• Bitter chocolate and Copper Lake Stout tart

    Serves: 6 – 8
    Cooking Time: 2 hours

    Ingredients

    • The base
    • 75g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
    • 15ml (1 tbsp) vegetable oil
    • 45ml (3 tbsp) water
    • 15ml (1 tbsp) castor sugar
    • pinch salt
    • 120g cake flour
    • The filling
    • 110g 70% dark chocolate, chopped
    • 125ml (½ cup) fresh double-thick cream
    • 250ml (1 cup) Copper Lake Stout
    • 60ml (¼ cup) castor sugar
    • 4 egg yolks
    • 30ml (2 tbsp, heaped) cake flour
    • sprinkle icing sugar, to serve
    • lavender sprigs, to garnish

    Instructions

    1

    Preheat the oven to 210°C.

    2

    For the base, combine the butter, oil, water, sugar and salt in an oven-proof bowl. Place the bowl in the oven until the butter starts bubbling and the edges begin to brown, 15 minutes.

    3

    Remove the bowl from the oven (it may sputter a bit), dump in the flour and stir it in quickly until it forms a ball, which pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a 20cm tart tin with a removable base. Once the dough is cool enough to handle, keep a small piece aside and pat the rest into the tin with the heel of your hand. Use your fingers to press it up the sides of the tin. Prick the dough all over with a fork and bake the shell until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and use the bits of reserved dough to fill in any cracks in the filling. Set aside to cool completely before filling.

    4

    For the filling, put the chocolate in a large bowl. Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat, being careful not to let it boil over. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let it stand, 1 minute. Stir the mixture until the chocolate melts completely.

    5

    Add the beer and sugar and stir until most of the sugar has dissolved.

    6

    Add the egg yolks, one by one, stirring between each addition. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the mixture and stir vigorously until there are no lumps. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan over low heat and stir firmly to stop the eggs from scrambling, until the mixture thickens, about 5 – 8 minutes. Take it off the heat and leave to cool.

    7

    Lower the oven to 180°C. When the filling is at room temperature, give it a stir to break the skin that has formed on the surface. Pour into the pre-baked tart tin and bake in the oven, 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the tart inside to cook in the residual heat. Remove once the oven is completely cool. Rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

    8

    To serve, sprinkle with icing sugar and garnish with lavender.