Chocolate Crusted Lemon Tart

I get cranky if I haven't baked for a long time.

When I'm cranky, I don't want to bake.

Well. Thank god I managed to break that vicious cycle.

I think the best part of the night I shared is with my friends was this conversation (who shall remain unnamed because he's a good cook really!):

Mr. Y: "This is really nice! What's in it?"
Me: "Oh er, it's a chocolate pastry base. Then on top is eggs, cream, sugar, lemon.."
Mr. Y: "Oh!! Lemon!! That's what it was! I was wondering that that acidic taste was"
Friend: "What did you think it would be? Vinegar?!"


p.s. Spring is here! And to share a quote form Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory:
"In springtime, the only pretty ring time, birds sing hey ding... a-ding, a-ding, sweet lovers love... the spring."

And here are some shots of Trinity in spring (before, in true British style, it started pouring it down with rain).

These flowers remind me of something my friend said : "What's the point in giving flowers? I'd rather have chocolate... at least I can eat that."

She's also an Economist :)

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And yes, you guessed it, this recipe is from my Green & Black's cookbook. I'm very close to finishing, and if you don't count the weird chilli chocolate sausage/rabbit ones, I've only got 6 or so left!

So with no time to lose, off I went!

Pastry pastry oh how tasty...

The G&B's cookbook had a tip: 'If you love making pastry try to find yourself a rolling pin with ball bearings in it!'

You know what I prefer? A rolling pin with alcohol in it.

You may be looking at this and wondering why I have some cut up carrots and a banana on top of the pastry being 'blind baked'. This is because I didn't have any baking beans, and these were the only heavy-ish things in my fridge.

This is what happened after 15 minutes...

But you know what the strangest thing was? The banana was SO GOOD. And the juice ran out onto the carrots - voila! Caramelised carrots!

I'm totally the next Heston Blumenthal.

Pastry with chocolate sprinkles. I was very tempted to smush my face into this.

If someone had 5p'ed this, I totally would have.

Grating the lemon. I had to borrow a grater off a friend, but it was a cheese grater, so I couldn't grate the lemon finely' like the recipe said. When I baked it, the big bits of lemon floated to the top.

Was a bit chewy at the top, but that may be your kinda pudding. I dunno.

Last step and into the oven! (No carrots or bananas needed this time).

Lesson learned today: Careful not to confuse lemon with vinegar...as interesting as experimental cooking is, I may have to draw the line at 'vinegar meringue pie'.

Chocolate Crusted Lemon Tart Recipe from the Green & Black’s cookbook Preparation time: 40 minutes Chilling time:            3 hours Cooking time: 35 minutes Use:   23cm (9in) tart tin with removable base Serves: 6 (I stretched this to 12…) PASTRY 175g (6oz) plain flour 25g (1oz) cocoa Pinch of salt 25g (1oz) icing sugar 125g (4½oz) unsalted butter, chilled and diced 1 large egg yolk 2 tablespoons cold water FILLING 75g (3oz) dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids, grated 3 juicy unwaxed lemons 150g (5oz) caster sugar 4 large eggs 150ml (5oz) double cream Icing sugar to sprinkle To make the pastry, sift together the flour, cocoa, salt and icing sugar. Rub in the cold butter using a food-processor or your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix the egg yolk with the water, and add to the mixture to make a dough. You may need a little more water. Gather the pastry into a ball, wrap it in grease-proof paper and chill in the fridge for about 1 hour. Roll out the pastry from the centre and away from you, then back to the centre and down towards you, using your weight to push down on it to avoid stretching it. Line the tart tin. Prick the pastry base with a fork in several places and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Line the pastry case with foil and baking beans and bake blind for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes. (Be careful not to overbake as the chocolate pastry can quickly develop a bitter taste.) Remove the tin from the oven and reduce the temperature to 170°C/350°F/gas mark 3. While the pastry is still hot, scatter the grated chocolate evenly over the base and then leave to cool. To make the filling, finely grate the zest from the lemons into a mixing bowl. Squeeze and strain the lemon juice and add it to the zest with the sugar. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved, then whisk in the eggs and the cream until the mixture is smooth. Pour the filling into the cooled pastry case and carefully return it to the oven. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until just set. Remove from the oven and leave on a wire rack to cool completely before removing from the tin. Dust with icing sugar before serving.