This recipe features short crust pastry tart shell filled with passion fruit cream, then topped by a layer of smooth chocolate ganache.

Chocolate and passion fruit tart

Passion fruit and chocolate have always been an unusually great combination – one that I’d love to see more on the high street. The sharpness of the passion fruit often serves a good role in lightening up the whole dessert, and this tart has gone further and made a passion fruit cream to give it a more fluffy texture.

This is a recipe adapted from Edd Kimber’s latest book “Patisserie made simple“. Great book have to say, where the recipes that I have tried so far have been pretty spot on. I am not sure if it should be classed strictly as ‘simple’ from an amateur perspective but if you follow it step by step and put time in it you’ll almost certainly get it right.

I have made a few changes to this recipe to make it even easier to make. For example, you should boil the passion fruit content first in order to separate the flesh from the seeds much more easily. The original recipe also recommended that I use a chocolate pastry, but because I already got some normal ones in hand I’ve decided to use that instead

Chocolate and passion fruit tart with passion fruit cream

Tart case filled with passion fruit cream

This is one of those recipes that you just need to put a bit of faith into. The chocolate ganache is REALLY runny when it was first made, but trust me it does set well and become a really soft layer that melts in the mouth. Don’t worry about getting super high quality chocolate. I used Tesco basics and it still tasted incredibly good

Pour in the chocolate ganache (room temperature). You know you are doing it right when you get a shine like this!

This is how the tart looks after the ganache is set. It will loose the shine but should still look really smooth on top

Dust with cocoa powder

Chocolate and passion fruit tart finished

The finished product (the picture at the top is a small version I did to use up the leftovers)

Ingredients:

Sweet shortcrust pastry:
65g unsalted butter, cubed
50g icing sugar sifted
25g whole eggs (~half a beaten egg)
125g plain flour
pinch of salt

Passionfruit cream:
75ml passion fruit puree (~5 passion fruit) [note: non sweetened passion fruit juice also works]
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
50g caster sugar
115g unsalted butter, diced and slightly softened

Chocolate ganache:
150ml whipping cream
15g unsalted butter
100g milk chocolate, finely chopped
50g dark chocolate, finely chopped
10g plain (all-purpose) flour sifted

To finish:
Approx 3 teaspoons cocoa powder for dusting

For 8-10 people (using 22cm tart ring, 2cm deep)

For the sweet shortcrust pastry (can be made a few days in advance): put butter in the mixing bowl and beat (easiest with an electric whisk / mixer) untill soft and smooth. Then add the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Then gradually incorporate the eggs, making sure the mixture becomes fully emulsified
Mix in the flour and combine to form a smooth mass. Then turn the dough out onto the work surface, shape it into a block and wrap it in cling film and put the dough in the fridge to rest until firm (usually 2-3 hours)
For the passion fruit cream: halve the passion fruit and scrap out the seeds and flesh into a small saucepan. Heat until it just start to bubble (this helps the flesh to separate from the seed). Pour the content through a sieve and push the flesh and juice through to make ~75g puree
Put the puree, egg, yolk, and sugar back into the saucepan and stir over medium heat until it reaches 75-80 C (ideally using thermometer, you don’t want to overcook it). Pour the mixture through a fine sieve and cool for 15 minutes or until lukewarm
Add the butter a few pieces at a time and use a hand blender to process until smooth. Cover the surface with a clingfilm and chill until completely set (usually 2-3 hours)
Making the pastry case: roll out the pastry on a floured work surface to about 5mm thick. Line a tart ring (or tart tin) with it and place in the fridge for around 40 minutes until firmed up again
Preheat the oven to 170 C (gas mark 3 to 4). Take the tin out of the fridge and lay a sheet of baking parchment over the pastry. Fill the case with baking beans and blind bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly coloured. Remove the baking beans and bake for a further 10 minutes until golden in colour
Fill the pastry case: lightly loosen the passion fruit cream and then spread it on the base of the tart, filling it halfway. Reserve a few tablespoon for decoration in the end. Chill for around 2 hours
Chocolate ganach: put the cream and butter in a small pan and bring to boil. Put both types of chocolate in a mixing bowl and then pour in the boiling cream. Leave it for a few minutes then stir to form a smooth and shiny ganache. Leave the mixture to cool down to room temperature, and then pour it gently into the chilled tart up to the edge. Carefully transfer the tart back to the fridge (beware of spillage!), and leave to set
To Finish: sieve the cocoa powder over the tart evenly. Beat the remaining passion fruit cream until fluid, then put into a piping bag and pipe a number of rounds on top. The tart is best eaten on the day it is assembled, but the pastry can be made the day before and the cream up to one week in advance