As mentioned on Instagram, a few weeks ago my parents came to visit me in London. It was also my mother’s birthday and therefore I wanted to bake a special cake for her…She loves apple cakes, but a simple apple cake was not good enough for me. So I decided to combine 3 ingredients she really likes: apples, chocolate, and pastry cream. I searched online to see if something would come up, but there were too many variations I was not entirely convinced of.
Finally, I found a recipe that combined chocolate, amaretto biscuits, apples, and apple marmalade. So why not substitute the apple marmalade with pastry cream?
The result was that of a delicate tart, sweet and chocolaty, and worth to be my mom’s birthday cake! Exactly what I wanted and she was very happy 🙂
The original recipe comes from the Italian il Cucchiaio d’Argento (the Silver Spoon), available online.
My no butter shortcrust pastry and pastry cream recipes were inspired by the Lemon Tart recipe by Fatto in Casa da Benedetta, Italian food blogger.
Chocolate Amaretto Apple Tart
Ingredients
Shortcrust Pastry (no butter)
Pastry Cream
Instructions
Pastry Cream
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Pour the milk in a saucepan. Add the peel of one lemon. Bring to a gentle simmer. Once it starts boiling, remove the pan from the heat.
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Crack the eggs in a large saucepan. Whisk in the sugar. Add the potato starch and continue to whisk.
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Remove the lemon peel from the warm milk and slowly pour the milk onto the egg mixture, whisking all the time. Bring the saucepan to boil, whisking continuously, until the sauce thickens (it will take approx. 5 minutes).
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Remove from the heat. Add the vanilla aroma and whisk. Cover the saucepan with cling film and set aside to cool down.
Shortcrust Pastry
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Crack the eggs into a large bowl, add oil and sugar and start mixing all the ingredients with your hands.
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Add the baking powder and, gradually, the flour and continue to mix in the bowl, using your hands. When you obtain a dough, transfer it onto a large board or table, and continue kneading it with your hands. Use all the flour and add some if it helps to knead. Your dough is ready when it is not sticky anymore.
Preparing the Tart
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Pre-heat oven at 170°C (fan).
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Cut the apples into thin slices and place them in a bowl or plate. Pour the juice of a half lemon (you can use the same lemon for the cream), and gently mix. The lemon juice will prevent the apples to turn dark.
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Take two-thirds of the dough and roll it until you get a nice sheet, 5mm thick.
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Grease your tart tin, if you wish. Using your rolling pin, take the pastry and drape it over the tart tin. Gently mould the pastry into the tin and cut away any excess pastry. Prick the pastry with a fork.
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Roll all the remaining pastry dough into a 5mm thick sheet. Cut thin strips and set aside.
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Pour the cream onto the tart dough.
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Break the Amaretto biscuits with your hands and add them on top of the cream.
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Cut the chocolate into small chips and add them on top of the Amaretto biscuits.
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Place the apple slices on top of the chocolate.
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Cover the tart with the pastry strips.
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Place the tin in the middle of the oven and bake for 40 minutes.
