Chocolate Tart with Lavender Cream and Churros con Chocolate

Chocolate Tart with Lavender Cream

We're on our 10th lesson in our desserts unit/module. For tonight, we made Chocolate Tart with Lavender Cream and Churros con Chocolate.

I won't be describing these desserts too much and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. 😉

The Chocolate Tart with Lavender Cream has three elements: the shell/crust/base, the ganache, and the lavender–flavoured cream. A ganache is a sweet creamy chocolate mixture used especially as a filling or frosting. Below is the recipe that we followed. I just noticed though that I had excess pastry trimmings while I was lining my pie tin, so you might want to reduce the pastry dough recipe a little bit. Also, there were no lavender flowers available to decorate my tart, so I just made chocolate filigrees and used them instead.

🍫 Chocolate Tart with Lavender Cream 🍓

(Makes 1 pie [diameter (⌀) ≈ 23 cm (9″)])

For the pastry shell/crust/base:
240 g flour (plain)
160 g butter
10 mL (1 – 2 tsp) water
pinch of salt

– Preheat the oven to 180°C.
– Place the flour, butter, and a pinch of salt in a bowl and rub in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add 1 – 2 teaspoons cold water and mix in until the dough just comes together. Tip out onto a lightly floured board or clean bench and form dough into a disc. Enclose in cling film and refrigerate for 30 – 60 minutes.
– Roll pastry out to about 3 – 5 mm thick and then line a pie dish or pie tin with this pastry. Prick the base with a fork, then place back in the refrigerator to rest for about 20 minutes.
– Blind–baking step: Line the pastry case with baking paper and pastry beads or uncooked rice/beans. Blind–bake for about 7 – 10 minutes, then remove baking paper and beads/rice/beans and bake for another 5 – 10 minutes or until just golden in colour.
– Press down any bubbles that have risen up and allow to cool.

For the ganache:
150 mL cream
40 g butter
250 g dark chocolate

– Place the cream and butter in a pan and stir over medium heat until butter has melted.
– Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl, pour over the warm cream–butter mixture, then stir until the chocolate has melted.

For the lavender cream:

300 mL cream

15 g sugar (castor)

1 mL lavender essence

– Whip cream with sugar until soft peaks and then stir through lavender essence.

– Cover with cling film and refrigerate until needed.

Assembly:

– Pour the chocolate ganache into the tart shell. Spread evenly with the back of a spoon or a palette knife.

– Top tarts with lavender cream and decorate with strawberries. Decorate tarts with extra lavender flowers.

My benchtop while preparing the chocolate tart 😊


A churro is a Spanish and Mexican pastry resembling a doughnut or cruller (a sweet food made from a piece of dough that has been twisted and fried) and made from deep–fried unsweetened dough and sprinkled with sugar (Merriam–Webster). The dough used in churro is pâte à choux or choux pastry.


Churros con Chocolate

Here's how we made them tonight:

🍫 Churros con Chocolate 🍓

For the pâte à choux:
250 mL water
100 g butter
150 g flour (plain)
pinch of salt
3 eggs
vegetable oil (for deep–frying)

– Preheat deep–fryer to 180°C.
– Combine water and butter in a saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 – 4 minutes or until butter melts. Remove from heat.
– Add the flour and salt and stir with a wooden spoon until well–combined and the dough comes away from the sides of the saucepan. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes or until cool.
– Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, until well–combined. Spoon dough into a piping bag fitted with a fluted/star nozzle.
– Deep–fry at 180°C for 1 – 2 minutes or until golden brown. Use a slotted spoon or a spider to transfer churros to a plate lined with paper towel. Repeat with the remaining dough.

For the chocolate dipping sauce:
200 g dark chocolate (coarsely chopped)
250 mL cream

– Combine the chocolate and cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.

Serving:
icing sugar (sifted) or cinnamon sugar powder mixture

– Dust churros with icing sugar or cinnamon sugar powder mixture.
– Arrange churros on a platter and serve with chocolate dipping sauce.


My benchtop while preparing the churros 😊


...Now tell me, who needs romance when you can have these desserts? 😉