My beloved has left me.

Actually, she’s gone to some exotic place for ‘work-related reasons’, but the long and the short of it is I’m left here beloved-less, alone, and on the verge of serious melancholy!

We all have our coping mechanisms. Mine is chocolate, so, considering the clouds gathering overhead, I decided to act. With a left-over portion of shortcrust pastry in the refrigerator (residual from my earlier efforts this week), and a large block of dark chocolate sitting in the pantry (70% cocoa what’s more), I set about concocting my seriously therapeutic chocolate tart.

• Having baked off my pastry shell, I broke 400 grams of chocolate (I told you the block was large!) into small pieces and placed it in a heatproof bowl.
• Then, over medium heat, I brought 250 ml of cream and around 120 ml of milk to a gentle simmer.
• I poured this steaming liquid over my chocolate and let it sit for a minute while the chocolate melted. I have to say, blended well, it all looked good enough to eat at this point. But I didn’t.
• Next, I let the chocolate sit for a while to cool while I whisked together a couple of eggs.
• Adding the eggs into the chocolate mixture, I mixed it all together with my wooden spoon before pouring it into the pastry shell and baking it at 130c for about 25 minutes.

So easy! And, with all humility out the window, it looks sensational.

The clouds have parted!