Whilst Pie in July has been going on, back in NZ there has been what I think was called “Jelly Tip week/month”. A Jelly Tip is an ice-cream on a stick and something of a NZ icon. It has a vanilla ice cream base, a generous top made of frozen raspberry jelly, and is all coated in a thin chocolate shell. Back when I was young, it was a standard post-trip-to-Muriwai-Beach treat. Nowadays, you can get Jelly Tip chocolate, Jelly Tip biscuits, and even different flavoured Jelly Tip ice creams – though I am waiting for someone in NZ to send me samples.
So my last pie in July is a “Jelly Tip” inspired tart. It happened like this: I had some dark chocolate cookie dough in the freezer, left over from another project; and I had at the back of my mind an amazing Lindt recipe for a chocolate tart which I wanted to make again. Then there was all this talk about Jelly Tips on social media and I got to thinking…. you could so make a chocolate tart and do a raspberry jelly layer and a cream layer.
I mulled over how that should look – should it just be a three layer creation in a crust? Or something… else?
I guess my recent trip to Denmark has put me a bit more on the adventurous side, because I went with “else”.
So we have the chocolate tart – which by the way you can just make on its own, it’s completely wonderful – glazed with a thin layer of real raspberry jelly, and decorated with little chocolate coated bombs of soft whipped cream. How completely adorable. Not to mention to-die-for delicious.
But how did you coat whipped cream in chocolate like that? you ask. Actually, it’s really easy. The advent of the likes of Zumbo and Darren Purchese cashing in on their patisserie godhood with cookbooks means that all those tricky techniques are laid bare. And one of the BEST techniques of all is such a simple one. I call it the UTFS technique: Use The Freezer, Stupid. Whipped cream goes into silicone moulds. They get frozen, unmoulded, dipped in melted chocolate, and returned to the freezer. Then they go on the tart, come back to room temperature and you nosh them. Next time I make them I am so going to attempt spherical bombs instead of just the half sphere ones.
“Jelly Tip” Tart (Raspberry Chocolate tart with Whipped Cream Bombs)
Makes a 35×12.5cm rectangular tart. You could also make a 20 cm round tart with the same quantities of ingredients. Ideally, you want to make the tart a day in advance, as it is easier to cut after it has been refrigerated for some time. You can also make the tart shell a few days ahead of time and keep, tightly wrapped, in an airtight container. The Whipped Cream Bombs can also be made ahead of time and kept in the freezer.
Dark Chocolate Cookie Dough
ingredients
165g unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
45g dark cocoa powder
1/3 tsp salt
mixing
Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla until just combined. Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt and mix on low speed until well mixed. Shape the dough into an oblong and flatten slightly with your hand. Wrap tightly in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Roll the dough out to a rectangle about 3mm thick and 40x16cm in size. Transfer the dough to the tart tin by loosely rolling it onto the rolling pin and unrolling over the tin. Press into the tin and trim the edges. Chill the uncooked tart case for at least 30 minutes.
Bake the cold tart case at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, and while the cookie is still hot, use the back of a dessertspoon to compact the cookie against the walls and floor of the tin. Let cool completely, but do not remove the tart shell from the tin.
Dark Chocolate Custard
ingredients
375 mL whipping cream
35g sugar
175g 70% cocoa chocolate (I used Lindt)
1 egg
2 egg yolks
pinch salt
mixing
Heat the cream and sugar until it just bills. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until all the chocolate had melted and the mixture is smooth. Beat the egg, yolks and salt together lightly. Pour the hot chocolate cream into the eggs in a thin stream, whisking all the time. The mixture will thicken as you do this.
Pour the mixture into the cold cooked tart shell and bake for about 25 minutes at 120 degrees Celsius or until the filling is just set in the middle. Let the tart cool to room temperature then refrigerate until cold.
Raspberry Jelly Glaze
ingredients
200g frozen raspberries
30g sugar
1 leaf (2.5 g) gelatine
mixing
Soak the gelatine in cold water for ten minutes.
Combine the raspberries and sugar and microwave on high for two minutes. Stir and pass the mixture through a sieve. Squeeze the water from the gelatine leaf and add to the warm raspberry mixture. Let the mixture cool to room temperature, then pour over the surface of the cold tart, carefully levelling with an offset palette knife. Refrigerate until set.
Whipped Cream Bombs
ingredients
125mL whipping cream
1 tbsp icing sugar
200 g dark compound chocolate (I like Nestle melts)
3 tbsp coconut oil
15g white chocolate, melted and mixed with 1 tsp of coconut oil, optional, for decoration
mixing
Whip the cream with the icing sugar until stiff peaks form. Spoon into 24 half sphere silicone moulds and level the tops with a palette knife. Freeze solid, at least two hours. Remove the half spheres from the moulds and return to the freezer.
Melt the chocolate together with the coconut oil in a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Let cool until the chocolate is about room temperature, but still runny.
Working in batches of four, remove the half spheres from the freezer and dip each completely in the chocolate and sit on a sheet of baking paper to set. Try to completely cover the surface of the cream, as it will bleed as it melts if there are gaps. When the chocolate is part set, carefully run a skewer point around the base of the dome to neaten. When set, drip the domes with extra melted dark chocolate and melted white chocolate if desired. The bombs will set at room temperature, so you can use them the same day if you like, or re-freeze them to serve at a later date. Assuming you don’t sneak them into your mouth straight from the freezer.
To serve, place the whipped cream bombs on the tart and cut into wedges or strips as desired. Use a hot knife to cut the tart – heat it under running hot water and wipe clean and dry before each cut. Wait about twenty minutes before serving to let the whipped cream bombs soften.
Enjoy!xxx
