I love a good tart, don’t you? This chocolate raspberry tart is a wonderful example of something that’s simple but delicious, and it’s especially good when made with local berries. I like to make a small 5-6 inch tart. This will give you 4 servings, or 3 if you are generous. It’s easy enough to make another when needed!
There are actually TWO seasons for raspberries here in SE Michigan, which makes me very happy. Summer berries ripen from early July until August, and I can sometimes find a few from local farmers. Fall berries, though, are more plentiful. From late August right up until the first frost (usually sometime in October) I can get wonderful fresh raspberries at the farmers’ market or even from wild canes I find growing here and there.
Of course I make jam; how could I not? I make both seedless and regular (seeded) jams. Quite a few pints of berries get eaten just as they are, and some go into this spectacular but simple chocolate raspberry tart.
It’s a four step process, really: first you make a simple little crust, which you can do ahead of time. Then you roll it out, bake it for a bit, and let it cool. Melt chocolate in cream to form a silky ganache, pour that into the baked tart shell, then, finally, pile on the raspberries.
This easy chocolate raspberry tart has three simple components: a pre-baked crust, a layer of silky chocolate ganache, and lots of fresh (uncooked) berries. It’s meant to be eaten the day it is made: berries are very delicate and this tart won’t keep well. If you want to make a larger tart, use a 9-inch tart pan and double the ingredients.
There’s no way to go wrong here, trust me.
Easy Chocolate Raspberry Tart
Ingredients
FOR THE CRUST
- 6 oz flour, plus a bit more for rolling out
- 4 oz unsalted butter, very cold (1 stick)
- generous pinch salt
- 2 Tbsp ice water (you might need less)
FOR THE FILLING
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup heavy (whipping) cream
- 2 cups fresh ripe raspberries (1 pint), rinsed and air-dried
Instructions
FIRST, MAKE THE CRUST
- Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Butter a 5 or 6 inch tart pan and set aside.
- We’ll make a simple 3-2-1 pastry (pâte brisée). Mix the flour and salt together. I use a food processor, so stick them in and pulse it once or twice. Add the chunks of cold butter, pulse again 7-10 times, until the mixture looks like coarse meal, with pieces no larger than small peas. (If you prefer, work the butter into the flour/salt mixture with your fingers or a pastry blender.) Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing until only the mixture begins to clump together.
- Remove from the food processor, knead once or twice on a floured board, and shape into a disk. Wrap it loosely, and refrigerate it while you prepare the chocolate and the berries. This may be done ahead of time, the dough will keep, wrapped and refrigerated, for a day or two.
ON BAKING DAY
- Take the pastry dough out of the refrigerator and unwrap it. Dust your work surface lightly with flour, and place the pastry disk in the center. Dust the top surface of the pastry with a little flour as well. Use your rolling pin to press down on the pastry, making little grooves. Turn the pastry 90 degrees every so often to keep a round shape, and keep pressing until the disk is about twice its original diameter, when you can begin to roll.
- Roll out the pastry, moving the pin back and forth only. Turn the dough 90 degrees every so often, to maintain a round shape. When the dough is about 1½ inches larger than the tart pan, carefully lift the pastry and place it in the pan. Lift the edges, and carefully tamp the pastry into the pan, taking care not to make any holes in it.
- To make a baked tart shell with no bubbling, you’ll need to use pie weights. Take a piece of alumninum foil and press it into the raw crust. Weight the foil using pie weights, dried beans, or uncooked rice. Make sure the weights cover the entire bottom of the crust.
- Bake the weighted tart shell 15 minutes, then check to see if the crust is ready. Pull up one corner of the foil. If the foil sticks, the dough isn’t dry enough to remove it, so return it to the oven and check in 2-3 more minutes.
- When the crust is dry enough to remove the foil easily, carefully lift off the foil with the weights and return the crust to the oven until it is fully baked and golden brown, 7-10 minutes more. Once golden brown, pull the tart shell from the oven and place on a rack to cool.
CHOCOLATE GANAGHE
- While the tart shell is cooling, make chocolate ganache. Warm the cream, and melt the chocolate in it. If you do this on the stovetop, be very careful not to burn the mixture; if you do it in a microwave, zap in short bursts, just enough to melt the chocolate. Mix well, and when the chocolate is fully blended with the cream, remove from heat, add vanilla, and set aside. The ganache should be cooler, but still pourable, to assemble the tart.
ASSEMBLE THE TART
- If the chocolate ganache was made well ahead of time, it will have become solid. Warm it slightly so that it is pourable, and then scoop it into the cooled tart shell. Smooth it for even coverage.
- Place the raspberries into the tart, pressing them slightly into the softened chocolate ganache. I like to work from the outside inwards, and finish with a perfect large berry smack in the center.
- Chill the tart, uncovered, at least 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours.
- Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or creme fraiche.