Chocolate Tart for a 12th Birthday!

My princess turns 12 today! How time has flown. Her birthday this year fell on a Wednesday. Although it was a school day, she woke up early, together with her brother, to watch the Chelsea-PSG European Champions League game on TV. They both woke up at 345am! At 530 we went down to wish her and then she came upstairs to look under her bed for her presents - as is the tradition. For her birthday this year, we got her a few things. First up was a set of 3 mini rubber balls (football, basketball and tennis ball) since she loves to toss them around; next we got her two 'magic' colouring books - just for kicks - the books magically turn into coloured pictures when you apply water to the pictures. Then we got her a really nice Puma tshirt, a Reebok tshirt, some fancy sports socks that she likes and finally the clincher was an Arsenal Backpack!





She was really pleased with the Arsenal backpack. Although I call her my princess, she is hardly a princess in behaviour and is a real sports buff!

While having breakfast, she painted the colouring books with water and both brother and sister were laughing away. Sometimes the silliest presents give the greatest joy. It was then off to school for the kids and off to work for us.




We went out for dinner at night at Rakuzen at Sri Hartamas. Rakuzen was the choice as she claims that Japanese is her favourite cuisine. Also, since it was the Lenten season, she had given up meat and desserts so fish was the order of the day. She had a Sashimi bento while Mike had an Unagi rice set. I had the Sashimi as well while TLW shared a Sashimi/Tempura set with her mother who joined us for dinner.

The restaurant gave us a small complimentary Macha Ice cream with strawberries and we had already decided earlier that we would all 'forfeit' our dessert abstinence for one day since it was her birthday.

After dinner, we went home to cut her 'cake'. For her birthday cake she was tossing up between a lemon cake and a chocolate tart. She finally decided on a chocolate tart and asked if I could make her that for her birthday cake, Okay, so its not really a cake but that's what she wanted.

I looked around at different tart recipes and finally combined a few to come up with this. I started the tart on the Monday night where I made the shortcrust pastry and let it rest in the fridge. On Tuesday, I completed the tart. I spread some marmalade on the base of the tart for a little orange flavour and then covered that with the chocolate filling before baking it. I then covered the top with a little melted chocolate mixed with cream and a bit of water. The finished tart was then put in the fridge to set and chill.

Chocolate Tart

For the Pastry
Ingredients
110g / 4 oz butter
225g / 8 oz plain flour
80g / 3 oz sugar
1 large egg

Method
Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until well combined, then beat in the egg, until fully incorporated into the mixture. Mix in the flour until the mixture comes together as a ball of dough. Tip the pastry out onto a floured work surface and knead briefly until smooth. Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for 30 minutes. Alternatively, it can be frozen for use at a later date or chilled overnight.


Preheat the oven to 180°C. Remove the pastry dough from the fridge and roll it out onto a flat work surface to a thickness of 5mm. Use a 23cm loose bottomed tart tin and line with grease proof paper. Next, carefully line the tin with the rolled pastry

Bake blind until the tart is golden brown, about 15-20 minutes then remove the weights and bake for another 10 mins. Allow to cool while you make the chocolate filling

Chocolate Filling
Ingredients
300g dark chocolate
2 eggs
170g caster sugar
200ml whipping cream
Dash Vanilla Essence
Orange Marmalade

Method
Whip eggs with sugar till thick. Add in melted chocolate. Whip cream and fold into chocolate mixture. Spread Orange Marmalade over crust and then pour filling into crust and bake in a 180 C oven for about 20 minutes. Let cool.

Glaze
Ingredients
50ml heavy cream
75gm bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon warm water

Method
Bring cream to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in chocolate until smooth. Stir in warm water.

Spread over tart. Chill tart overnight then serve.

Sarah cut the tart like a birthday cake although she didnt want too much fuss, so there was no song sung as we had already sung quietly at the restaurant. While cutting the tart she decided to look for the Greenwich Meridian line - something she had learnt at school!


After she cut it, I cut it out into slices and served it out. It was rather delicious. The filling was rich and chocolatey and after thawing a little was almost velvety.




The crust was buttery and sweet and a little cake like while the sides of the crust were more crispy. Perhaps I should have let it bake a little longer. Nonetheless, it didnt taste undercooked, just a litte soft.





Sarah had two slices of tart and that made me happy as it meant the tart was a success! I enjoyed the tart as well and I ate two large slices. Michael enjoyed the tart too while TLW said it was pretty nice but she admitted that she is not really a fan of chocolate tarts...







So another birthday completed and the kids seem to be growing up very quickly. Looking back over the years, this is the 26th different birthday cake I have made for both kids combined! Quite a feat really!!

Happy Birthday Sarah! May you have a great year ahead my Princess!