Baked French chocolate tart

Some of New Zealand's top chefs and food writers have shared their favourite recipes for A Treasury of New Zealand Baking. The book, which aimed to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation of New Zealand, features 105 classic baking recipes. Edited by Lauraine Jacobs and photography by Aaron McLean (published by Random House). This recipe is from Simon Wright.

Sweet pastry

175 g	Butter
120 g	Icing sugar (Main)
1	Egg
1 tsp	Lemon juice
300 g	Standard flour, sifted

Chocolate filling

600 g	Valrhona chocolate, 70 per cent cocoa solids (Main)
675 ml	Cream
225 ml	Milk
100 g	Sugar
2	Eggs
1 pot	Vanilla ice cream

Directions

1. To make the pastry, cream the butter and icing sugar in a food processor. Add the egg and lemon juice, mix until fully combined, then add the flour and pulse the machine until the flour is only just incorporated. Tip the pastry out on to a work surface and knead until it forms a smooth dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 22cm diameter tart tin with a removable base with butter, and dust with flour.
3. Remove the pastry from the fridge and knead gently to make the dough pliable. Lightly flour the work surface and roll the dough out to about 3mm in thickness. Roll the pastry on to the rolling pin and drape over the tin.
4. Using a small ball of excess dough, gently ease the dough into the tin. (This allows you to press the dough into the tin without tearing it; the heat from your hands can make the pastry delicate.)
5. Trim some of the excess pastry from the tart case but leave a good 5cm overlap to help prevent shrinkage when baking blind. Place the prepared tart case on to a baking tray, line it with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
6. Place the tart case in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the edges have started to colour.
7. Remove from the oven, trim the excess pastry from around the edges and lift out the baking paper with the beans. Return the tart case to the oven to cook for a further 10-15 minutes, or until it is lightly golden. Remove from the oven and set aside. Turn the oven down to 110C.
8. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl.
9. Bring the cream, milk and sugar to the boil, pour on to the chocolate and stir until the mixture becomes dark and glossy (about 5 minutes).
10. Whisk the eggs together, stir into the chocolate mixture and pass through a chinois or your finest sieve. Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared tart case. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the tart has set around the outside but still has a slight wobble in the centre.
11. Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool for about two hours before cutting and serving. Serve with vanilla icecream.