If you are entertaining at home then I always recommend a dessert that you can prepare in advance, it means that you will have more time to spend with your guests on the night.
My recipe for Treacle Tart, Honeycomb and Vanilla Cream is a good example of a prepare ahead dessert.
For me the best part of a treacle tart has always been the filling so much so that in my recipe I forego the pastry all together! It means that the edges of the tart get really sticky and delicious in the oven. The honeycomb and vanilla cream are the ideal accompaniments for the rich, indulgent tart. This dessert offers that something extra special and therefore is the perfect treat to end any meal.
The popularity of this dessert means that it appears again and again on our menu at Bistro Moderne. It is an adaptable dish that can be served with fresh berries in the summer or honeycomb in the winter and it is a great way to use up that leftover bread too!
Serves 8
Treacle Tart
Ingredients
180g brown bread, crusts removed, roughly torn
85g unsalted butter
3 medium free-range eggs
75ml double cream
9g salt
750g golden syrup
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 180C
2 Place the bread in a food processor and pulse to fine breadcrumbs
3 Heat the butter in a pan until browned, then strain through a fine sieve into a bowl, leaving the sediment behind
4 Mix the eggs, cream, and salt in a bowl until well combined
5 Gently heat the golden syrup in a pan, then stir in the strained butter
6 Pour the golden syrup mixture into the egg and cream mixture, and then stir in the breadcrumbs
7 Pour the mixture into a tin lined with greaseproof paper, then bake in the oven for 25 minutes
8 Turn the oven temperature down to 140C and bake for a further 20 minutes, or until the tart is golden-brown and bubbling, then remove from the oven and allow to cool before turning out and cutting into slices
Honeycomb
Ingredients
Butter, for greasing
315g caster sugar
125g liquid glucose
50g honey
60ml water
15g bicarbonate of soda
Method
1 Grease a 20cm square tin with the butter
2 Mix the sugar, liquid glucose, honey and water in a pan and stir over a gentle heat until the sugar has melted
3 Once completely melted, turn up the heat a little and simmer until you have an amber coloured caramel or until it reaches 147C on a sugar thermometer, turn off the heat, tip in the bicarbonate and beat in with a wooden spoon until it has all disappeared and the mixture is foaming. Scrape into the tin immediately but be careful as the mixture will be hot
4 The mixture will continue bubbling, leave it to set for about 1 hour and the honeycomb will be ready to snap into chunks
Vanilla Cream
Ingredients
200ml double cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
Seeds from ½ a vanilla pod
Method
1 Whip all of the ingredients together until the cream forms soft peaks
2 Serve each slice of the tart with a spoonful of the vanilla cream and a few pieces of honeycomb.
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