Raspberry & Chocolate Ganache Tart

When I first met my husband his interest in fruit was limited mainly to watermelon and bananas. Considering the wealth of fruit that is available in Australia, it was hard for me to understand how a person could be so exclusive in their enjoyment of what I consider to be the best part of summer eating.

Yes – watermelon is definitely a great summer fruit! As a kid I had a book called “Summer” which concluded with a broadly smiling girl eating a whopping big wedge of watermelon. But summer, to me, says mangoes, nectarines, peaches, cherries, lychees and passionfruit. None of which my husband would choose to eat, or even put into the shopping basket. Yes, he’d eat apples – a staple in winter. But I couldn’t even get him to eat strawberries, simple and yet exotic, in my book.

So imagine my surprise, several years into our marriage, when my husband comes home from work and announces he now likes raspberries! How, I enquired, did this come about? He worked at a training company that served food to its participants, including natural yoghurt and berries for morning tea. He’d been attending one of the courses and was ravenous at the break. With little else for choice, he decided to dig into one of the yoghurt and berry servings and whim! wham! bam! – a new favourite fruit is born.

This year when we were planning our Christmas menu, I suggested we choose something fruit based to keep it light. Traditionally my family would serve plum pudding for Christmas dessert, accompanied by brandy custard and maybe even whipped cream or ice-cream. I do like a spot of plum pudding, but only if it’s one my mum has made. And since she didn’t make me one this year, I thought the best alternative was a raspberry and chocolate ganache tart. Easy to make, and highly appealing to my darling husband. I hope you agree.

Ingredients

1 sheet ready rolled sweet short crust pastry
180g dark cooking chocolate (the best quality you can find)
70ml pure cream (the unthickened kind)
2 cups raspberries, frozen or fresh
2 tblsp icing sugar
Whipped cream to serve

1. Cut the short crust pastry into four equal squares. Grease four tart case tins and line with the pastry, carefully easing into the fluted edges (if your tin has them). Using a sharp paring knife, trim any excess pastry to form a smooth edge level with the top of the tart case tin.

2. Prick the bottom of each tart case with a fork, then line the bottom with pie weights. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius, for 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from the over and cool for 10mins in the tins.

3. Break chocolate into small pieces and place in bowl of Kitchenaid mixer. Heat cream in a small saucepan until it boils. Pour the cream over the chocolate and switch Kitchenaid on to first speed (stir) to combine. Continue until all chocolate is melted to fully combine with the cream to produce a glossy ganache. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl down to incorporate all the chocolate into the cream.

4. Drop large spoonfuls of ganache into each tart case and set aside until required. I used my icecream scoop to make sure each tart had an equal amount of ganache.



5. Just before serving, heap raspberries on top of ganache tart to form a high mound of fruit. Dust each tart case with a smattering of icing sugar to finish. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream on top of each tart.