Chocolate Mocha Tart with Espresso Ice-cream Cones

5 March 2006

This is for someone who seriously loves coffee AND chocolate – I’ve been wanting to try the recipe since I bought this book a long time ago. I was obviously attracted by the presentation but the recipe itself sounded interesting enough, I’m not normally a big fan of tarts, but loved this tart crust which is more crumbly than a typical one. The dough is quite wet when mixed, you don’t refrigerate or roll it as its crumbly texture makes it difficult – you just press it into the mould and rest it in the fridge for about an hour. The filling has two layers – dark chocolate ganache and coffee flavoured milk chocolate ganache on top. I found them a little too rich and heavy, but the espresso ice-cream tempers and complements it.

The recipe suggests using coffee essence for both the tart filling and ice-cream, but I made my espresso stronger and they both tasted fine. I was supposed to use metal pastry horn moulds to shape the ice-cream – I have some but they seemed a little too fat for the size of the tart ring I was using :) So I made thinner cone shapes with baking paper and made the ice-cream a little softer than normal, then piped into the moulds. Even after freezing them for a long time, it was tricky to peel the paper without destroying the tips, and as you can imagine as soon as I started taking pictures it began to wilt! Unfortunately, the end result doesn’t have quite the clean geometric lines of the original in the book that I was aiming for, but it did taste good. My espresso machine worked even harder than normal when I was making this, and the aroma filling the kitchen made me even happier :)
 


 

Speaking of coffee, I’ve just got a dessert book written by a Japanese patissier Hironobu Tsujiguchi – he is known as being quite adventurous :) and has recently invented ‘micro coffee powder’ called Caférine (café + farine). It’s still on its way from Japan but is supposed to impart a more real coffee taste to desserts than you can get using instant coffee. I shall report back when I get hold of some!
 

Food - Sweet        33 comments    Permalink

  • Hi Keiko,

    Oh my God! the cone looks so nice. I am a big fan of the chocolate and coffee combination like you so I can imagine how wonderful this dessert tasted. I agree with you that the cone is a bit hard to peel when using baking paper, but anyway yours looks so wonderful. Keiko you are the best! Thank you.

    Posted by Cathy | 5 March 2006 #

  • Very elegant pictures. Zen and clean

    Posted by Béa at La Tartine Gourmande | 5 March 2006 #

  • Oh Lord, I think I just ruined my shirt from excessive drooling. That combination of the choccie mocha tart and ice cream cone does something severe to me.

    Posted by MM | 5 March 2006 #

  • Stunning! Are the rest of the recipes in that book as good? If so, I may have to add it to my to-buy list.

    Posted by Danielle | 5 March 2006 #

  • As usual Keiko your photos are fantastic ! And the recipe very interesting ! I agree with you, coffee essence is to strong and add some sugar taste I don’t like, better to make your own espresso. I you want just a delicate taste of coffee for the ice cream it’s nice to use lighty toasted coffee beans, crushed a little and infused in the milk.

    Posted by mercotte | 5 March 2006 #

  • Sounds and looks very delicious! Your tart makes me think of Slitti’s famous chocolate coffee spoons....

    Posted by ilva | 5 March 2006 #

  • This is a very serious, and elegant dessert. It looks so good and the presentation is very unique. A real show stopper. The flavours sound very intense.... I love the chocolate - coffee combination ...I almost don’t dare to try and make it!

    Thanks for another great post.

    Posted by hag | 5 March 2006 #

  • Beautifull indeed! I definitely should give this a try! Thanks for lighting up a rainy sunday morning :-)

    Posted by Cenzina | 5 March 2006 #

  • I am absolutely mad about coffee and coffee flacoured desserts. I love this presentation as well.It sets the mood for the whole experience. Congratulations on another fabulous post.

    Posted by valentina | 5 March 2006 #

  • Oh my gosh! this looks so decadent!

    Posted by Kat & Satoshi | 5 March 2006 #

  • Hi Keiko - it looks so pretty - and delicious too. I love coffee flavoured icecream and it must be so fabulous with this chocolate and coffee tart.

    I think you’ve been on the right side using strong expresso instead of coffee essence as i reckon coffee essence has a little artificial aftertaste(at least in France - never bought coffee essence in the UK).

    xoxo

    Fanny

    Posted by fanny | 5 March 2006 #

  • It looks wonderful! I love how dark the tart is -- I can just imagine the taste :)

    Posted by jasmine | 6 March 2006 #

  • oh la la... there really is no end to your talent keiko. superb!

    Posted by Lil | 6 March 2006 #

  • Bonito, bellissimo, fantastique, magnifique, wonderful...

    BRAVO!!!

    Posted by Caroline | 6 March 2006 #

  • i don’t drink coffee Keiko.........but any coffee based dessert and ice cream I just love it.

    i love ganache too ;-)

    sis will bring the herme books with her,

    amazon wont deliver it to greece!

    Posted by sha | 7 March 2006 #

  • this looks absolutely gorgeous! how’s christine manfield’s book overall, are all her recipes this decadent and would you recommend it?

    Posted by hinata | 7 March 2006 #

  • Ouch!

    That dessert looks kinda dangerous.

    ...glad you survived to tell us about it!

    Posted by David | 7 March 2006 #

  • keiko,

    when i saw the book cover and your photo, I thought they were twins!:)

    visual ,aroma, taste ... and add to the fact that I got quite an addiction to coffee & chocolate. That’s truely heavenly.

    Posted by slurp! | 7 March 2006 #

  • Love both chocolate and coffee ice-cream! Stunning photo, Keiko, and I bet the taste is similar...Slurp is definitely the sound of my desire to eat them both right now ;-) You did it again! Wonderful...thank you for sharing even though it’s just the visual momento at this point.

    Posted by Maya | 8 March 2006 #

  • Wow...how beautifully clean and simple the plating of the dessert looks. I am glad to be back and glad to see how your work is only getting more and more refined. Lovely entry and I wish I could have shared that rich dessert with you. I adore coffee!

    Posted by soycap | 8 March 2006 #

  • hi keiko, how’s that for food as architecture? - simply stunning. you are such a perfectionist in every regard - those geometric lines look pretty amazing to me ;) now that i’ve had my fair share of ice creams ’wilt’ on me, i can see why food stylists use dyed mashed potatoes in lieu of ice cream for shoots!

    Posted by Joycelyn | 8 March 2006 #

  • Gorgeous Keiko! The tart looks so luscious. . . mmm. Nice work.

    Posted by gemma | 8 March 2006 #

  • I come back, just to see again this photo!!!!

    Posted by Caroline | 8 March 2006 #

  • Beautiful, Keiko. I think that you did a fantastic job with that paper cone - yours looks perfect.

    Posted by Nic | 9 March 2006 #

  • I agree with "slurp!". I clicked the link to Amazon and for a short, saddening moment I thought you had merely copied the book’s photo onto your blog. Investigation prevailed, however, and I realized that, no, the only thing you copied was the dessert itself.

    I’ve got Recchiuti’s Chocolate Obsession. So far, for me, it’s just a picture book. I salute you.

    Posted by Camden the fledgling | 9 March 2006 #

  • Hi Keiko

    The photography on your blog is truly amazing as is the food which you feature. I love the minimalist plating of this desert especially the conical ice-cream.

    Posted by GastroChick | 9 March 2006 #

  • Oh Keiko, this is so visually impressive as well as deeply arousing to my chronic coffee-chocolate jones. Gorgeous job, as always.

    Posted by Julie | 10 March 2006 #

  • Hi there, thanks so much for all your kind notes!

    Cathy - I don’t think I want to do that again - it stressed me out :)

    Danielle, Hinata - I’ve tried the vanilla mascarpone cream dessert before and it was delicious. There are quite a few interesting flavour combinations I’d love to try, I wouldn’t say I really liked all of the presentation though.

    Mercotte - using crushed coffee beans for infusing sounds lovely, I’ll try that next time!

    Ilva - I’d like to try the chocolate coffee spoons some time...

    Hag - the tart was rich, but the ice-cream really balances it out.

    Fanny - thanks for the tip!

    Sha - I didn’t know you don’t drink coffee. Have you got the Herme book yet?

    Soycap - glad you’re back :) I adore coffee too!

    Joycelyn - well, my fair share of ice creams ’wilt’ on me too... I didn’t know they use dyed mashed potatoes - kinda clever though :)

    Caroline - welcome back :)

    Camden - her cone was a bit fatter than mine :) Oh I must try the Recchiuti’s book too, thanks for reminding me.

    Posted by keiko | 22 March 2006 #

  • As always, I love your photo. But have you tried using acetate for your cones? We used it in school and in the industry, to assemble filled cakes. I took some in to work because we make cones with orange sherbet and white chocolate and it makes the sides much smoother than the baking or parchment paper. I bought a roll at an art supply store for less than $10.

    Posted by Mochene | 18 July 2006 #

  • Hi Mochene - thanks for your info, I didn’t even know you could use acetate for making cones :) Orange sorbet and white chocolate combination sounds delicious!

    Posted by keiko | 19 July 2006 #

  • Hi Keiko,

    I am wondering if Hironobu Tsujiguchi’s book is available in an English translation? I would be forever grateful if you could stear me in the right direction. BTW, I’m in the US. Thank you, Keiko and please keep the invaluable food news, comin’.

    Posted by Sunday | 6 April 2008 #

  • can you send me allthe recipes for this food picture

    Posted by dennis | 19 April 2008 #

  • Hi Sunday – thank you for your note and I’m sorry it took so long to get back to you. I’m afraid his books are only available in Japanese – let’s hope he will publish English editions sometime!

    Hi Dennis – you can find the recipe in Christine Manfield’s Desserts as I noted in the post.

    Posted by keiko | 1 July 2008 #

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