Rich & Silky Chocolate Tart

The crunchy, nutty base pairs perfectly with the smooth and silky rich chocolate filling in this vegan chocolate tart. A real treat for chocoholics! 

Rich and silky vegan chocolate tart

Prep time: Up to one hour | Cooking time: 25 minutes | Chilling time: 3 hours or overnight

Ingredients

For the base:

• 300g buckwheat flour (or other gluten-free flour)
• 150g vegan margarine, plus extra for greasing
• 1tsp salt
• 1tsp baking powder
• 60g cashew nuts
• 100g dates
• 50g dark muscovado sugar
• 4 tbsp almond milk.

For the filling:

• 1 x 400g pack of plain tofu, drained
• 200ml dairy free single cream
• 50g ground almonds
• 90g dark muscovado sugar
• 50g cocoa powder
• 75g vegan margarine, softened
• 200g dark, dairy-free chocolate such as Green & Blacks, melted.

For the topping:

• 100g of the same dark chocolate as the filling, melted
• 50g vegan margarine, melted
• 50ml dairy-free single cream.

Method

1. To make the base: Put the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl and add the margarine in small pieces. Rub with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Blend the cashew nuts in a high-quality blender and add to the mixture.
3. Blend the dates separately and add those as well, then add the sugar. Mix these ingredients together and then pour in the almond milk.
4. Bring it all together with your hands and knead into a dough. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for an hour.
5. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 / 190 C / 375 F.
6. Take the pastry dough out of the fridge and roll it out using the buckwheat flour to stop it sticking.
7. Grease a 10-inch pie tin with some of the vegan margarine and line it with the pastry. Don’t worry if it breaks up, just press it into the base of the tin and up around the edges with your fingers. You’ll have some pastry left over so feel free to chill this for something else.
8. Once the tin is lined, cut a square of greaseproof paper and press it down on top of the pastry and cut away any edges that stick up too much.
9. Fill the paper with raw rice or baking beans and bake in the bottom of the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the rice and greaseproof paper and bake for a further 10 minutes. Leave to completely cool.
10. To make the filling: Blend all of the filling ingredients together until completely smooth. You will have to stop repeatedly to scrape down the sides with a spatula. If the mixture is too stiff then you can add more cream to loosen it. You are looking for a consistency similar to cake mix
11. Once the tart base is cooled, pour in the filling, spreading it to the edges. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight if you like.
12. An hour before serving the tart, remove it from the fridge and make the topping.
13. To make the topping: Mix together the melted chocolate and margarine until completely smooth. Allow to cool slightly and then add the cream. Stir with a whisk to thoroughly combine and then, using a spoon, spread the topping over the tart.
14. Leave to set outside of the fridge for an hour. Slice and serve.