Ganache with Panache

The Bourke St Bakery cookbook is a little bit intimidating to say the least.

For starters, you have to begin most recipes a day ahead, which doesn’t really fly with my whole impulsive-baking thing. Even though I’m semi-comfortable with yeast these days, (since the crumpets and pretzels, and yes I still sporadically check under my bed for guerrilla pretzel dough), I haven’t yet ventured into anything requiring a starter – which is needed in nearly every bread recipe in the book. I'll get there, but one step at a time people.

While flicking through the beautiful, yet brick heavy book, and after wiping the puddle of drool off the pictures of praline twists and rhubarb danishes, there was no doubt in my mind that this book was going to be habit-changing for me.


That being said, I was a little off-put by the proving and resting times, even though I realise that time is a key ingredient required to obtain Bourke St Bakery results, sometimes I just want to make something and then be able to eat it not so long after that. Wham bam thank you m’am, from oven to mouth in less than an hour.


Anyway I started off simple. I also popped the cherries of my new-fangled individual tart moulds. Sexy. They worked a charm thank you very much. The result was a crispy shortcrust shell filled with a silky, glossy dark chocolate ganache your mama would be proud of. From oven to mouth in less than an hour too! (excluding bowl licking time, which is immediate and very necessary).

Please enjoy, and don't forget that you can freeze your ganache and reheat it over a pot of simmering water, no excuses now!



Dark Chocolate Ganache Tarts:
adapted from the Bourke St Bakery cookbook

Makes approx. 14 tarts

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
200g unsalted butter, chilled, cut into cubes
10ml vinegar, chilled
50g sugar, chilled
85ml water, chilled
330g plain flour, chilled
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Put the vinegar and sugar in a bowl and add the water, stirring well. Set aside for 10 minutes, then stir again to completely dissolve the sugar.

Put the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and add the butter, pulsing in 1 second bursts about three or four times to partly combine. You should still be able to see pea sized chunks of butter, the floury mixture should be rather shaggy, not a ball of dough. Gradually add the sugar/vinegar mixture and pulse to combine. Gather together the mixture into two balls, you should still be able to see streaks of butter, which gives the pastry a flaky quality when baked. Refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight. (I only refrigerated it for 1/2 an hour and it was definitely enough time).

Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out the pastry into a round disk, about 3mm thick, try not to use too much extra flour when rolling out the dough as it will alter the texture. Cut out rounds to fit individual sized tart moulds with detachable bottoms (they make it MUCH easier to remove the pastry, non stick moulds really help too).

Remove the extra pastry from the edges and place the shells back in the fridge for 15 minutes to re-chill. Fill with baking weights and blind bake for 10 minutes, remove the weights and bake fur a further 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Chocolate Ganache
200ml dark chocolate (Bourke St uses milk chocolate)
200ml pouring cream

Chop the chocolate and place into a large mixing bowl. Place the cream into a saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir with a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon until well combined and the chocolate is melted, (try not to stir too much as it will create air bubbles). Pour into a jug and pour into the baked pastry shells until filled to the brim.

Allow the tarts to set at room temperature for a few hours. The tarts are best not refrigerated as it will cause condensation which will affect the look of the ganache. They are best eaten within 24 hours and are best kept in an airtight container.