Dark Chocolate Ganache Tartlets, Three Toppings

Method

1. Chop the chocolate to about 5mm and put it in a heatproof bowl. Large chunks need hotter cream, and hot cream is the usual reason a ganache splits.
2. Heat the cream in a small pan until it steams and the surface trembles at the edge. It should not come to a rolling boil.
3. Pour the cream over the chocolate and press the pieces under. Leave it alone for two minutes; stirring early cools the cream before it has done its job.
4. Stir from the middle outwards in small circles. It looks curdled for 20 seconds, then pulls together, glossy and dark. Add the salt, and the butter if you are using it.
5. Leave the bowl on the bench for 20 to 30 minutes, until the ganache has the texture of soft icing and holds a line off the spatula. Poured warm it runs down the wall of the case and sets flat.
6. Check the cases while you wait. From a sealed pack they are crisp; if the pack has been open in a humid kitchen, three minutes at 150°C on a dry tray brings the snap back. Cool them completely.
7. Fill each case with a heaped teaspoon, or pipe with a 10mm plain nozzle, doming it slightly. The quantities fill 12 with a spoonful over.
8. Set at cool room temperature for 30 minutes. If the kitchen is above 25°C, give them 15 minutes in the fridge and then bring them out.

Three finishes, and when to add them

Timing is the only trick. Scatter the chopped macadamias while the surface is still tacky, within about 10 minutes of filling, so they set in rather than rolling off the first time the tray tilts. Crumble the rose petals on once the ganache is firm, or they sink and lose their edges. Add the sea salt last, just before the tray leaves the kitchen: flakes draw moisture out of the ganache and dissolve into grey smudges within the hour.

If the ganache splits, oily and grainy rather than glossy, whisk in warm cream a few drops at a time until it comes back, or blitz it with a stick blender in a bowl deep enough to cover the blade.

Ahead of time

This is the one filling that does not punish you for making it early. Curd, mascarpone and fruit are mostly water, so they soften a case from the inside within an hour or two. Ganache is fat, so the base stays crisp and filled tartlets are still good the next day, covered loosely at cool room temperature. Avoid refrigerating the finished tray: cold ganache tastes flat and the case sweats as it warms. The ganache alone keeps five days in the fridge and comes back to piping texture on the bench.

Scaling is a matter of case size. The 55mm medium sweet cases take about a tablespoon each, six to a box, so double the ganache and you have a plated dessert rather than something eaten standing up. The guide to the Confiletas cases sets out which size does what, and our dessert board guide covers what else belongs on the tray.

Questions we get asked

What is the easiest Christmas dessert to make?

One that skips pastry and the oven. Ganache tartlets need 20 minutes of hands-on work, one saucepan and no baking, and every component either lives in the cupboard or keeps for days. On a hot December afternoon with the oven full, a dessert that sets on the bench beats one that needs a rack.

How do you set ganache in a tart case?

At room temperature, for about 30 minutes, at one part dark chocolate to one part cream by weight. The fridge is a last resort in a hot kitchen and 15 minutes there is plenty. If it is still loose after an hour the ratio slipped, usually from measuring cream in a jug and reading over. Remelt with another 25g of chocolate.

How far ahead can you make chocolate tarts?

Fill them the day before if you need to. Ganache holds its shape and does not wet the pastry, so the bases stay crisp overnight under a loose cover at cool room temperature. Add the sea salt and any fresh fruit on the day. The ganache itself can be made five days ahead.

Keep a pack in the cupboard and dessert is never further away than a block of chocolate. The 40mm cases sit with the rest of the Confiletas range in our tarts and pastry shells, and if you would rather send sweet things than make them, the Christmas hampers do that job. Order before 12pm on a weekday and it is dispatched the same day, with free shipping Australia-wide over $100.