Ridiculously rich chocolate caramel tarts

Ridiculously rich. Sometimes we need ridiculously rich food. These are richer than all the diamonds in the world. Wow. Seriously.

Not too rich. The buttery crust cuts through the rich.

They are quite fiddly. But not difficult. Just be patient with the steps and they will come together. I made cute little tarts instead of one gigantic one. What I really want is some cute little petit fours pans. These are more than one mouthful. I want pans smaller that are one perfect mouthful, maybe two 3/4 mouthfuls.

Pastry

240g plain flour

60g caster sugar

180g unsalted butter, chilled, coarsely chopped

Caramel

225g white sugar

80mL thickened cream

70g butter, coarsely chopped

Chocolate Mousse

200g dark chocolate (53% choc solids)

4 eggs, separated

185mL thickened cream

2 tbsp caster sugar

Chocolate Ganache

165g dark chocolate (53% choc solids)

60mL cream

40g unsalted butter, softened

For the pastry: process flour and sugar in a food processor to combine. Add the butter and pulse until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add 2 tbsp chilled water and process until mixture just comes together. Turn onto a lightly floured surface, form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 190C. Roll out pastry to 5mm thick on a lightly floured surface. Line your cute little tart pans with pastry (or use one 26cm pan). Refrigerate for 1 hour. Blind bake for 20 mins or until set, then remove paper and weights and bake until golden (8-10 mins). If using smaller pans keep a good eye on the cases as the cooking time will vary.

For the caramel: combine sugar and 250mL water in a heavy based saucepan and stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and cook, brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush until the mixture is deep golden - 10-15mins. Remove from heat, add cream and butter and stir to combine. Be very careful here as the mixture will spit and splutter. Pour into pastry bases and refrigerate until firm - 1-2 hours.

Chocolate mousse: melt chocolate in a bain marie. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature. Add egg yolks, stir to combine and set aside. Whisk egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar and continue whisking until combined. Fold 1/3 of the eggwhites into the choclate then fold in 1/3 of the cream. Repeat with remaining eggwhite and cream and stir gently until combined. Spoon over cooled caramel. Smooth top and then refrigerate until firm

Chocolate ganache: Combine chocolate and cream in a bain marie. Stir until chocolate melts. Remove from heat, add butter and stir to combine. Cool to room temperature. Spread in an even layer over chocolate mousse. Refrigerate until set.

Serve tart with whipped cream to the side.