Black Forest Tart (No Bake) 黑森林撻 (免焗)

This is a nice summer-friendly, no-bake variation of the traditional black forest cake. I used dark chocolate mousse as the filling and dark sweet cherries. Use the finest chocolate for best flavor. Both homemade or store bought tart crusts do not require baking, so it is a superb dessert for hot summer days. If you keep the tart in the freezer and eat it frozen, the texture of the chocolate mousse becomes almost like ice cream.

Special note about silky and smooth chocolate mousse: the temperatures of the three different mixtures--egg, melted chocolate and whipped cream--have to be very close, if not the same. If the chocolate or egg mixture is too warm, the whipped cream will deflate, resulting with a dense mousse. If the cream is too cold, the chocolate will seize into flecks, making the mousse grainy.



Ingredients for a 9" tart

One 15 oz dark pitted sweet cherries (Oregon)
(double it if you prefer that every inch has a cherry)

Crust:
8 oz Graham crackers, crushed to powder
70g unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp dark chocolate chips (optional)

Chocolate Mousse:
84g sugar
24g water

80g yolk
34g whole egg

232g dark chocolate 64%
332 heavy cream

Tart Crust:

Melt butter (with chocolate chips if using). Add to the crushed crackers. Mix well. Press into the bottom and sides of a 9" springform pan. Refrigerate or freeze until firm.

Dark Chocolate Mousse Filling:

1)  Heat water with sugar in a small pot until it boils, and let it boil for a minute. Beat the whole egg and the yolks with a hand held mixer while the water is boiling. Pour the hot syrup into the egg with the beater still on. Continue beating until the volume doubles and a ribbon forms when the beater is lifted.
2)  Melt the chocolate in a microwave and stir until all the chocolate is melted. Let it cool to room temperature.
3)  Whip the heavy cream to SOFT peaks.

4) Scoop half of the whipped cream and fold into the egg mixture until blended.
5) Scoop the rest of the whipped cream and fold into the melted chocolate until blended.

6) Combine the two mixtures (steps 4 & 5) and fold gently until homogenous. The mixture should be light, smooth and silky.

Tart Assembly:

Arrange cherries on the bottom of the tart. Pour the mousse on top and level with a spatula. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. It can be frozen for longer storage.