Treat someone you love with these strawberry and champagne truffle tarts – a sweet shortcrust pastry tart filled with rich milk chocolate and champagne ganache and topped with champagne soaked strawberries.
Seeing as it’s Valentine’s Day next week I thought I’d get creative and make something a little over the top and indulgent to celebrate.
I don’t really do Valentine’s Day as it’s a week before my birthday and I’d much rather wait and celebrate that instead. However, I’m definitely up for a bit of Valentine’s baking. It’s the perfect excuse to get carried away in the kitchen, using the most indulgent ingredients, and making things look extra pretty – I always love an excuse to get my heart-shaped cutters out.
I was seriously tempted to get some heart-shaped tart tins too but I wasn’t sure how far was too far with all the hearts. If you really want to impress someone then I think this is an extra step you should take (and make sure you send me a picture if you do!).
These tarts are inspired by my love of chocolate making as recently I’ve been experimenting with champagne truffles. They’re still a bit of a work in progress but as part of my experiments I’d made some lovely champagne ganache and thought it would make a gorgeous tart filling.
I decided to top these tarts with strawberries because, as every Pretty Woman fan will know, strawberries bring out the flavour of the champagne. Just to make sure they were extra champagne-y I soaked the strawberries in the champagne before popping them onto the tart. Seeing as I had a bit of champagne left in the bottle I also enjoyed a nice glass as I cooked 🙂 .
Strawberry & Champagne Truffle Tarts
Equipment
- 2 individual tartlet tins
- One large bowl and a couple of smaller bowls
- Weighing scales
- Rolling Pin
- Cling film
- Fork
- Wire cooling rack
- Measuring spoons
- Small saucepan
- Wooden spoon
INGREDIENTS
For the pastry (see note 1)
- 275 g plain flour
- 40 g caster sugar
- 125 g unsalted butter
- 1 medium egg
- A little vegetable oil for greasing the tins
For the champagne ganache
- 75 g good quality milk chocolate
- 1 tbsp double cream
- 3 tbsp champagne - or other sparkling wine
For the champagne soaked strawberries
- 6 medium-large strawberries
- 2 tbsp champagne
- ½ tbsp caster sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
Make the pastry
- Sift the plain flour (275g) into a large bowl and add the caster sugar (40g).
- Cut the butter (125g) into cubes, add it to the flour and sugar and rub it in with you fingertips until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs.
- Add the egg to the mixture and use your hands to bring everything together. If it seems a little dry, knead it a few times until it comes together.
- Wrap the pastry in cling film and pop it into the fridge to chill for about half an hour.
While the pastry is chilling macerate your strawberries (that's basically fancy talk for soaking them in the sugar and champagne)
- Cut your strawberries in half (or whatever romantic shape you desire).
- Put them into a shallow bowl or dish and add the champagne (2 tbsp) and caster sugar (½ tbsp). Mix well then cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until you're ready to top your tarts.
- Now's the time to take a break for a few minutes, pour yourself a glass of the champagne and relax for a bit until your pastry has finished chilling 🙂
Once your pastry has chilled, make the tarts
- Preheat your oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan.
- Lightly grease your tart tins with a little vegetable oil.
- Remove your pastry from the fridge and roll it out until it is very thin and slightly larger than your tin. I like to roll out the pastry between two sheet of cling film as this makes it easier to roll out to the desired thickness and also means I don't have any trouble with it sticking to the work surface or rolling pin. I also like to roll out each tart individually as this makes it much easier.
- Carefully lift the pastry into the tart tin and ease it into the sides so that it is in full contact with the tin. If you accidentally make a hole then simply patch it up with a little spare pastry.
- Trim off any excess pastry using a sharp knife or rolling your rolling pin across the top of the tin.
- Use a fork to prick holes across the bottom and up the sides of the pastry. It's essential that the holes go all the way through to allow air to escape while the tart shell cooks otherwise the bottom will puff up and the sides will collapse.
- Place the tins on a baking tray and pop into the oven for 12-14 minutes until just golden.
- Once cooked remove the tarts from the oven, leave them in their tins for about 10 minutes to harden a little and then move them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the tart shells are cooling make your champagne ganache.
- Put you double cream (1 tbsp) into a bowl.
- Put your milk chocolate (75g) into a small saucepan and melt on a very low heat, stirring constantly until it has fully melted.
- Remove the chocolate from the heat and add to the double cream. Beat the chocolate into the cream with a wooden spoon as quickly as you can (you have to work quickly to stop the chocolate going grainy). Once combined, add in the champagne (3 tbsp) a bit at a time, beat in each addition before adding more. You may want to taste as you go along, stop early if you're happy with the flavour or add a bit more if you think it needs it.
- Once all of the champagne has been combined, pour the ganache into the cooled tart shells.
- Top your tarts with the strawberries and serve.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…
- Suitable for vegetarians
- Corn-Free
- Nut-Free
- Soy-Free
The ingredients for this recipe are commonly available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.
Janice Patti says
These are so up my street! I love a chocolate truffle tart and the strawberries will be perfect to cut through the richness, delicious recipe.
Choclette says
Oh my, champagne chocolate ganache? That just has to be tried Charlotte. The tarts sound irresistible and I’m all in favour of dousing the strawberries in champagne too. Your photos are also rather gorgeous. Thank you for sharing them with #WeShouldCocoa.
Hope you had a lovely birthday too with something even more irresistible than these tarts – if that’s possible!
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Choclette, I had a lovely birthday. We celebrate a few days early as the boys were on half term and they baked me a chocolate cake. I’d definitely recommend strawberries soaked in champagne, I’ve got another recipe in mind that uses them I just need to get around to making it.
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
Hahaha, that sounds a little bit Keith Floyd drinking Champagne whilst the pastry chills 😉
These look really delicious Charlotte. The strawberries look fabulous set against the rich ganache and the idea of including champagne in the mixture sounds amazing. #PerfectingPatisserie
Angela x
Charlotte Oates says
Nothing wrong with a bit of champagne fuelled baking every now and again, and much better than letting it go to waste. The added champagne is lovely, especially on the strawberries, I’ve got a few other recipes in mind that I’m going to use those in 🙂
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
Oh Yes….. I must try champagne ganache!
I think heart-shaped tins as well would have been a step too far and would have detracted from the natural beauty of the strawberries. They look divine as they are x
Charlotte Oates says
Phew, glad I didn’t spend my money on those tins then (although I’m still a little bit tempted!)
lili says
These tarts look so cute and I love the inclusion of champagne with strawberries. Yum. Also like the idea of drinking a glass of champagne while baking 🙂 Thank you for sharing Charlotte! 🙂 #perfectingpatisserie
Lucy @ BakingQueen74 says
How delicious! I love the heart shaped strawberries and your champagne ganache sounds right up my street. They look perfect, thanks very much for linking up with #PerfectingPatisserie!
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Lucy, I made a bit too much of the ganache first time around and just sat eating it with a spoon!
Beth Sachs says
These look yummy Charlotte
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Beth, they were (all gone now though!)