Shortcrust pastry

–          125g of butter diced
–          225g plain flour
–          3-4 tablespoon of water
–          Pinch of salt

Sift the flour into a large bowl

Using your fingertips rob in the butter to the flour until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.

Add the salt and 3-4 table spoon of water. Mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface. Wrap in cling film and chill.

Sprinkle the rolling pin lightly. Roll out the dough.

Lay it across the baking tin. Press the dough into the corners of the tin using your fingers. Prick the pastry all over with a fork. Do not trim off the edge.

Heat oven to 200c/gas 6. Fill the pastry case with a round baking paper and add the baking beans, to weigh it down. Bake for 20 min, then remove the paper and beans with care. Then bake for another 5 to 10 min till golden. Carefully trim off the excess pastry using a small sharp knife. Let it aside to cool before used.

Chocolate filling

–          6 large egg yolks
–          2 ¼ cups of milk
–          2/3 cup of brown sugar
–          1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
–          6 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder
–          5 ounces of dark chocolate chopped
–          4 tablespoon of corn flour
–          3 tablespoon unsalted butter

Method

Bring 2 cups of milk to simmer in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl whisk the egg yolks, Brown sugar, vanilla and the remaining ¼ cup of milk. Then whisk in the cocoa powder and corn flour until smooth.

Gradually whisk the cold mixture to the hot milk mixture.

Return mixture to a saucepan. Whisk constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens and boils. Remove from the heat. Add chocolate and butter. Whisk until melted and smooth.

Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust. Refrigerate for 6 hours until filling cold and set.

Decorate with wiping cream, walnuts and chocolate decoration. Serve cold

Decorating with chocolate

Place a sheet of parchment paper over a smooth surface. Do your design on a templet and trace it on to a parchment paper.

Break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave to melt then remove and mix well until thoroughly blend. Transfer the melted chocolate to a pipping bag. Cut a tin hole by snipping the very corner of the bag.

Place the parchment paper on the back of a backing tray. Pip your design onto the parchment and put in the freezer for 5 minutes with the backing tray until the chocolate is harden. If you have left overs of chocolate in the pipping bag, put it in the freezer to set and re-use the chocolate when needed.

Carefully peel the chocolate designs off the paper and use to decorate the chocolate pie.

If you like to be creative with sugar decoration, have included a simple way of doing it with nuts.

Sugar nuts decoration

–          1 cup of sugar
–          1 tablespoon of glucose syrup
–          ¼ cup of water
–          Nuts any

Method

In a saucepan bring the ingredients to a boil. Using a pastry brush dipped in water, Wash down the sides of the pan until there are no splashes of sugar on the sides

Boil and no need to stir until you see a golden tinge in the syrup in the middle or around the edges. Remove immediately from the heat

Pour it all onto a sheet of baking paper. Quickly spread it out and sprinkle with roasted nuts or seeds. When cold snap into pieces and desired size and use on top of the chocolate pie.

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