Chocolate & Almond Tart With Meringue Top

Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 280 g shortcrust pastry, ready rolled makes life easier
• 75 g butter
• 300 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 175 g ground almonds or 175 g almond flour
• 6 teaspoons cocoa powder
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 egg, whole
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon sliced almonds, toasted

Recipe

• 1 pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.
• 2 blind back the pastry in a 10â€? flan tin for 10mins. making sure to prick it all over first so that it doesn’t rise. use baking beans if you have them or rice works well too.
• 3 soften butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon.
• 4 whisk in 75g sugar until pale in colour.
• 5 whisk in egg yolks and one whole egg. keep egg whites in a perfectly clean separate bowl for later.
• 6 add vanilla extract to milk and stir into butter and sugar mixture.
• 7 sift cocoa with almond flour into the mix and continue to whisk.
• 8 pour mixture, which should feel a little grainy in texture, into the pastry case and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the tart is cooked through.
• 9 while the tart is baking, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff to make meringue.
• 10 whisk in cider vinegar and slowly add the rest of the sugar, whisking all the time.
• 11 ten minutes before the end of cooking time, top the tart with the meringue and continue cooking until the meringue is lightly golden.
• 12 sprinkle with toasted almonds to finish.