French Chocolate Ganache Tart Recipe

French chocolate ganache tart recipe is what you need if you are craving chocolate. It is a simple and elegant dessert with a rich and decadent chocolate ganache. It is perfect for spoiling your special one on Valentine's Day, too!

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, have you ever thought about what the connection between chocolate and Valentine's Day is?

It is a widely used tradition to treat your loved one with a box of chocolates, but what if you make a homemade chocolate tart? Let's not forget that dark chocolate has an aphrodisiac effect!

This French chocolate tart recipe is based on dark chocolate ganache created by the French chef Frédéric Anton.

He is a rewarded chef with three stars at the Guide Michelin, who owns the Parisian restaurant Le Pré Catelan.

If you visit Paris one day, taste the real French cuisine at his beautiful restaurant.

What is chocolate ganache?

Chocolate ganache is a pastry filling made of chocolate and cream. It is considered that it was accidentally invented in the middle of the 19^th century.

How? It happened when a chocolatier's apprentice poured boiling cream over some chocolate by mistake.

Furious master-chocolatier called his apprentice as "ganache," which meant at that time "dimwit" or "moron" in French.

Fortunately, the chocolate-cream mixture became delicious, and the filling was named "ganache" from the apprentice's nickname.

How to make chocolate ganache

To make the chocolate ganache, pour the boiling heavy cream over the chopped dark chocolate. Whisk the mixture till it becomes homogeneous and creamy.

What is the ratio of dark chocolate and heavy cream? Use the ratio of 1:1 to make a thick chocolate ganache for a layered cake.

To make the thin chocolate ganache, take 2 parts of heavy cream and 1 part of dark chocolate.

It is perfect for dipping fruit or glazing a cake (let the ganache cool before use.) The opposite ratio of 1:2 is used to make truffles.

Customize chocolate ganache by replacing 1 to 2 tablespoons of heavy cream with Grand Marnier, Bailey's, or Armagnac.

How to decorate a chocolate tart

The velvety-smooth surface of chocolate ganache tart is perfect for decorations. What are the ways to decorate the tart?

Use a stencil and cookie crumbs to create a word/phrase or a picture on top of the cooled dessert (look at pictures above).

Arrange jet-puffed marshmallows cut into haves with scissors on top of the tart and bring it under the oven grill/broiler for 1 to 2 minutes, until lightly brown, to get this giraffe pattern.

Sprinkle your tart with fleur de sel or sea salt flakes like this Salted Dark Chocolate Tart.

Decorate the tart with some fresh fruit: their bright colors look gorgeous against the dark chocolate filling. Have a look at this No-Bake Chocolate Tart.

Top the tart with store-bought duo chocolate curls or make them yourself. Run a vegetable peeler down the edge of a chocolate bar to create curls of chocolate. Just look at this elegant decoration on top of the No-Bake Chocolate Tart.

Use homemade or store-bought macarons.

Another simple way to decorate the tart is to use chopped nuts, for example, pistachios, like they are used on top of this Dark Chocolate Ganache Tart.

Leave Chocolate Tart plain or glaze it like this Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Tart.

Why you should try this recipe

1. This dark chocolate tart recipe is straightforward to make: a simple pastry and chocolate ganache are made as easy as one-two-three.
2. The tart is not super sweet since the crust is made with only one tablespoon of vanilla sugar.
3. The tart filling is rich and intensely chocolatey due to the use of high-quality pure dark chocolate.
4. The silky-smooth surface of the tart is perfect for decorations of your choice.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

Four: The recipe calls for all-purpose flour.

Butter: make sure to use chilled butter to make a tart crust.

Vanilla sugar: replace it with granulated sugar if desired.

Water: use chilled water to make the tart dough.

Milk: the recipe calls for whole milk.

Heavy cream: use heavy cream with at least 36% fat content or replace it with whipping cream (30% fat content).

Dark chocolate: high-quality bittersweet chocolate 60% cacao is the star of this chocolate dessert. Use dark chocolate 70 to 80% cacao if you desire.

Eggs: use large whole eggs.

How to make French chocolate ganache tart

To make the tart crust, in a food processor, place flour, chopped cold butter, and vanilla sugar, and process to get fine crumbs (photo 1).

Gradually add chilled water and continue to mix until the pastry dough forms (photo 2). Shape into a disc, wrap in a plastic film and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Grease a 9 inch/23 cm fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry between two sheets of parchment paper until about 0.1 inch/3 mm thick (photo 3).

Line the tart pan with the dough (photo 4) and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 355 F/180 C. Trim edges of the pastry with a knife and prick the crust (bottom and sides) with a fork before baking (photo 5).

Bake the tart crust for 20 minutes, until lightly golden. Let the crust cool down in the pan (photo 6).

Keep the oven temperature at 355 F/180 C. To make the chocolate ganache, process dark chocolate in a food processor for a few seconds (photo 7) or chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl.

In a saucepan, bring milk, heavy cream, and butter to a boil. Pour the milk mixture over the chocolate and gently combine with a hand whisk until homogeneous.

Work with the whisk delicately in order not to produce bubbles in the preparation. Add eggs one by one to the chocolate mixture, stir until thoroughly blended (photo 8).

Pour the preparation into the cooled tart crust (photo 9) and bake for 15 minutes. The center of the tart will be wobbly (photo 10). 

Let the tart rest for about 2 to 3 hours until the chocolate ganache is set. Then decorate the tart as you desire or leave it plain.

Expert tips

1. Use high-quality bittersweet chocolate or replace it with Scharffen Berger dark chocolate or Valrhona dark chocolate, which contains 70% cacao.
2. To decorate the tart, use a stencil with the crushed pink champagne biscuits, edible rose buds, and pink sugar pearls.
3. Remove the tart from the fridge about 15 to 30 minutes before serving.
4. To cut the tart, dip a knife in hot water, wipe it off, and then cut. Wipe the knife off before each cut.

Frequently asked questions

Love tarts or pies? Try these next!

• Raspberry Chocolate Ganache Tart
• Best Honey Hazelnut Pie Recipe
• French Quince Tarte Tatin Recipe
• Browse all the Tart Recipes

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was adapted from https://www.femmeactuelle.fr. It was originally published on February 14, 2019. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.