This decadent and irresistible chocolate custard tart recipe is inspired by the famous French cake, a flan! If you've not tried a flan before, it's ultimately a baked custard tart with a creamy, silky middle and short, buttery pastry around it.
We've added dark chocolate to our custard and baked it until it has just the right wobble. It is rich, creamy and you'll be obsessed with the texture once you try it. Plus, it'll become a firm favourite for entertaining guests at your next dinner party.
If you need a little bit of help with making homemade pastry or custard, follow our how-to guides for the best tips and tricks from our cookery team.
For more decadent chocolate recipes, our gallery has over 80 fail-safe desserts to try when the sugar cravings hit.
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Yields:
10 serving(s)
Prep Time:
45 mins
Cook Time:
1 hr
Total Time:
1 hr 45 mins
Cal/Serv:
524
Ingredients
For the pastry
200g
plain flour, plus extra to dust
40g
icing sugar, plus extra to dust
125g
unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1
medium egg white
For the filling
400ml
whole milk
300ml
double cream
3
medium eggs
125g
caster sugar
50g
cornflour
50g
unsalted butter, chopped
125g
dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely chopped
Directions
Step 1For the pastry, in a food processor pulse the flour, icing sugar, a pinch of fine salt and the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Alternatively, rub the butter into the flour mixture using your fingertips. Add the egg white and pulse/mix until the pastry starts to clump together. If it still appears a little dry, pulse/mix in a few drops of water. Tip on to a work surface and shape into a disc. Wrap and chill for 30min to firm up.
Step 2Lightly flour a work surface, roll out pastry and use to line a 23cm round, 3.5cm deep, straight-sided, loose-bottomed tart tin, leaving excess pastry hanging over the sides. Place on a baking sheet and chill for 30min to firm up.
Step 3Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Prick pastry base all over with a fork. Line pastry case with a large sheet of baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Bake for 18-20min, or until the pastry sides are set. Carefully remove the baking parchment and baking beans. Return tin to the oven for 10min, or until pastry is lightly golden and feels sandy to the touch. Carefully trim overhanging pastry using a serrated knife.
Step 4Meanwhile, make the filling. In a large pan heat the milk and cream until steaming. In a large heatproof bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and cornflour until combined. Gradually pour in the hot milk mixture, whisking constantly.
Step 5Return mixture to the empty pan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened. Remove pan from the heat and whisk in the butter and chocolate, until melted and smooth. If the pastry is not ready, cover surface of custard with clingfilm or baking parchment to stop a skin forming.
Step 6Pour/scrape the custard into the pastry case and smooth to level. Return to the oven for 30min, or until the filling is beginning to rise and crack slightly at the edges and has a uniform wobble when the tin is gently tapped. Leave to cool completely in the tin.
Step 7Transfer to serving plate and lightly dust with icing sugar. Serve in slices.
GET AHEAD: Make up to 2 days ahead, but don’t dust with icing sugar. Cover and chill (in tin). Serve chilled, or allow to come up to room temperature before serving.
Per serving:
Calories: 524
Protein: 7g
Fat: 37g
Saturates: 23g
Carbs: 40g
Total sugars: 25g
Fibre: 1g
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An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
