The white chocolate saga continues. Honestly, I don't understand how I could miss out on white chocolate for so long! What else have I missed out on? Should I be cutting my hair? Try roller-blading? Get micro bangs? Meditate? Anyways, I don't feel like any of those are a necessity right now (except for maybe trying out meditation), but this cake really is a necessity in my life (okay, not really, but it's honestly pretty great). If you're a fan of white chocolate and nuts, try this recipe. It takes a little thinking ahead, as the tarte takes quite a while to fully cool down, but it takes amazing and looks spectacular. The custardy-creamy white chocolate just goes really well with the nuts, their fragrant aroma amplified by the easy step of roasting them beforehand. And the raspberries add the necessary tang to round everything off. I was quite worried about the crust not coming out of the pan or falling apart later, but it mostly held together well, as you can see in the pictures. I think the key is enough melted butter as "glue" and also pressing the crust down firmly and packing everything together. The crust might quite honestly be the hardest part of the whole cake! I hope this recipe brings someone else joy, as it brought joy to me and my parents, who devoured both small cakes with me in just two sittings. Happy Sunday!
White Chocolate Tart with Cardamom and Raspberries
Makes one 23cm cake
Ingredients:
- 400g pecans, hazelnuts, walnuts or any other nut of your choice
- 175g unsalted butter, melted
- 1 pinch of salt
- 250g mascarpone cheese
- 100ml double cream
- 300g white chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cardamom (freshly ground is best)
- 250g raspberries
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spread all nuts on a baking tray lined and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown and it smells toasty. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
2. Place two thirds of the nuts in a food possessor or a blender and blitz to a fine powder, then put into a bowl. Blitz the rest of the nuts to a rougher crumb, then mix with the powdered nuts. Add the melted butter and a pinch of sea salt and stir to combine. Tip the mixture into a loose-bottomed tart tin and press firmly up the sides and into the bottom of the tin. Make sure it's tightly packed, so you can get it out later. If the mixture seems to dry, add some more melted butter. Chill in the fridge while you get on with the filling.
3. Put the mascarpone, double cream, white chocolate, vanilla and cardamom into a pan and warm over a low heat, stirring all the time to let the chocolate melt, then add a pinch of salt and remove from the heat.
4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the base. Return to the fridge and leave to set for about 1 hour.
5. Put the raspberries into a sieve suspended over a bowl. Use a spoon to press the raspberries through the sieve, leaving the seeds behind in the sieve. Once done, take the nearly-set tart out of the fridge and use a teaspoon to dot blobs of the raspberry purée over the tart. Turn the teaspoon over and drag the dots a little to create a pretty, swirled effect. Return to the fridge for another 3 hours to set completely.
Notes: I found that using 2/3 of the amounts was perfect for two smaller cake tins!
Recipe adapted from The Happy Foodie
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