Chai Tart
This Chai Tart is all about zesty, refreshing black tea that is full bodied, milky and packed with flavours of fragrant spices. Delicately spiced, creamy, velvety and nostalgically chai on a cocoa tart crust.
Servings: 8 inch tart
Ingredients
Tart crust
- 1/8 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup pistachios
- 3/4 cup cake flour
- 1/3 cup icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 110 g cold butter (unsalted)
Chai filling
- 1 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 110 g white chocolate
- 7-8 cloves
- 2 tsp powdered cardamon
- 1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon
- 3 tbsp black tea leaves
- 1 tsp gelatine (bloomed in 2 tbsp cold water)
Decor (optional)
- Spices
- Sugar pearls
- Gold lustre dust
Instructions
Cocoa Tart Crust
- Lightly grease an 8 inch (20cm) round tart pan.
- In the food processor, blitz the pistachios until crumb like. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt for a few seconds and mix well.
- Add in the cold cubed butter and pulse until the pastry starts to come together and form clumps. Transfer the pastry to the prepared pan and using your fingers, evenly press the pastry up the sides of the tart pan and onto the bottom.
- Gently pierce the bottom of the crust with the tines of a fork. This is to prevent the pastry crust from puffing up while it bakes. Cover the tart crust with cling wrap and place it in the freezer for 1-2 hours or overnight to firm up. This helps to prevent the crust from shrinking while it bakes.
- Preheat oven to 200C.
- Place the frozen tart shell on a larger baking tray and bake the crust at the lowest rack of the oven for ~ 20 minutes. (Note: should the pastry puff up, simply pierce the base gently with a skewer during baking. This will help to release the air that is trapped and flatten out the puffed pastry.
- Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cooled, un-mould from pan and chill in the fridge whilst making the filling.
Chai ganache filling
- Dissolve the gelatine well in the cold water. Set aside to bloom
- Place heavy cream in a medium size milk pan. Add the black tea leaves and spices and cook the chai on medium heat until it gently boils. Lower the fire and let the chai steep in the spices for 1 minute. Remove from heat and sieve the chai cream to remove all residuals.
- Pour the hot chai cream over the white chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate is fully dissolved. If needs be, microwave at 10 second bursts for the chocolate to melt completely. When the chai ganache is smooth and shiny and all the chocolate is melted, it is done.
- Microwave the bloomed gelatine for 5 seconds. Add the liquified gelatine mixture to the chai ganache and mix till just combined. The mixture will be soft and of a slightly thick pouring consistency.
Assembly
- Gently pour in the chai ganache until it nicely fills the crust well along all the edges. Remove any air bubbles with a toothpick. Freeze for an hour to let it set.
- Optional: Just before serving, decorate with spices, some sugar pearls and edible gold lustre. Or otherwise serve it naked. Enjoy.
Video
Notes
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#1 Tart Crust
How to get a perfect tart crust every time?
Always use COLD, COLD, COLD butter and work quickly. I used a food processor to pulse the flour, sugar and butter until it formed small clumps. The small clumps come together to form a very malleable pastry which you can work by hand to mould into the tart tin. No rolling is required.
If you don’t have a food processor, you can also use a pastry cutter to work the butter into the flour mixture. It will take a bit longer but it should achieve the same result. Alternatively, if both are not handy, use a fork. I wouldn’t however, recommend using our hands for this part as they transmit heat and we want to keep the butter very cold.
Allow sufficient freezing time for the tart shells to firm up before baking and always bake from frozen, straight from the freezer to the hot oven. This helps the tart shell to hold its shape well during the 15 minute baking time.
I don’t blind bake this tart crust as it is stable and usually does not puff up during baking. This is because the tart pastry is poked with a fork before baking which helps to release heat during baking. Occasionally, if there is a little puffing, just poke the tart base gently with a wooden skewer to release the heat during baking. Once the trapped heat is released, the tart crust will bake intact again.
Be gentle when removing the tart shell after baking. My 8-inch non stick tart tin with removable bottom makes it easy to remove the shell well. Be extra careful handling the tart shell once un-moulded. Always use a palette knife to hold the bottom when moving the tart shell. Shortcrust pastry is quite crumbly and trust me, a chipped shell spoils even the prettiest looking tart.
This tart crust pastry is a good make ahead. Once moulded into the tart pan, it can be kept frozen in a ziplock bag or cling wrap for up to a week before use.
#2 Chai Cream
Whilst you want to let the Chai steep in the spices to gain all the flavors, do not overcook the Chai or there may not be sufficient chai cream to make the ganache filling. Once the Chai comes to a boil, simmer for about half to one minute on low heat to let it gently steep before taking it off the fire.
#3 Storage
This Chai Tart keeps fresh for 4-5 days chilled in the refrigerator … although it never lasts that long in the Sugar Crumble household!