangular loaf pan for plum cakes, breads and tall cakes, and finally a low removable square pan for making low tarts.

So, de Buyer has released this Set with the idea of including the essentials to equip you with everything in one pack, or offering a lovely box for gifting when you want to surprise a home cook. Just like this one, there is also the Set HomeBaking tartas De Buyer, if you’re curious, take a look because it also includes some very interesting accessories.

Let’s get to the recipe. You should know you can also enjoy it without the glaze, with just that chocolate sponge base. At the end of the post I also mention that and a couple of presentation ideas, without the chocolate coating. This is a recipe I loved, although I had little doubt I would like it, because it was developed by French pastry chefs in collaboration with the brand. I definitely encourage you to get started.

Ingredients

• 325 g dark chocolate
• 225 g butter
• 250 g powdered sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 125 g wheat flour
• 2 g baking powder

For the glaze:

• 8 g gelatin (4 sheets)
• 65 g water
• 110 g powdered sugar
• 35 g unsweetened pure cocoa
• 60 g heavy cream

Decoration:

• Chocolate shavings
• Crispy sprinkles

Preparation

1. In a saucepan, melt the chocolate together with the butter in a double boiler.
2. Mix the eggs with the sugar. Gradually add the butter and chocolate mixture, then add the baking powder mixed with the flour (you can sift it beforehand through the sieve).
3. Pour the mixture into the high-sided square mold from the De Buyer HomeBaking Pastry Set.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 35 minutes.

For the glaze:

1. Glaze: place the gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water to rehydrate them.
2. Boil the water with the sugar. Add the cocoa and the heavy cream. Let it boil for 3 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and add the well-drained gelatin.
4. Pass through a strainer to ensure there are no lumps, leave in a bowl covered with cling film, and let cool.
5. When the glaze has cooled to about 40 ºC, place the cake on a cooling rack (with a baking tray or aluminum foil under the rack to catch any glaze drips), and pour the glaze over it.
6. With the help of an offset spatula, spread the glaze evenly over the top and sides.
7. Decorate with the chocolate shavings and chill the cake in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Notes:

• You may prefer not to make the glaze, or simply enjoy the basic chocolate sponge for breakfast or tea. You certainly can — just prepare the main cake (follow the first part of the recipe), and once the cake has cooled after coming out of the oven, dust with icing sugar to make it look pretty.

• You can also do other decorations, such as topping with crushed hazelnuts or almonds (more or less crushed; with a hand chopper you can control the grind well), or add fruit (berries pair fabulously with chocolate).