Tarte Noir

October 22, 2017

This dessert is dark, sexy, and packed with dark chocolate flavor. So dark in fact that I almost named this Heart of Darkness Tart, but that seemed a bit dramatic (even for me). Paired with a minty blackberry sauce and fluffy whipped cream, this tart is sure to be a hit at your next get together! It sure was a hit at my Dinner Noir party.

I baked this tart in the morning and made the blackberry mint sauce and whipped cream before guests arrived. When it was time for dessert, I sliced the tart into eight equal pieces and strained the blackberry sauce so that the juice was separate from the smashed berries. I spooned blackberry sauce on the bottom of the plate, set a slice of tart on top, and added a dollop of chocolate whipped cream on the side with the smashed berries spooned over the cream. Delicious!

Note: I love to use mostly bittersweet chocolate and a little bit of semi-sweet for the filling but you could absolutely use all semi-sweet baking chocolate if you don’t prefer deep, dark chocolate. I also exclusively bake with dark cocoa powder because I’m a dark chocolate fanatic.

Tarte Noir
Serves 8

For the crust:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup toasted pecans, cooled
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

For the filling:
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
6 Tbsp unsalted buter, cut into cubes
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

To serve:
Blackberry mint sauce, recipe follows
Chocolate whipped cream, recipe follows
Dusting cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a spring form pan.
In a food processor, combined powdered sugar and pecans until nuts are finely ground. Add the flour, cocoa powder, and salt and pulse until well blended. Add the butter cubes and pulse until the mixture comes together but before it becomes a ball. Press the dough on the bottom and sides of prepared spring form pan. Prick dough with a fork all over.
Bake 15-18 minutes, until the crust begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool on a rack while you make the filling.
Melt the chocolate and butter until smooth in a double boiler. Remove from heat. Whisk a teaspoon of melted chocolate in the beaten eggs. This will raise the temperature of the eggs so that they don’t scramble. Add the eggs and granulated sugar to melted chocolate and whisk until combined. Whisk in vanilla.
Transfer filling to warm crust and bake for about 12 minutes, until the filling is set around the edges but still jiggly in the center. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
Dust with cocoa powder. Serve with blackberry mint sauce and chocolate whipped cream.

Blackberry Mint Sauce
6 oz blackberries
4 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp chopped mint
Light splash vanilla extract