Malted Chocolate Tart Recipe

Since September, we’ve been hosting a monthly supper club here at Caiger and Co. It started as a small outdoor dinner for friends in the early autumn sunshine, and has developed into a regular and exciting fixture in our calendar, where we theme each event around a concept close to our hearts and get creative in the kitchen, dreaming up new menus to not only challenge ourselves but to showcase our amazing suppliers as well. Our recent “Urban Jungle” themed supperclub was an ode to local London producers, and we teamed up with Land Chocolate (based in Bethnal Green), and Gosnell’s Meadery in Peckham to create this delicious Malted Chocolate, Mead and Buckwheat Tart.

Buckwheat pastry:

150g 00 Flour

100g Buckwheat Flour

50g icing sugar, sifted,

125g butter, cubed

1 large free range egg

Splash milk

• Blitz the flours, icing sugar and butter in a food processor to resemble breadcrumbs
• Add the eggs and milk to bind and bring together to a dough, then wrap in clingfilm, flatten slightly and leave to rest in the fridge for at least half an hour.
• Remove from the fridge, roll out to a thickness of about ¼ cm on a cool floured surface, and press into your tart tins, leaving some pastry to overhang the edges. Prick the base of the pastry case with a fork all over, then line with baking parchment and fill with baking beans or rice to weigh it down. Place the tart case, with baking beans/rice, in the freezer to chill.
• After about 20 mins, remove from the freezer and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 15 mins. Take out of the oven, remove the baking beans and baking parchment, and return to the oven for a further 5 mins, till beginning to go golden. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, and use the back of a knife to trim the edges. Feast on the delicious pastry offcuts while you prepare the filling.

Meade caramel:

3 bottles of Gosnell’s honey mead

300g caster sugar

200 ml double cream

50g butter

2 tbsp malt extract

Pinch sea salt

• Pour the mead into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then simmer on medium/low heat until reduced into a syrup. This mead is very light and refreshing rather than syruppy and sweet, which is why we decided to use so much of it to really impart its subtle flavour into the caramel. If you use another brand, you may want to adjust this quantity.
• In the meantime, place the sugar and 125 ml cold water into another saucepan, and heat on a low heat without stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Turn up the heat and boil until it turns a dark golden caramel colour. Remove from the heat, add the butter and whisk till incorporated, then slowly whisk in the cream to create a smooth butterscotch caramel. Stir in the malt extract, the sea salt and the mead syrup, and leave to cool.

Malt chocolate filling:

400g Land Malt Dark Chocolate, chopped up finely

1 tbsp malt barley extract

500 ml double cream

2 large eggs

• Preheat the oven to 110C, or gas mark ½.
• Heat the cream in a saucepan with the malt extract and bring just to the boil.
• Beat the eggs and slowly pour them into the cream mixture, beating all the time until they are well combined.
• Pour the egg and cream mixture over the chocolate, and stir until the chocolate has melted to make a smooth, silky mix.
• To assemble the tart, pour the cooled mead caramel over the base of the pastry case to a thickness of about 2mm. Pour the chocolate mix over the top and fill the pastry case almost to the top, then carefully place into the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the tart is set gently. It will continue to firm up as it cools so don’t worry if you think it’s still too wobbly! Leave to cool at room temperature, before slicing in and serving with a drizzle of leftover caramel, some toasted buckwheat and a glass of cold Gosnell’s mead.