Final Challenge - Chocolate Ganache Tart

For the final challenge, decided to make another masterclass dish. This was one of Gary's most memorable dishes of the competition. Due to lack of resources at the time, I had to modify the recipe slightly which was a little unfortunate, but the show must go on.

So first, the pastry. I used Fiona's recipe for the pastry and the ganache filling. The pastry turned out fine, with no problems at all. The part that didn't quite work was the ganache. Rather than use normal eating chocolate (like always) I decided to try out the new Lindt cooking chocolate. I have made ganache several times, with no problems, but this time round, it wasn't smooth, very bitter and very lumpy. I decided to use the smallest amount in the tarts since they were quite small anyway.

The cream, I served whipped cream that had a hint of sugar to sweeten. I was unable to locate dried lavender, but I now know I can buy it from an online store if I ever plan to use it in the future. Another thing I didnt have was raspberries. My local Woolies and fruit market didn't have any so I settled for strawberries.

It was not the most successful recipe but I did learn a lot. For pastry, this particular recipe, it was a little too flaky for my liking, so I think I will stick to Matt Moran's shortcrust pastry as it is more crumbly. In terms of ganache, I'm going to stick with eating chocolate. I will definitely try to make chocolate ganache tarts again, but with more changes.