Chocolate Cake Tart

I can't throw anything away. Not even cake trimmings. I made a chocolate cake a while ago. Hard to believe, I know. For some reason that escapes me now, I had to trim quite a bit of yummy cake off it. After I'd finished,  I looked at my kitchen bench covered in perfectly good chunks of cake and thought, I could:  A) just eat it straight off the bench, B) put it in a bowl, pour cream over it and watch an episode of Homeland while stuffing it into my cake-hole C) make a trifle - but I already had cake!!! (first world problems), or D) stash it in the freezer for later times of famine. I chose D). Fast forward a couple of weeks when I'm elbow deep in the glacier that is my freezer and I find a container marked "Chocolate Cake Crumbs". The idea of thawing it out, dumping it in a bowl and eating it with ice cream did occur to me, but I restrained myself and made this tart instead. I'm a picture of self discipline.


Chocolate Cake Tart
adapted from here

For the Pastry:
250g (8 oz) unsalted butter, cubed
500g (1 lb) plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
50g (5 tablespoons) icing sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk (or enough to make up 1/2 cup liquids when added to the beaten egg and vanilla)

For the Filling:
1/2 cup chocolate cake crumbs
1 egg
1/2 cup thickened cream
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup cocoa powder

For the Ganache:
100g (3.5 oz) dark chocoloate, chopped
150g (5 oz) cream

Make the Pastry:
Mix the egg and vanilla in a measuring jug. Add enough milk to bring the level up to 1/2 cup. Set aside,

Put the butter, flour, salt and icing sugar into a food processor and process until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add enough of the egg mixture while pulsing the processor, to bring the dough together.

Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, bring it together into a ball and wrap it in cling film. Chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Roll the pastry out to fit a 35 cm x 13 cm rectangular tin and line the tin. Line the pastry with a sheet of baking paper, fill with baking beans and bake for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the baking beans and paper and return to the oven for a further 5 - 10 minutes, until golden.

Make the Filling:
Put all the filling ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Pour into the cooked tart case and bake for 30  - 35 minutes. Cool the tart completely in the tin.

Make the Ganache:

Put the chopped chocolate into a small bowl. Heat the cream to almost boiling in a small saucepan over medium heat. Take the hot cream off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Leave for about 2 minutes, then stir it together until the chocolate is melted and you have a smooth, velvety mixture. Pour the ganache into the filling and allow to cool to room temperature before slicing.