The Great British Bake Off is one my favorite shows, inspiring new bakes, new flavors, and new techniques! Join me on my journey to bake through all the Season 13 Challenges.
Since replicating Season 8 of the Great British Bake Off wasn’t enough, I decided to try my hand at a different season! This time, I am working on season 13 which is the most recent season! This season had some great bake ideas as well as some not-so-great ones (but we’ll get there when we get there).
So, I figured, let’s do this all again! One of the big challenges I wanted to attempt this time around was coming up with original ideas for the signature and showstopper challenges instead of doing a recreation. On your mark… Get set… Bake!
The technical for pastry week is something that I had never heard of before: a vertical tart. I get what a tart is but why make it vertical? How does that make sense? It confuses me. But the final dessert has a gorgeous look and tastes so good! Well, the ones that didn’t crack on me. Only 2 survived the whole process.
This is a recipe I would not want to make again! But I might make a normal one next time instead of a vertical tart. The tart has a pastry ring filled halfway with chocolate mousse and topped with strawberry jelly. There are also some other yummy decorations needed to help keep this tart vertical!
Check out the Season 13 Great British Bake Off Page to see other bakes from this series or the Make section for more recipes! Leave a comment below and let me know what you think and how the recipe works for you!
Ingredients
There were less ingredients than I expected to be used in this vertical tart. It feels like there should be a lot of ingredients, but no individual part had more than six ingredients! Which felt somewhat miraculous to me. And some of the core ingredients can be found across multiple of the components.
Process
The Pastry Shell
The first step of making a vertical tart is the pastry shell. Before I started baking, I realized that I was going to need specialized tools for this project: pastry rings! The bake uses two sizes of pastry ring, 9cm and 8cm. I decided to get 4 of the 9cm rings and 2 of the 8cm rings.
Now that I had all the components, I started making the dough. The recipe calls for using a food processor which makes the whole undertaking easier. I started by blitzing together the flour, powdered sugar, ground almonds, and butter. The dough should start to take on a crumb like texture at this stage.
Then I added in the egg yolk. This is a little different for me. The pastry that I normally work with would call for oil or water, so egg yolk was a new one. It does contain some fat which I think acts as a binder for the dry mixture (like a meatball).
The dough came together enough to be kneaded. I wanted a smooth dough like what I’ve worked with before. I didn’t know if this was the right approach, but it felt right at the time. Then I let the dough chill in the fridge to get it cold and more rigid.
Finally, the dough was ready to be shaped! I rolled out the dough into a rough 9cm by 28cm rectangle. I cut out strips that were approximately 2cm wide and 28cm long (there was a little extra at the end). Then, I lined the 9cm pastry rings with the dough and let it freeze.
The last step is baking! I was nervous that the pastry was going to fall inward into the ring but freezing the dough really helped the pastry keep its shape. Taking it out of the molds was the really scary bit but with a little finagling, they came out cleanly… more or less…
Chocolate Mousse
While the pastry was chilling and freezing, I used that time to make other components of the vertical tart. The chocolate mousse is one component that needs to set so I wanted to get that going quickly as well. Especially since it is freestanding. I started by making a mold for the mouse by placing acetate inside the 8cm rings.
Then I placed the gelatin in cool water to let it soak and get that spongey texture. While the gelatin was cooling, I started working a double broiler. I added the chocolate and praline paste together. The chocolate should fully melt. I then added the gelatin and egg yolk before setting the mixture aside.
In a large bowl, I whipped up the egg white to make a soft meringue. I then added the sugar slowly to get a stiff peaked mixture. Finally, when the chocolate mixture had cooled, I folded the meringue into the chocolate to make the mousse.
I poured the chocolate mousse into the two prepared pastry rings. These two will later be cut in half (into semi-circles) so I can fill up the four vertical tarts.
Raspberry Jelly
But Bake Off just had to make these vertical tarts even fancier with the addition of some raspberry jelly. This recipe called for a small tray that I did not have so I used a tray that was similar. Jelly needs gelatin, so I started the process by soaking the gelatin in cold water.
Then I blitzed the raspberries into a puree and pushed it through a sieve to remove all of the seeds. The puree and sugar were placed in a pan and heated to a gentle boil. After removing the mixture from the heat, I added in the gelatin.
Then it was time to pour the jelly into the prepared tray and let it chill for 30 minutes. I haven’t made jelly in a while, so I always forget how easy of a process this is. Yum.
Decorations & Assembly
The remaining components that needed to be made is a hazelnut crumb and chocolate circles. The crumb is easy, put everything in a food processor and blitz. Then they needed to be thrown into the oven to bake. Done.
The chocolate circles are made by melting chocolate, spreading out the chocolate and cutting out circles. This one was simple. And honestly, I think the recipe calls for more chocolate than needed on this one.
To assemble, I placed a semi-circle of mousse in the pastry ring. Then I made a bed of hazelnut crumb and stood the pastry up on its side. The mousse cut side should be parallel with the table. Then I placed the raspberry jelly on top of the cut side of the mousse.
Then it was time to decorate! I used some whole strawberries and the chocolate discs to decorate in the space on top of the raspberry jelly. And that was the process of making a vertical tart!
Reflections
I was excited to make these tarts at the beginning of the process. But I slowly grew to hate everything more and more. Who designed this? And why? Why is this a challenge? I kind of understand the appeal but something about this just felt very… weird.
I struggled a bit with the pastry. It is very delicate and crumbly. And I do not have a light touch. My spirit animal is an elephant for a reason. All the other components turned out well, but I was surprised at how chewy the mousse was. I suppose it needed this support from the gelatin to stand but it was a little strange. I do wonder if that has to do with the chocolate I used (using chips instead of candy melts)
Lessons
The difference between Ground Almonds and Almond Flour
recipe
Chocolate Raspberry Vertical Tarts
Equipment
- 1 Food Processor
Ingredients
Pastry
- ¾ Cup All-Purpose Flour plus some for dusting
- ¼ Cup Powdered Sugar
- 2 Tablespoon Ground Almonds
- ¼ Cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 Egg Yolk
- Pinch of Salt
Chocolate Mousse
- 1 Teaspoon Gelatin
- ½ Cup Milk Chocolate
- 1 Tablespoon Praline Paste
- 1 Egg separated
- 2 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar
Raspberry Jelly
- 1 ½ Teaspoon Gelatin
- ½ Cup Raspberries
- 2 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar
Hazelnut Crumb
- 2 Tablespoon Ground Roasted Hazelnuts
- 2 Tablespoon All-Purpose Flour
- 2 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar
- 2 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter cubed
- Pinch of Salt
Decorations
- ½ Cup Dark Chocolate
- 6 Raspberries halved
Instructions
Pastry
- Combine flour, powdered sugar, ground almonds, salt, and butter in a food processor. Blitz into a bread crumb like texture.
- Add egg yolk and blitz until combined. Knead into a dough. Wrap and Chill for 30 minutes.
- Roll out into a 9cm by 28cm rectangle. Cut out 4 strips (about 2 cm wide). Line the 9cm pastry ring. Freeze for 20 minutes.
- Heat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Blind Bake for 10-12 minutes. Set aside and let cool.
Chocolate Mousse
- Line 2 8cm pastry rings with acetate. Place the rings on a strip of acetate.
- Soak gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes.
- In a large, heatproof bowl, place chocolate and praline paste. Place over a pan of gently simmering water. Heat until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat.
- Add drained gelatin to the chocolate and stir until the gelatin is melted completely. Stir in egg yolks and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks are formed. Slowly add sugar, a little at a time, until stiff peaks are formed. Gently fold into the chocolate mixture.
- Divide chocolate mix between the 2 tart rings, level, and let chill for one hour.
Raspberry Jelly
- Line a 15cm by 10cm tray with a sheet of silicone.
- Soak gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes.
- Blitz raspberries in a food processor until it reaches a pureed state. Pass puree through a sieve into a small pan, Add sugar and 2 tablespoons water.
- Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil.
- Remove from heat, stir in gelatin until the gelatin has fully dissolved. Pour the mixture into the prepared tray and leave to cool. Then chill for an additional 30 minutes or until set.
Hazelnut Crumb
- Combine ground hazelnuts, flour, sugar, and butter in a large bowl. Rub until a crumb like texture is achieved. (This can also be done in a food processor).
- Heat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Crumble mixture onto baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Let cool and crumble more if needed.
Chocolate Decorations
- Melt ¾ of the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Heat until the chocolate reaches 106° Fahrenheit. Remove from heat and add in the remaining chocolate. Stir until melted. Cool until the chocolate reached 90° Fahrenheit.
- Spread chocolate on acetate until it is 3mm thick. Leave for 10 minutes or until almost set. Stamp out 8 small rounds (I used the back end of a piping nozzle).
Assemble
- Cut the raspberry jelly into 4 8cm by 2cm strips.
- Cut each mousse in half (to make semi-circles). Place one half of each mousse into each pastry ring. Place the jelly on the flat (cut) side of the mousse.
- Create 4 small piles of hazelnut. Stand 1 start in each pile.
- Place raspberries and cut chocolate circles on top of the raspberry jelly.
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