Everything stops for tea
Chocolate and cherry tarts (pictured above)
Makes 12Hazelnut pastry
150g, plus 2 tbsp plain flour
50g ground hazelnuts
½ tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of salt
100g butter, chilled and diced
25g icing sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
Hazelnut ganache
75ml whipping cream
100g chopped dark/ bittersweet chocolate
75g chopped milk/semisweet chocolate
20g honey
50g hazelnut purée/butter
To decorate
200g chopped dark/ bittersweet chocolate
red lustre powder (optional)
cherry compote (see recipe)
12 fresh cherries
For the pastry, tip the flour and ground hazelnuts into the bowl of a food processor, add the cinnamon, salt and butter. Pulse to rub the butter into the flour until it is pale and sand-like in texture. Add the icing sugar and mix again to combine. Add the beaten egg and pulse until the mixture starts to come together. Tip the dough out onto the work surface and use your hands to bring it together to a neat ball. Flatten into a disc, cover in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour until firm.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of no more than 2mm. Using a 4in cookie cutter stamp out 12 discs from the dough. Gently press the discs into a 12-hole greased muffin pan, trying not to stretch the dough but making sure that the holes are evenly lined. Chill in fridge for 20 mins.
Preheat the oven to 170C/ 350F/gas mark 5.
Line the tart cases with a square of baking parchment or foil and fill with baking beans or rice. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 mins until pale golden and starting to crisp. Remove the tarts from the oven and carefully lift out the baking beans/rice and parchment/foil, and return the pans to the oven for 1 min more to dry out the tart bases. Remove from the oven and leave until cold before removing from pan.
Temper the chocolate for decorating by melting in the microwave in bursts of 30 seconds. Once the mixture is three-quarters melted stop heating and stir well to remove any lumps. Spread out very thinly onto a sheet of baking parchment using a palette knife and set aside to harden. Once set, brush with red lustre powder.
For the ganache, tip all of the ingredients into a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir gently to combine into a silky smooth mixture, remove from the heat and leave to cool for 15 minutes. Transfer to the piping/pastry bag and set aside.
To build the tarts, divide the cherry compote between the pastry cases and spread level. Pipe ganache over the cherry compote in an even, smooth layer. Finish each tart with a fresh cherry and crack the tempered chocolate to form shards that can be arranged on top. I find I often have a little dough left over so I like to bake this with the tart cases and crumble it on top to serve.
Cherry compote
Makes 500g175ml red wine
juice of 1 orange, plus 2 strips of peel
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
½ vanilla pod/bean, split
1 star anise
30g caster/granulated sugar
2 tsp cornflour/cornstarch
2 tsp Kirsch or cherry brandy
400g dark cherries in syrup, drained and patted dry
Tip the red wine into a small pan, add the orange juice and orange peel, the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, vanilla pod/bean, star anise and sugar. Set over a medium heat stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer gently until reduced to 3 tbsp thick syrup. Pass the mixture through a fine mesh sieve/strainer into a clean bowl to remove the spices and peel, then return the syrup to the pan.
In a small bowl, combine the cornflour/cornstarch with the Kirsch or cherry brandy and mix to a smooth paste. Spoon the paste into the red wine syrup and whisk. Cook over a lowmedium heat until thickened and glossy and you can no longer taste the cornflour/ cornstarch. Add the cherries and cook for a further minute to break down the fruit slightly.
Remove the pan from the heat and cool completely before using. Store the compote in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
‘Beehive’ tarts
Serves 12
200g plain flour
130g/1 stick, plus 1 tbsp butter
90g icing sugar
60g ground almonds
20g cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
Honey caramel
4g/2 sheets leaf gelatin
160g honey
300ml double/heavy cream
a pinch of salt u 90g butter
To decorate
100g dark/bittersweet chocolate
cocoa butter transfer sheet and sugar bees (available online or from cake-decorating shops)
lemon curd (see recipe below)
Put the flour and butter in a large mixing bowl and work together with fingertips to the consistency of breadcrumbs. In a separate bowl, mix together the icing sugar, ground almonds, cocoa powder and salt. Slowly add this to the butter and flour mixture. Stir gently until combined, then add the egg yolks. Stir again to form a dough. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for about 1 hour.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to a thickness of 2.5mm. Stamp out rounds using a 7cm cookie cutter and line a 12-hole greased muffin pan with the dough. Bring any scraps of dough together, re-roll and stamp out as many rounds as you can. Chill in the fridge again for 30 mins.
Preheat oven to 160C/325F/ gas mark 3. Line each round with foil or baking parchment and fill with baking beans or rice. Bake the rounds for 10 minutes, then remove the beans or rice and foil or parchment, and bake for a further 5 mins. Cool in the pan.
To make the honey caramel, soak the gelatin in cold water for 10 mins. Put the honey in a pan set over a medium heat, leave it to melt, then turn up the heat and bring to the boil – be careful not to boil too much, you only want to caramelise it slightly.
In a second pan warm the cream, then carefully pour over the honey – it will bubble up a lot. Add the salt, bring back to the boil and remove from the heat. Add the butter and stir until melted. Drain the gelatin and squeeze off any excess water before adding to the caramel. Stir in, pour into a jug/pitcher and set in the fridge to cool.
To build the tarts, pour the honey caramel two-thirds of the way up the cooled pastry cases. Set aside to cool completely.
Temper the chocolate by melting in the microwave in bursts of 30 seconds. Once the mixture is three-quarters melted, stop heating and stir well to remove any lumps. Spread the tempered chocolate thinly on the cocoa butter transfer sheet with the printed cocoa butter pattern facing up. Leave to cool slightly and just as it starts to set, use a 3in cookie cutter to stamp out rounds of chocolate. Leave to cool completely before removing and fitting snuggly on top of the tarts.
Pipe a small dot of lemon curd and a beehive shape on each tart and carefully fix a sugar bee to the dots.
The Dorchester Lemon curd
Makes about 350g4g/2 sheets leaf gelatin
300ml lemon juice
5 eggs, beaten
160ml clear honey
150g/1 stick plus 2 tbsp butter
To make the lemon curd, soak the gelatin in cold water for 10 minutes. Put the lemon juice in a pan over a medium heat and warm through. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the beaten eggs and honey together, then pour into the pan with the lemon juice. Bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Cook for 1 minute then remove from the heat.
Drain the gelatin and squeeze off any excess water before adding to the pan. Bring to the boil, then cool down to about 40C/104F when tested using a sugar thermometer. Add the butter and stir until completely melted. For best results, blend to create an emulsion.
Afternoon Tea At Home, by Will Torrent, with photography by Matt Russell (Ryland Peters & Small, £19.99.)