Excellent and well-balanced tart cake

Excellent and well-balanced tart cake. It's my favourite dessert at the moment—a different version of tiramisu with similar taste elements. The pastry gives it a nice crunch, and the soaked sponge cake gives it a nice kick that is well-balanced with the mascarpone cream and ganache. While not shown here, a serving of ice cream like vanilla or coffee would add another layer of an elevated touch.

Makes 10-12 slices 

28 cm diameter tart ring (3.5 cm height)

Chocolate Tart Casing:

120g icing sugar

50g egg yolks

160g cold and cubed butter

35g unsweetened cacao powder

270g flour

2g salt

Process: Mix flour, cacao powder, salt, and butter until it resembles fine cornmeal. Cream together egg yolks and icing sugar. Mix the two until you have a smooth dough. Rest before shaping.

Mascarpone Cream:

500g Mascarpone 

50g heavy cream

3 bloomed gelatin sheets

100g sugar

4 egg yolks

2 pods of vanilla seeds

4 tsp vanilla essence

Process: Cream egg yolks and sugar. Whisk in mascarpone cream with vanilla seeds and essence—warm heavy cream with gelatine and whip through the cream mixture. Refrigerate to set.

Coffee Syrup:

52g espresso 

52g coffee liquor

52g nut liquor

38g caster sugar

Pinch of salt 

½ pod of vanilla bean seeds

Process: Mix everything and refrigerate.

Sponge Cake:

4 egg yolks

75g sugar

40g cocoa powder

5 egg whites

40g sugar

1g salt

Process: Cream egg yolks and 150g sugar. Whip egg whites with remaining sugar. Fold everything through with cacao powder and salt. Bake at 180°C/356°F.

Ganache Filling:

200g lindt dark chocolate, 70%

300g lindt milk chocolate

500g heavy cream

pinch of sea salt

2 bloomed gelatine leaves

Process: Melt chocolates and heat cream. Add bloomed gelatine and blend to homogenise. Add salt.

Final Steps:

Assemble each component (pastry shell, sponge cake, coffee liquid, ganache filling). Serve with chocolate sauce, tempered chocolate disks, and ice cream (not shown here).