Black Forest Tart

A perfect little valentine’s treat!

Ingredients:

Base:

1 cup plain flour

1/3 cup icing sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Cherry sauce:

3/4 cup cherry juice, from jar

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp tapioca flour

Cherry cream:

1/4 cup pitted morello cherries, from jar, roughly chopped

150ml cream

Cherry sauce

Chocolate ganache:

120g dark chocolate

2/3 cup cream

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine dry base ingredients. Add in melted butter and vanilla and combine.

3. Press down in a tart shell and place in oven for 15-20 minutes. Set aside and allow to cook.

4. Over medium heat, place cherry juice and sugar in a small pot. Whisk until sugar has dissolved. Add a splash of hot water to the tapioca flour, whisk and add to your cherry juice over heat. Continue stirring over heat until it slightly thickens, about 2 minutes. Take off heat and allow to cool.

5. In a medium bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks form. Gently stir in cooled cherry sauce and pitted cherries.

6. Once base has completely cooled, smooth over your cherry cream. You want to aim for a smooth finish so that the ganache can pour onto a flat surface. Set in fridge.

7. Break up dark chocolate and place into a bowl. Over medium heat, warm up cream. Turn cream off just before it comes to the boil and pour over dark chocolate. Allow to sit up 3-5 minutes. Stir to combine.

8. Pour ganache topping over cherry cream and set in fridge.

9. If you would like to create the white chocolate hearts on top, simply melt down 25g of white chocolate and place in a piping bag. Pip little circles in a straight line down the ganache (do this before setting the ganache). Run a skewer down the centre of the dots- this will create cute little hearts!