Chocolate and Pear Almond Tart Recipe with Chocolate Soil and Crème Fraîche From Ceri Jones

November 29, 2018

Ceri Jones, a natural chef and founder of Natural Kitchen Adventures served this chocolate and pear almond tart with chocolate soil and crème fraîche at her recent autumn supper club 'The Seasonal Suppers'. It was such a hit that she’s shared the recipe and we’re sharing it with you! Enjoy!

Total Time: 1 h 30 m I Prep: 30 m I Cook: 1 h 30 m I Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients

Tart

115g unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more to line tin.
140g ground almonds
150g golden caster sugar
35g unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 medium eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ripe yet firm pears, I used conference
2 tablespoons apricot jam (I like St Dalfour fruit spread)

Soil

70g 70% chocolate, cut into very small pieces with a sharp knife
100g golden caster sugar
2 tablespoons water

To serve, crème fraîche and edible flowers (if you’re feeling fancy)

Method

First make the tart.

Pre-heat oven to 175ºC (fan).
Butter a 9-inch tart tin and line the bottom with parchment paper. You can use one with a removable bottom, but I like using a glass slim flan dish. The tart has always come out easy after cooking.
Put the butter into a small saucepan and warm over a medium heat until all melted. Remove and leave to cool for a few minutes.
Meanwhile mix together your ground almonds, sugar, cocoa powder and salt, by hand or with a food processor. Add in the eggs, vanilla extract and butter and blitz again until al combined (you could easily do this by hand).
Pour the tart batter into the tin ensuring it is evenly spread, and place in the fridge for around 15 minutes to firm up a little, this stops the pears sinking when you add them.
Next prepare your pears. Peel, halve and remove the core with a teaspoon as well as removing the stalk. Slice each half thinly from core to stalk but keep the pear together in its shape. Using a palette or wide chefs knife lift the pears into the cake, with the tip facing the centre. Allow the slices to fan out a little if you like.
Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes until the top feels slightly firm. Remove and cool before removing from the tin.
Add 2 tablespoons of warm water to 2 tablespoons of jam and using a pastry brush glide over the pears till they sheen.
Can be served warm, at room temperature or from the fridge.

Chocolate soil

You can make your chocolate soil while the tart is in the oven. Put the sugar with the water in a small saucepan - ideally a heavy bottomed one. Put on a high heat and heat until the sugar is dissolved and turning a darker brown. If you have a thermometer you can check if it has reached 130ºC. Remove from the heat (be very careful it’s so hot!), and working quickly add the chocolate and grab a whisk. Keep whisking and once the chocolate has dissolved into the sugar it will start to go lumpy and soil like. Turn out onto a plate or baking tray to cool. Once cool, if your soil is too lumpy you could stick it in a food processor to break it down a bit. Keep in an airtight container.

to serve

When ready to serve your dessert, slice up the tart, and try to get a good portion of the pear in each slice, put the tart off-middle on the plate, then add a pile of chocolate soil next to it and top with crème fraîche. For something extra fancy add an edible flower - I used purple violas.