Salty Chocolate Ganache Tart with Raspberries, Hazelnut Whipped Cream

I brought out the little black dress last Sunday night. And, it all started with a text I received  last Sunday around noon from a friend I hadn’t seen in about a year.

SS: Are you around tonight. I want to come and visit you.

Me: Great, we are around. Come for dinner.

SS: Awesome, can I bring wine? Me: Yes.

SS: Red or white. Me: Red.

SS: Good, I hate white. Okay, see you tonight.

Me: Okay, I have to go now because I have to clean, do my hair and lose ten pounds.

SS: Hahahahaha. I love you. 

Don’t tell me you don’t think exactly the same way when one of your friends you haven’t seen in about a year is popping by. Not just any friend, one of my more glam friends with a number 1 hit  hit (as a song writer) who is starring on a reality show. Looks, talent, and nice.

We have a few things in common.   We are not afraid to get totally unglamorous and live in paint clothes for days  to get that look we want. And, if we hate it, we’ll start all over, and that’s the difference between us and regular people. As a former professional faux artist with an obsessive gene, the walls of my house are always under construction.   We both like to make things look good. I like to make walls and food look good. He makes other people look good, (used to be hair), now it’s writing number one songs for famous people to sing.  Although he’s not bad himself and just released a new Christmas song, Naughty or Nice that I’ve watched over and over. Treat yourself. It’s a duet with beautiful singer songwriter talent who shows us the sunny (and a bit funny) side of an Australian Christmas.

So what does a food blogger do when time is short and needed for primping,  and something special is expected? I bring out the dessert I call the little black dress. She’s easy to make and her secret to success is all in her accessories, as long as you get her drunk first with a little dark rum,  raspberries and hazelnut whipped cream.

The dinner conversation never much touch music, but as expected went right to dressing up the walls of his  New York City apartment. Dressy walls are making a comeback,  and while we drank red wine with the little black dress of a dessert,  we ended up choosing this Damask pattern from Royal Design Studios that  I think I need to order for my own house.

The Process

This is truly that five minute dessert. Well almost. The pastry is homemade,  but takes five minutes in a food processor. The chocolate ganache is another easy five minutes and the whipped cream is just a minute so it’s a pretty easy, yet elegant dessert. The chocolate you use does matter. Use your best dark chocolate and think truffles.  I add in some Jamaican dark rum for extra flavor and you can play around with what you like.  Ganache is versatile. It’s rich and not very high on the pastry shell. It’s intended to have some pastry, a little chocolate, a little whipped cream in one bite.

I sprinkled the tart with sea salt and flavored the whipped cream with hazelnut. The chocolate ganache serves as a base for these flavors. You could sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles as I did, or sprinkle with some chopped nuts. Hazelnuts, pecans or pistachios would be nice. I used a shortbread crust which is made easily in a food processor.

You might also like my chocolate ganache cake.