Chocolate Soufflé Tart with Vanilla Poached Pears
Luxurious without being dense — baked chocolate mousse in a crisp tart shell, the wobble is the whole point.
> Elegant, lightly souffléed, softly set and not overly sweet. Designed to feel luxurious without becoming dense or ganache-heavy. Makes 1 deep 20cm tart. Best made the day before.
Ingredients
Pastry
- 110g Doves Farm Freee plain flour
- pinch fine sea salt
- 55g cold unsalted butter
- 1 medium egg yolk
- ¼ tsp vanilla
- 1–2 tsp cold water if needed
- Optional — replace 10g flour with cocoa powder.
Filling
- 180g dark chocolate (around 70%)
- 95g unsalted butter
- 80ml single cream
- 70ml whole milk
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 40g caster sugar
- 10g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch fine sea salt
- 1 tsp dark rum, cognac or espresso (optional)
Vanilla Poached Pears
- 3 pears
- 500ml water
- 1 tbsp honey or 20g sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- strip lemon peel
- Optional — tiny pinch cardamom.
Method
Pastry
1. Rub together
- Rub butter into flour and salt until sandy with a few small flakes remaining.
2. Add yolk
- Mix yolk with vanilla. Add and bring together gently.
- If needed, add cold water gradually. The dough should just hold together and not feel wet.
3. Chill
- Flatten into disc. Chill 30–45 mins.
4. Roll
- Roll between baking paper to 2–3mm thick.
- This tart is best with thin, delicate, crisp pastry.
5. Line tin
- Line tart tin. Chill again 15 mins minimum. Dock lightly. Freeze briefly before baking if possible.
Blind Bake
- Bake at 170°C fan / 180°C conventional.
- 15 mins with weights, then 8–12 mins uncovered.
- Bake until fully dry, crisp and lightly golden. Very important with the soft filling.
Filling
1. Melt the chocolate base
- Finely chop chocolate into a bowl.
- Heat butter, cream and milk together until steaming but not boiling. Pour over chocolate.
- Leave 1 minute, then stir until smooth and glossy.
- Whisk in cocoa, vanilla, salt and optional rum/espresso. Allow to cool 5 minutes.
- Whisk in egg yolks one at a time.
2. Whisk whites
- Whisk egg whites to soft peaks.
- Gradually rain in sugar and continue whisking until glossy, softly holding shape, not stiff.
- Think mousse, not pavlova.
3. Fold
- Fold one-third of whites into chocolate mixture to loosen.
- Gently fold through remaining whites in two additions. Do not fully deflate.
- Mixture should remain airy and mousse-like.
4. Bake
- Pour into tart shell and smooth lightly.
- Bake for 24–30 minutes.
- The tart should puff slightly, develop a delicate crust, and wobble softly in the centre.
- Do NOT overbake. The centre should still look slightly underdone.
5. Cool
- Cool fully at room temperature.
- Then chill at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
- The texture becomes silky, lightly truffley at edges, mousse-like in centre.
Vanilla Poached Pears
- Peel pears.
- Bring poaching liquid (water, honey or sugar, vanilla, lemon peel) to a gentle simmer.
- Add pears. Poach gently 15–25 mins depending on ripeness.
- Cool pears in liquid. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
To Serve
- Dust tart lightly with cocoa.
- Serve small slices with pear halves or slices.
- Optional spoon of goat crème fraîche.
Notes
- Chocolate: ideal 64–70%. Avoid 85% — too aggressive with the low sugar.
- Sugar: 40g gives elegant bitter chocolate balance. For sweeter palates, increase to 55g.
- Texture target: baked chocolate mousse. Not brownie, not ganache, not flourless cake. The slight wobble is essential.
- FODMAP caveat: dark chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar, pears (½ per serve) all fit low-FODMAP. Cream and whole milk add lactose — use lactose-free dairy for a stricter version. Honey is high-FODMAP; use 20g sugar in the pear syrup if avoiding.
- Best made the day before — overnight chill gives the cleanest slice and the most mousse-like centre.
Variations
- Cocoa pastry — swap 10g flour for cocoa powder for a darker shell.
- Espresso version — increase the optional espresso to 2 tsp for a mocha tone.
- Berry pairing — swap poached pears for macerated raspberries when in season.