Valrhona Abinao Chocolate Ganache Tart

Recipe by Finbar Higgins, former Executive Chef at K Club, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland. 

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SERVES 10

Ingredients

Chocolate Tuile

• 4.3 fl oz Orange Juice (freshly squeezed)
• 9 oz Icing Sugar
• 1.8 oz Plain Flour
• 0.8 oz Cocoa Powder
• 5.3 oz Unsalted Butter

Buttermilk Sorbet

• 9 oz Kilbeg Natural Yogurt
• 2.5 fl oz Avonmore Buttermilk
• 2.5 fl oz Avonmore Milk
• 2.3 fl oz Sugar Syrup 
• 0.8 fl oz Avonmore Cream
• 0.8 fl oz Liquid Glucose
• 0.2 oz Ascorbic Acid
• 2.1 oz Sosa Sorbitol

Chocolate Pastry

• 11oz Avonmore Unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 7oz Icing Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 10.5 oz Plain Flour
• 7 oz Cocoa Powder

Abinao Chocolate Ganache

• 14 oz Valrhona Abinao 85% Dark Chocolate Buttons
• 2 1/2 cups Avonmore cream
• 14 oz Liquid Glucose

Tonka Bean Mousse

• 3.5 fl oz Avonmore Cream
• 1 Tonka Bean (crushed)
• 0.8 oz Caster Sugar
• 0.05 oz Gelatine Leaf (pre-soaked in a little water)
• 0.5 oz Valrhona Abinao 85% Dark Chocolate Buttons

Cacao Brown Liqueur Pearls

• 5.3 fl oz Bols Cacao Brown Liqueur
• 0.3 oz Caster Sugar
• 0.1 oz Agar-agar
• 8.8 pints Vegetable Oil (chilled)

Chocolate Paint

• 1.8 oz Valrhona Abinao 85% Dark Chocolate Buttons
• 0.5 oz Cocoa Powder
• 0.4 oz Icing Sugar
• 1.8 fl oz Sunflower Oil

Garnish
​

• 0.7 oz Valrhona Grue de Cacao

Preparation

Chocolate Tuile

Warm the orange juice and icing sugar in a pot until the sugar dissolves. 

Sieve the plain flour and cocoa powder together in a bowl and then add the orange juice mixture. 

Melt the unsalted butter and whisk it into the mixture to form a paste. Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 160°C. 

Spread some of the mixture on to a Silpat or similar non-stick mat, place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Cut into 4½ in x ½ in strips while the paste is still hot and before it hardens. 

Store the strips in an airtight container for service.

Buttermilk Sorbet

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. 

Pour the mixture into a Rowzer beaker and freeze.

Blitz in the Rowzer when needed. Alternatively, churn the mixture in an ice cream machine for 20 minutes and then freeze.

Chocolate Pastry

Mix the unsalted butter and icing sugar together in a bowl. Add the egg and mix well.

 Sift in the plain flour and cocoa powder and bring together to form a thick dough. 

Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour. 

Roll out the dough on a floured marble top or counter until 3mm thick. Grease a rectangular tin frame 15in x 4in x 1 in) with a little-unsalted butter and place it on a greased Silpat or similar non-stick mat. 

Line the tin frame with the pastry, leaving a little of the pastry hanging over the edge, then transfer to the fridge to rest for 30 minutes (to prevent shrinkage during cooking). 

Preheat the oven to 170°C. 

Line the rested pastry with cling film and fill with rice or baking beans,
right up to the top. 

Fold in the edge of the cling film and place the non-stick mat with the
frame on it on a baking sheet. 

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, then remove the cling film and rice (or beans) and return the tin to the oven for another 5 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

 Trim off any excess pastry from the edge of the tart.

Chocolate Ganache

Place the Abinao chocolate buttons in a bowl. 

Boil the cream in a saucepan and pour on to the chocolate buttons. 

Add the liquid glucose and mix well together. Pour the mixture into the
lined chocolate pastry tart tin and allow to set.

Tonka Bean Mousse

Place the cream and the tonka bean in a saucepan and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and set aside to infuse for 20 minutes. 

Add the sugar to the cream mixture and place the pan back on the heat and bring up to the boil. 

Pass the cream mixture through a fine chinois or sieve. Squeeze any excess water from the gelatine and stir it into the cream mixture until it dissolves.

 Pour this mixture over the Abinao chocolate buttons in a bowl and
whisk until the chocolate melts.

 Leave to cool and refrigerate until set. 

Whisk the mousse in a mixer until smooth, then transfer to a disposable piping bag and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cacao Brown Liqueur Pearls

Boil the liqueur in a saucepan, whisk in the sugar and agar-agar and bring the liquid back to the boil. 

Remove from the heat and allow to cool to 54°C. 

Transfer to a disposable piping bag and snip a tiny cut at the tip of the bag to allow a small amount to drip out. 

Place the bag over the oil and allow drops to fall into the oil until the bag is empty. The little pearls will set as they sink in the oil. 

Pass the oil through a sieve to extract the pearls and then wash them with cold water to remove any excess oil.

Chocolate Paint

Put the chocolate buttons, cocoa powder, icing sugar and sunflower oil in a heatproof bowl and place over a pot of simmering water to melt. 

Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is well combined. 

Remove from the heat and store at room temperature. 

Assembly

Using a paint brush, paint a line of the chocolate paint along the plate. 

Sprinkle a light line of the Grue de Cacao along the length of the paint. 

Place a slice of the ganache tart across the painted line and pipe three 2cm-high tonka bean mousse rosettes on top. 

Neatly arrange the chocolate tuile strips between the tonka bean mousse rosettes. 

Place a teaspoon of the Cocoa Brown pearls on the side of the plate and finish with a quenelle of the buttermilk sorbet.

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The Straffan House at K Club, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland. Image courtesy K Club.