French Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Indulge your sweet tooth with this gorgeous French chocolate raspberry tart. Covered with a beautiful chocolate spiral and topped with fresh raspberries and chocolate triangles, the tart looks extraordinary. It is absolutely perfect for Valentine’s Day or any special celebration!

I fell in love with this stunning raspberry chocolate tart while watching a French cooking competition show called "Dans la peau d'un chef."

I would say that it is one of the show-off desserts with such a spectacular presentation.

When it comes to chocolate desserts, I love this delicious raspberry and chocolate combination.

It is such a combo when colors, flavors, and textures play in a dessert.

The brightly-colored, tart-flavored, and juicy-textured fresh raspberries burst in every bite with rich and smooth dark chocolate.

Like in these chocolate raspberry desserts here on my blog:

• individually served Chocolate Raspberry Lava Cake,
• French Chocolate Mousse topped with tangy raspberries,
• seriously yummy French Chocolate Crepes served with raspberry preserves,
• gorgeous Chocolate Raspberry Swiss Roll.

Raspberry chocolate tart

This raspberry chocolate tart (tarte aux framboises et au chocolat in French) is an adapted version of Pierre Hermé chocolate tart recipe.

The tart's original name is tart “Chloé” (tarte fine Chloé in French) that comes from Mr. Hermé's friend who loves chocolate and hates raspberry and dark chocolate combination. As a joke, the chef created a tart and called it "Chloé."

The tart's base is a thin shortcrust that is beautifully topped with a perfect spiral of the flavored raspberry chocolate ganache.

Fresh raspberries and chocolate triangles give a stylish finish to the tart.

I had to tweak the recipe to make it easier and, in my opinion, tastier. I omitted cornmeal while making the tart crust.

Yes, it brings crispiness to the tart base as per Pierre Hermé, but I wouldn't say I like this part of the chef's version. Moreover, I played with the amount of ingredients.

What is chocolate ganache?

Chocolate ganache is a mixture of chocolate and heavy cream, melted and mixed together. It is used as a glaze and/or a fluffy frosting for cakes or to make truffles.

How to pipe chocolate ganache spiral

First, it is fun to make a spiral out of chocolate ganache. It is the same technique used to pipe a meringue spiral.

If you have ever made a layered meringue dessert, you might be experienced with making meringue spiral disks.

If not, with a little practice and a steady hand, you will be able to master this technique.

Are you wondering how to practice? The best way is to make a 3-ingredient meringue (use this meringue recipe) and to pipe meringue circles.

If you go wrong, bring the meringue back into a pastry bag and start all over.

To pipe chocolate ganache spiral on top of the tart, please, follow these steps:

1. Transfer chocolate ganache to a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip.
2. Find the center of the tart as a start point.
3. Hold the pastry bag vertically and pipe a spiral starting from the center working outwards.
4. Stop piping when you get to the edge of the tart.

Once again, please, do not consider this step as a tedious task. Just play with the ganache, starting from the center!

Why you should try this recipe

1. Despite the seeming difficulty, this chocolate raspberry tart is surprisingly easy and quick to make.
2. Raspberry and dark chocolate combination is more proof that this combo is "a match made in heaven."
3. The thin tart crust is gorgeously balanced with the same thickness as the chocolate ganache.
4. A beautiful chocolate spiral on top of the tart gives a unique charm to the dessert.
5. This tart is worthy of any special occasion, especially, is perfect to end a romantic date night.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for exact amounts and instructions. I recommend making the recipe as written for the best results.

Butter: use softened unsalted butter to make the tart crust. Take it out of the fridge two hours before you start.

Almond flour: use blanched finely ground almond flour (not a coarse almond meal) to make the tart. Do not pack it down into a measuring cup while measuring this ingredient.

Icing sugar: make it at home using a coffee grinder or buy powdered sugar in your grocery store.

Egg yolk: use a large egg to get egg yolk.

Salt: a pinch of salt enhances the flavors of the tart. It also helps dark chocolate taste less bitter.

Flour: all-purpose flour in this recipe is what you will need.

Dark chocolate: the quality of this ingredient defines the taste of the tart. Use high-quality dark chocolate such as Valrhona dark chocolate. 

Raspberries: use fresh or frozen raspberries to make the raspberry puree. If you use fresh berries, you will need about 14 oz. (400 g) raspberries in this case. But only fresh raspberries will work on decorating the top of the tart.

How to make chocolate raspberry tart

To make the tart crust, place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until homogeneous.

Add all the ingredients in order and continue to mix. Then add all-purpose flour as the last ingredient and mix to combine (photo 1).

Wrap the pastry dough in a plastic film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry between two sheets of parchment paper about 5 mm thick.

Cut an 8 inch/ 20 cm diameter disk by pressing a buttered stainless steel tart ring (cake ring).

Remove excess dough (photo 2) and refrigerate for an hour before baking.

Preheat the oven to 335 F/170 C. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the ring in the middle of baking time to brown edges of the tart. Let it cool down. 

To make the chocolate raspberry ganache, place fresh raspberries in a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl.

Force the juice from the berries by pressing raspberries with the back of a spoon to get a puree (photo 3).

Chop the dark chocolate into small pieces or process chocolate in a food processor for a few minutes (photo 3).

Heat raspberry puree without boiling. Pour a third of the heated puree over the chopped chocolate and mix from the center by expanding the movement, little by little (photo 5).

Repeat the process twice with the remaining puree. When the mixture is at about 104 F/40 C (still warm by touch), stir in the softened butter.

Emulsify the ganache with a hand whisk for a few seconds to make it homogeneous, cover it with a plastic film in contact (photo 6), and refrigerate for about one hour.

To make the dark chocolate triangles, melt dark chocolate in a bain-marie (water bath), pour on a plastic sheet, and spread with a spatula (photo 7).

Cover the chocolate with the second sheet of plastic film and even with hands, removing air bubbles.

Turn it over, place it on a baking sheet and cover it with another but a smaller baking sheet. Refrigerate.

Prepare the baked tart crust for the decoration (photo 8).

To assemble the tart, place chocolate ganache in a pastry bag with Ateco plain pastry tip 806 and push a spiral, starting from the center of the tart (photo 9).

Decorate the top of the tart with fresh raspberries and broken chocolate triangles (photo 10). Transfer the dessert to a serving platter.

Expert tips

1. Use fresh or frozen raspberries to make the puree. As for fresh berries, you need about 14 oz. (400 g) raspberries.
2. Make the raspberry puree in advance and store it in the fridge for up to one week.
3. Make the tart crust and raspberry chocolate ganache one day in advance and assemble the tart the next day.

Love romantic desserts? Try these next!

• Raspberry Oreo Cheesecake
• Blackberry Friands
• Ile Flottante With Pink Praline
• Browse all Valentine's Day Recipes

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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://youtu.be/TIAqmIeRF6Y and http://cuisinjacqueline.canalblog.com/. It was originally published on August 01, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.