Aria Chocolate Tart

Well, hello again March, it's been far too long indeed.

I won't deny it - my song belongs to the late summer breeze and turning leaves that is the beginning of Autumn. To me, March is a collection of the best moments of the previous Seasons - Summer's gentlly warming touch, Spring's painted bouquet, and Winter's invigorating zephyrs. My heaven would be a year of March's.

Month-infatuation aside, I also get excited when it's bounty of beautiful Autumnal produce arrives. Yes, my beloved Nectarine's will slowly bid me farewell, but to help fill the void are Brilliant Berries, Fleshy Figs, Charismatic Corn and Put-me-at-ease Pumpkin to name a few.

I scurry about digging up Autumn recipes to place in my cooking basket, ready and waiting. Whilst I was selecting which ones would make the cut, I needed something to make this week, something special. I saw this tart on Masterchef and wondered if it could defeat the Triple Chocolate Praline Tart that has more requests than any other dish but takes a touch too long to make on the day.

ease: 3.5/5. Lengthy.
prep time: 2 hours to final chilling stage.
cooking time: 2 hours at least in fridge.
total: 4 hours.

taste: 4/5. Not the best triple chocolate tart, but still worthy of praise.

The crust is wonderful - slightly bitter but deep with cocoa earthiness and a firm but yielding texture.

The problem I had was that I couldn't really distinguish the filling from the glacage. The glacage is soft but also bitter from the cocoa and overpowering as it smothers the subtle, sweet and soft centre - perhaps use a deeper dish to have a more filling-to-glacage ratio.

I think I prefer this crust to the Triple Praline Tart's crust texture wise, although it is more bitter than the other.
This makes an excess of crust and filling - I made one long rectangular tart, 4 individual tarts and 1 mini cake tart and I still had left over filling.

would I make it again: No. It's nice, but nice doesn't take first place.

recipe: Aria Chocolate Tart