Cocoa nibs and raspberry tart

After more then a year I decided to start writing this blog again.
A lot has changes since my last post. Me and my husband welcomed a beautiful baby girl and she occupied most of our time at home. Time sure flies, and before you know she turned one. Now I have more time for my passions and my hobbies, while she enjoys herself at kindergarten.

This dessert is something I wanted to make for a long time. It's inspired by a recipe in a book titled Chocolate by Antonio Bachour. His recipes are amazing and very reliable. I used his recipe for my cocoa nib mousse and raspberry dark chocolate ganache. The taste of both components was very good, especially the ganache, it was amazing. I only wish the taste of cocoa nibs was more prominent.

I recommend this dessert, it has a creamy chocolate texture versus a tangy and refreshing raspberry flavor. I love it because it's not too sweet. The acidity of raspberries and dark chocolate cuts through the sweet mousse. Try making it and please let me know how it turned out.

Cocoa nibs and raspberry tart

(Makes 23cm tart)

 

Time:

Preparation:2 hours

Cooking: 20min

Baking: 20min

Setting: overnight

For the cocoa nibs mousse:

• 8g gelatin
• 80g cocoa nibs
• 180g full-fat milk
• 150g heavy cream
• 70g egg yolks
• 70g sugar
• 150g heavy cream (whipped to soft peaks)

For the raspberry gel:

• 125g respberry puree
• 1,25g agar-agar
• 25g sugar

For the chocolate short crust:

• 25g cocoa
• 225g butter (room temperature)
• 80g powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon cold water 
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg

For the raspberry-chocolate ganache:

• 20g honey
• 162g raspberry puree
• 175g dark chocolate
• 25g butter (room temperature)

For the glaze:

• cold mirror gel (store bought)
• white food coloring (optional)

Making the cocoa nibs mousse:

Soak gelatin in cold water and set aside to bloom.

Pour milk, 150g heavy cream and cocoa nibs in a pot and set on medium heat. Meanwhile whisk together sugar and egg yolks. When the cream mixture starts to boil, pour it in the egg mixture while whisking continuously.

Put the mixture back on the stove and cook, whisk until thickened. Pour the mixture through a sieve, discard the cocoa nibs. Add the gelatin and stir until dissolved. 

Set aside to cool to room temperature. Whip the remaining 150g heavy cream to soft peaks and fold in the cooled mixture. 

Pour the mousse in a silicon mold that will fit on the tart shell (23cm). 

I used Pavoni Queen mold (Pavoni K018)

Place in the freezer overnight to set.

Making the raspberry gel:
Pour all ingredients together and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 minutes, pour in a plastic container to set. Chill in the fridge until firm.

When ready to pipe, blend the mixture with immersion blender until liquid. Pour in a piping bag and set aside for assembly.

Making the chocolate pastry:

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and place the rack in the center of the oven.

Mix together flour and cocoa powder in a separate bowl.

Cream the butter, sugar and salt, together then mix in the  flour-cocoa powder mixture. Then add the egg and water so that the mixture comes together.

Gently work it together until you have a ball of dough, then flour it lightly.

Wrap the dough in cling film and put it in the fridge for at least an hour.

When the dough is ready remove it from the fridge, roll it out, line your tart tin with it, gently prick holes with the fork so that the dough doesn't rise when baking. Cover and put in the fridge for half an hour (This will help prevent the crust from shrinking while it bakes).

Bake the pastry case blind (put pie weights or rice on the parchment paper in the tart shell before baking to prevent the pastry from shrinking and puffing up) for around 12 to 15 minutes or until firm Remove from the oven and remove the rice. Place back in the oven for 5-7 minutes to bake completely. Set aside to cool.

Making the raspberry-chocolate ganache:
Pour honey and raspberry puree in a pot and bring to boil. If you are not using chocolate chunks/buttons , chop chocolate in small pieces. Pour the hot raspberry mixture over the chocolate. Wait 1 minute for the chocolate to start to melt then stir until combined.

When cooled to about 35°C add the butter and blend with immersion blender until glossy.
Pour the ganache in a cooled chocolate tart shell. Place in the fridge to set.

To assemble:
Unmold the frozen cocoa nib mousse. Place on a elevated surface so that the excess glaze will drip off. Heat glaze to about 35°C, add the food coloring and pour evenly over the frozen mousse. I find this particular shape hard to glaze, because of all its nooks and crannies. Just try your best to get as much of the glaze evenly all over the mousse.
Set aside for the glaze to firm up.

Carefully place the mousse on the chocolate tart with the ganache. Garnish with whipped cream (I added cocoa powder to mine), pipe raspberry gel. I also made spun sugar for extra fun decoration (add the sugar right when you are ready to serve the dessert, as it melts in the fridge).

Place in the fridge to thaw completely. I ate mine half frozen because I couldn't wait for it to thaw :)
Enjoy and comment below.