Chocolate blackberry tart

A wonderfully quick tart with chocolate cream and fresh blackberries. I made it in between other baking projects, using leftover shortcrust pastry from previous tarts. There was a tub of mascarpone in the fridge that needed using immediately, and I had just brought home some beautiful blackberries from the shop… there was only one possible outcome ;). The chocolate cream is absolutely delicious and incredibly simple to make. Just remember to remove the tart from the refrigerator well before serving – the filling needs time to soften slightly so it isn’t too firm. Voilà!

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:

• 230 g plain flour
• 130 g cold butter, diced
• 1 egg
• 40 g icing sugar
• a pinch of salt

Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the butter and rub it in quickly with your fingertips, or cut it into the flour with a knife, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg, icing sugar and salt, then quickly bring the dough together (you can also make it in a food processor). Shape the dough into a ball, flatten slightly, wrap in cling film and chill in the refrigerator for at least 60 minutes.

Grease and flour a 24 cm tart tin, shaking out any excess flour. Roll out the chilled pastry to a thickness of approximately 3 mm and line the tart tin. Chill again for 30 minutes.

Lightly dust the pastry with flour, line it with baking parchment and fill with baking beans, ceramic baking weights, dried beans or rice.

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Reduce the temperature to 200°C, place the tart case in the oven and blind-bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, carefully lift out the baking parchment and weights, then return the tart case to the oven. Bake for a further 12–15 minutes, until golden brown and fully baked. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Ingredients for the chocolate cream:

• 250 g mascarpone
• 90 g dark chocolate
• 90 g milk chocolate

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Melt both chocolates over a bain-marie or in the microwave and leave to cool slightly. Place the mascarpone into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until smooth. Add the cooled melted chocolates and mix until fully combined.

To finish:

• 400 g fresh blackberries

Spread the chocolate cream evenly over the cooled tart shell and smooth the surface. Chill briefly in the refrigerator. The cream layer will not be particularly thick.

Arrange the blackberries over the still-soft cream so they settle into the filling and hold in place. Refrigerate until the chocolate cream has firmed up.

Note: Remove the tart from the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes before serving to allow the filling to soften slightly and develop its best texture.

Enjoy!