Chocolate Tart – Lavender Ice Cream – Apricot

For the ice cream, bring the milk to the boil together with the lavender flowers. Then let the lavender milk cool down and put in a cool place. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar over a water bath until very frothy. This can take a long time. Make sure that the mixture does not get too hot, otherwise the yolk will curdle. Let the foamy mass cool down a little. Now strain the lavender milk. Whip the cream very stiff. Mix this carefully with the egg yolk mixture and then gradually stir in the lavender milk. Now put the ice cream mass in the ice cream machine, stir for about 1 hour and let it freeze. Then remove the ice cream, pour it into sealable cans and place in the freezer until ready to serve.

First make the two bases for the tartlet. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees circulating air. For the shortcrust pastry, mix the flour and ground hazelnuts with sugar and salt. Add the flaky butter and grind the flakes with the ingredients. Add the water and knead everything into a homogeneous dough. Roll out the dough thinly and evenly on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake the dough in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes. After baking, let it cool down a little and cut out 5 circles of equal size with a serving ring.

For the chocolate sponge cake, preheat the oven to 180 degrees top and bottom heat. Separate the eggs and first beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Let the sugar and vanilla sugar trickle in while whisking until stiff until a silky, shiny mass is formed. Gradually add the egg yolks while the machine is running on medium speed. Mix the flour, starch, cocoa and baking powder and sift over the mixture. Gently fold in with the spatula and pour the dough into a springform pan lined with baking paper. The edge is not greased. Now bake for about 30 minutes and use a skewer to check whether the dough is through. Let the dough cool down and cut into even sheets with a cake cutter. Also cut out 5 circles of the same size.

Brush the circles from both bases with apricot jam mixed with cognac.

For the chocolate mousse, put the chocolate in a thin-walled bowl, hang it over a low-boiling water bath and melt the chocolate in it. Mix the egg yolks and sugar with the hand mixer for about 5 minutes until the mixture is frothy. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate and stir well. Carefully fold the stiff cream into the mixture. Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff, stir in the sugar and continue beating briefly. Carefully pull the egg whites into the chocolate mixture in portions, but do not stir too hard. Put the mixture in a piping bag and let it set in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

For the apricot steak, blanch the apricots and peel off the skin. Now they are pitted and quartered and boiled with the sugar in a saucepan until a sauce is formed. Possibly brush through a thin sieve and serve.

Before serving, assemble the tartlet. Place the sponge cake on top of the shortcrust pastry and sprinkle the mousse on top. Decorate with dark chocolate if necessary.