Easter chocolate tart

'This divine tart is a 'must have' for any self-respecting chocoholic.  It looks adorable decorated with little eggs on top'

Rachel  Allen, 'Bake', p208

Ok, you can see that my tart definitely didn't look 'adorable'.  In fact, I was a little embarassed to share this photo but, would this be a real baking blog without some disasters?  You see, Rachel didn't specify how to put the eggs on. I suspect that she just sprinkled them on loosely.  Well, I thought I'd be clever and stick them on with edible glue.  All was fine, but on the way to Granny & Grandpa's we had a trip to see CBeebies live.  Poor tart got left in the hot car, and the glue melted.  Hence the streaky mess!  Still tasted good though - it was our Easter Sunday pudding.  

To make the sweet shortcrust pastry, follow the recipe in my 'Quiche Lorraine' post, but replace the salt with 1 tbsp icing sugar.  I admit, I cheated and used a ready made shortcrust pastry then tried to knead in some icing sugar.  It wasn't a great result, the pastry shrunk quite a lot and didn't taste particularly sweet.  I definitely preferred my effort at making pastry from scratch.

To make the tart filling, heat 175mls (9fl oz) double cream and 125mls (4fl oz) milk in a saucepan, to boiling point (I used single cream as I had some in the fridge).  Take off the heat, and immediately stir in some chopped chocolate - 125g (4 1/2 oz) milk chocolate and 175g (6oz) good quality dark.  Stir to melt, and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Then stir in 2 beaten eggs.  Pour into the prepared pastry case, and bake at 180C/350F/GM4 for 15-20 minutes, until softly set.  Allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, before decorating with chocolate eggs.

Ooh, this filling was delicious, the 2 types of chocolate giving it a great depth of flavour.  I could have dived into the warm liquid mixture!  OK, I confess I did have a spoonful... or 2... or perhaps more!  As the pastry case had shrunk so much, there wasn't as much filling in it and plenty left over.  I made 4 mini tartlets for Nigel (who we've left at home earning the pennies this week).  There was still a fair amount left, so I've frozen it as an experiment, to see if it creates some sort of ice-creamy thing.  

Will definitely make this again, but with my own pastry.  I'd love to try it really deeply filled with the chocolate mixture!  Rachel suggests a variation made with chopped hazelnuts instead of mini eggs, so I won't have to wait until next Easter to try.  Watch this space!