Today, I want to share with you a
typical Swiss cake - the Carac. It is a delicious shortbread pastry tart filled
with chocolate ganache, enjoyed by young and old alike.
Its fascinating name is written as
either “carac”, “karak”. It is unclear why it is so called, perhaps it could
come from a “superior quality cocoa” produced in the vicinity of Caracas...
I made these at the end of May. This
recipe is very easy - anyone can make it. I hope it will seduce you too:
Ingredients (serves 8, each tart weighs 50g):
16 mini tart shells of shortbread
pastry (size 6-7 cm)
400 g of 70% cacao dark chocolate.
100 g butter
100ml cream
For glaze:
120 g icing sugar
3 tbsp water
Green food colouring
Preparation:
Heat the butter and the cream slowly
in a saucepan, until the butter melts.
Add the dark chocolate in pieces,
and let it melt until you get a cream.
Pour the mixture into the tartlets
leaving 5 mm for the glazing.
Keep a small amount of the chocolate
cream for the small chocolate pellet in the middle of the carac.
Allow to harden in the refrigerator
for about 2 hours.
Prepare the glaze by mixing the
icing sugar and 3 tbsp of water. Add a few drops of the food colouring (the
colour should be light green).
Then cover the carac with a thin
layer of the glaze.
Add a small drop of chocolate cream
in the middle of the carac.
Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Note: You can make your tart shells with
homemade shortbread pastry (380g flour, 250g softened butter,
125g sugar, 1 tsp vanilla sugar all mixed together. Leave the dough to rest,
then bake at 180ºC for 20 minutes).
* Shortbread pastry: this pastry is
used for sweet tarts and pies only. It’s very crumbly and buttery.