Dark chocolate and pepper flower tarts

I almost exclusively make cakes to share, but for a change, I ventured into making individual tartlets. Shaped like small flowers, as we have often seen on social media lately, they are filled with various preparations of dark chocolate and Madagascar pepper. The pepper enhances the taste of the chocolate and brings a freshness to this very chocolaty dessert 😊 I used Madagascar black pepper, you can use the one of your choice, and the quantities given in the recipe are indicative, depending on the pepper and your sensitivity you can of course increase or decrease them.
 
Equipment:
Tartlet molds
Rolling pin
Mini offset spatula
Perforated baking sheet
Piping bags
12mm tip

Ingredients:
I used the Caribbean chocolate from Valrhona: code ILETAITUNGATEAU for 20% off the entire site (affiliate).

Preparation time: 1h30 + 25 minutes of baking
For 6 tartlets:

 Sweet pastry:

 60g of room temperature butter
 90g of icing sugar
 30g of almond powder
 1 egg
 160g of T55 flour
 50g of cornstarch
 
 Mix the room temperature butter with the icing sugar and almond powder.
 
 

 
 When the mixture is homogeneous, add the egg then the flour and cornstarch.
 
 

 
 Mix quickly to form a homogeneous ball, then wrap the dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
 
 

 
 Then, roll out the dough to 2mm thick. Cut out circles of 10cm in diameter.
 
 

 
 Line the molds (previously buttered) upside down, as shown in the photo, pressing well so that the dough fits the shape properly.
 
 

 
 Refrigerate them for at least 2 hours, or freeze for at least 30 minutes. 
Bake them in a preheated oven at 170°C for 20 minutes. For well-golden tartlets, you can take them out 5 minutes before the end of baking, glaze them with a beaten egg, and rebake them to finish baking.
 
 

 
 Cocoa Viennese biscuit:

 30g of egg yolks
 80g of whole eggs
 60g of sugar (1)
 50g of egg whites
 20g of sugar (2)
 35g of flour
 15g of cocoa powder
 
 Beat the egg yolks with sugar (1) until you get a well-whitened and swollen mixture.
 
 

 
 Whip the egg whites with sugar (2).
 
 

 
 Gently mix the two previous preparations.
 
 

 
 Add the sifted flour and cocoa.
 
 

 

 
 Pour onto a baking sheet and spread to a small cm thickness.
 
 

 
 Bake in the preheated oven at 200°C for 8 to 10 minutes, then let cool on a rack. 
Next, cut out circles of 5cm in diameter.
 
 Dark chocolate, almond & pepper crunch:

 40g of almond puree
 20g of 66% dark chocolate
 30g of crumbled lace crepes
 3 to 4 turns of Madagascar black pepper mill
 
 Melt the chocolate, then add the almond puree, pepper, and crumbled lace crepes.
 
 

 

 
 Dark chocolate & pepper creamy:

 125g of 35% liquid cream
 125g of whole milk
 50g of egg yolks
 25g of sugar
 130g of 66% dark chocolate
 3 to 4 turns of pepper mill
 
 Whisk the yolks with the sugar. Heat the milk with the cream, then pour over the eggs, mixing well. Pour everything back into the pan, and cook to 85°C stirring constantly.
 
 

 
 Then, add the chocolate and pepper.
 
 

 
 Blend the chocolate cream, wrap it, and store it in the refrigerator until assembly.
 
 

 
 Pepper whipped cream:

 200g of 35% liquid cream
 20g of icing sugar
 3 to 4 turns of pepper mill
 
 Whip the liquid cream with the icing sugar, then add the pepper.
 
 

 
 Put in a piping bag (smooth 12mm tip) then move on to assembly.
 
 Assembly:

 A little pepper 
 
 Spread a little crunch at the bottom of the tartlets. 
 
 

 
 Add the creamy, then the Viennese biscuit. 
 
 

 

 
 Finish with the creamy, and smooth the surface well. 
 
 

 
 Pipe the whipped cream. 
 
 

 

 
 Add a little creamy in the center. 
 
 

 
 And finally, a little turn of the pepper mill and it’s ready, you can enjoy!