OMG, you guys! Okay so I know I don’t make an appearance here very often, but when I do, boy have I got a banger of a recipe for you?! You guys are going to love this!

This PB, Chocolate & Caramel Tart is the stuff of your dreams! Nutty, caramely, chocolatey, crunchy, smooth, luscious, so freakin’ good that I’m running out of textural adjectives LOL.. you get the drift right? Yup, we got this fam. Let’s get these bad boys going!

This is going to be a bit of an elaborate bake, I’m not gonna lie to you. But the effort is going to be so f*cking worth it, you’re gonna be drooling over allll overrrrr thissss :D Oh man, I’m excited for you!!!

Okay, let’s talk about what you can expect today:

Chocolate Pate sucree (shortcrust pastry)
Peanut cornflake crunch
Salted caramel filling
Chocolate ganache
Peanut butter swiss meringue buttercream

Pretty full on eh? Yup, there’s a lot happening. So many cool new techniques to learn and man, you’re going to feel so accomplished after this bake. Let’s make it the “Great Big Bake”, shall we?

I have a pretty in depth blog post on getting your shortcrust pastry perfect, so if you wanna nerd it out, you can read all about it here.

I have a few tutorials in there for you that you can find under each component, so if you need a little visual help, I got ya ;)

Okay less talking, more baking. Go on my little bakers, conquer the shit out of this tart! :D Happy baking!

Recipes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the chocolate shortcrust pastry:

150g unsalted butter, cubed and frozen
100g icing sugar, sifted
30g almond meal
225g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
pinch of salt
50g egg pulp

For the peanut cornflake crunch:

50g dark chocolate
25g cornflakes
25g roasted peanut, halved or roughly chopped
10g peanut butter

For the salted caramel filling:

150g castor sugar
75g liquid glucose
38g water
95g heavy cream/ pure cream
60g unsalted butter
6g sea salt
10ml dark rum/ whiskey (optional)

For the chocolate ganache:

200g good quality dark chocolate, min. 60%
200g heavy cream/ pure cream

For the peanut butter Swiss meringue buttercream:

75g egg whites
125g castor sugar
180g unsalted butter, cubed and soft at room temperature
50g peanut butter

Method

For the chocolate shortcrust pastry:

Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, rub the flour, cocoa powder, almond meal, icing sugar and salt together with the frozen, cubed butter until all the flour is completely coated with butter, and the mixture resembles like wet sand.

With the mixer still running, once the dough starts to clump together, add in the egg and mix until the dough just comes together.
Transfer onto a work surface and use your hands to shape the dough into a disc. Cover with cling wrap and chill for at least an hour or preferably overnight.
To line the tart- on a lightly floured surface, roll out the chilled pastry to a 3-4mm thickness, ensuring the pastry is larger than the tart case. Brush off the excess flour and roll the pastry on a rolling pin to lift and line the tart cases. Refrigerate for 30mins to an hour.
Using a sharp paring knife, trim off the excess pastry by holding the knife horizontal to the tart case edge and simultaneously rotating the tart case. Freeze the tarts. To watch a video on how to line a tart shell correctly, click here.
Preheat the oven to 170C.
Line the tart with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or beans. Blind bake the tart for 15-20 mins or until the edges are golden brown.
Carefully remove the pie weights and the parchment paper and return the tart to the oven for another 5-10 mins or until the bottom is golden brown as well and the tart is completely baked through.
Eggwash the baked tart and bake for another 3 mins. Let it cool completely.

For the salted caramel filling:

In a deep pot, weight out the sugar, glucose and water together. Put over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar caramelizes and turn a deep amber brown colour.
Meanwhile, warm up the heavy cream.
Once the sugar reaches the desired colour, remove from the heat and slowly pour in the warm cream in 3 parts, whisking after each addition. The caramel will bubble so be careful.
Put the caramel back on heat and whisk until all the cream is combined properly.
Add the butter and cook for a couple of minutes, until the caramel boils for a minute.
Remove from the heat, stir in the salt and alcohol, if using.
Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool completely before use.

For the peanut cornflake crunch:

Melt the chocolate in a microwave/ double boiler.
Add the peanut butter, cornflakes and peanuts and stir. Keep aside.

For the chocolate ganache:

Melt the chocolate in a microwave/ double boiler. Make sure your chocolate is only warm, and not hot.
Heat the cream in a pot until warm. Add the cream to the melted chocolate in three parts, stirring well after each addition to get a smooth shiny ganache. Let it set on the countertop for half an hour.

For the peanut butter swiss meringue buttercream:

Whisk the egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl and place over a double boiler. Heat to 60-65C, whisking continuously.
Transfer the egg-sugar mix to the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk until medium peaks and the bowl is no longer hot to touch.
Once the meringue reaches medium peaks, start adding the soft room temp butter, one cube at a time until all the butter is well incorporated.
Whisk until the buttercream is light, fluffy and airy.
Switch to a paddle attachment, and add the peanut butter. Mix until well combined and the buttercream is homogenous.
Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a ruffle nozzle. Keep aside until use.
If you want a video tutorial on how to make swiss meringue buttercream, you can watch it here.

Assembly:

Spread a layer of the peanut cornflake crunch at the base of the cooled tart.
Pipe a layer of salted caramel filling over the crunch layer. Let it sit in the fridge for 5 mins.
Pipe a layer of chocolate ganache up to the top of the tart. Use a palette knife and flatten the top. Let it sit in the fridge for 5 mins.
Pipe the peanut butter buttercream like a rose.
Dust with cocoa powder. Serve at room temperature. Bon appetite!
If you want to see a quick tutorial on how to assemble it, you can watch it here.

If you enjoyed that and tried it at home, please tag me at @myyummyspatula on Instagram so that I can see all your bakes! For more BTS stories, updates and fun, you can follow along here: