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Chocolate, hazelnut and caramel tart

Rachel Allen from Rachel's Favourite Food...
Rachel Allen's gloriously rich and luxurious tart has a hazelnut caramel layer topped with a creamy chocolate layer

Chocolate, hazelnut and caramel tart

Method

1. Place the flour, butter and sugar in a food processor. Blend for a few seconds, then add half the beaten egg, and continue whizzing. You might need to add a little more egg, but don't add too much -- it should just come together.

2. With your hands, flatten out the ball of dough till it is about 3cm thick. Wrap or cover it, and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (it will keep well for a couple of days).

3. Preheat your oven to 180°C/gas 4.

4. To roll, take the pastry out of the fridge and place between 2 sheets of cling film. Using a rolling pin, roll it out until it is no thicker than 1/4 cm thick, and preferably even thinner. Keep the pastry round and large enough to line the base and sides of the tin.

5. Removing just the top layer of cling film, place the pastry upside down (cling-film side facing up) into a 28cm loose-bottomed tart tin. Press the pastry into the edges, cling film still attached, and, using your thumb, 'cut' the pastry on the edge of the tin. At this stage, it should look quite neat. Remove the cling film and pop the pastry in the freezer for at least 10 minutes (it would keep for weeks like this in the freezer).

6. Bake blind by lining the pastry with greaseproof/parchment paper when cold. Fill with baking beans, or dried pulses (you can use these over and over), and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry feels dry to the touch.

7. Remove the paper and beans, brush with a little left-over beaten egg and return to the oven for 2 minutes. Take out of the oven, and set pastry aside in the tin while you prepare the filling. (This can easily be made a day in advance, and covered until you need it.)

8. To make the hazelnut caramel layer: place the butter, cream and brown sugar in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes.

9. Remove from the heat, add the hazelnuts and allow to cool.

10. Spread the cooled mixture over the cooked tart shell.

11. To make the chocolate layer: place the cream and chocolate in a pan on a very low heat, stirring until the chocolate is melted..

12. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and allow to cool, to almost room temperature.

13. Spread the mixture carefully over the hazelnut caramel in the pastry case.

14. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour, until the chocolate layer is set.

15. To serve: dust the tart with sifted cocoa powder; cut into slices and serve with softly whipped cream.