Frangipane and dark chocolate ganache tart

Last Saturday, we had friends over for a pot luck. It was such a fun event! For the evening, I had made some Vietnamese sandwiches (recipe to come) and some deserts including the frangipane and dark chocolate ganache tart. It's an elegant desert but yet so simple to make!

This is a three recipe pastry. The tart crust recipe, the no-fail frangipane recipe, and no super-no-fail dark chocolate ganache recipe.

The reason why I say "no-fail" is because I have simplified the recipes so that everyone can create delicious pastries at home without the fuss! Besides, it taste great and everyone can be the superstar pastry chef of the evening!!!


Ingredients for the crust:

• 225 g plain flour
• 125 g butter
• 55 g icing sugar
• 1 egg, whisked
• a dash of vanilla extract

Place butter at room temperature until softened. Cream the butter and the sugar until the mixture is smooth, fluffy and light in color. Add in whisked egg, half at a time. Add vanilla, mix well.

Sift in flour in two batches, scraping down the sides the bowl between additions with a spatula, and make sure all ingredients combine well. Knead into dough. Let it rest for 1 hour in the fridge. You will want to take it out 15 minutes before rolling the dough out.



Ingredients for the frangipane:

• 1/2 lbs butter, room temperature
• 1/2 lbs sugar
• 1/2 lbs almond flour
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 2 tbsp dark rum

Cream the butter and sugar until light in color. Add the almond flour and mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla, the almond extract and rum, mix well. The frangipane is ready to use!


Ingredients for the dark chocolate ganache:

• 500 g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 500 g cream
• 100 g butter, room temperature.

Put the chocolate in a mixing bowl.

Heat the cream in a saucepan. As soon as you see it starts to boil, take it off the heat and pour it onto the  chocolate. Be careful to keep an eye on your cream, because it can easily overflow when it come to a boil. Let the mixture sit for a couple minutes. Stir to mix both the ingredients. Add the butter and mix well. Ready to pour on the tart or to use on anything else! This ganache can keep for two weeks in the fridge.


To assemble:

Pre-heat the oven to 350F

Roll out your crust to fit in your tart mold. You will need to adjust the thickness of the crust depending on the size of you mold. The bigger the pan, the thicker the crust. The smaller your mold, the thinner crust. Generally, I would have the crust 1/8-inch.

Fill the mold with the frangipane 1/2 way. Bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. When done, take it out of the oven and let it cool down. Once it's cooled down you are ready to pour the ganache over the tart. Cool in the fridge for at least 1 hour, if you can wait that long!

You will probably have some left over of each of the recipe. Just make sure that the are well covered and in your fridge until the next time you want to use them.

Hope you like it!