Category: EGGLESS

Angoori Kesari Gulab Jamuns … quick, fuss free festive desserts #HappyDiwali

Angoori Kesari Gulab Jamuns … most delicious, surprisingly easy and so fuss free, you’ll wonder why you never made these before! I’ve been making them for years and then I fell off my perch for a bit. The other day, clearing my pantry, I fund a bag of milk powder and before I knew it, we had the most delicious gulab jamuns.

What are gulab jamuns you might wonder? Some passionately call them Indian’s national dessert and they are truly loved across the subcontinent. They are a sweetmeat or mithai popular across the region and are usually made of khoya {milk solids}, plain flour and a leavening agent such as baking powder. They are basically deep fried dough balls that are dunked after frying into a warm rose flavoured sugar syrup and gently swell up absorbing the syrup and becoming soft and delicious. Plump too!

That’s the gist and there are several recipes to get there. Different regions have their own recipes and often ingredients differ as well. I make them with khoya/mawa {a local reduction of milk to give milk solids} as I did in the eggless baked Gulab Jamun Cheesecake, and with milk powder like my mother used to years ago.

Both work pretty well but I like the milk powder recipe better because the ingredients are easier to source and more predictable. The khoya/mawa can sometimes differ across brands and where you buy it from, is sensitive to temperature too.

I like to make the smaller gulab jamuns like these, called angoori gulab jamuns, angoor referring to grapes. These are much smaller than the normal gulab jamuns that you get at mithai shops and somehow feel a little more guilt free!

You can find more INDIAN INSPIRED recipes here!
You can find recipes with SAFFRON here.

Do tag me on Instagram at Passionate About Baking if you make this, or any other recipe from the blog. I’d love to see it!

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Angoori Kesari Gulab Jamuns

Makes 18-20 small gulab jamuns
Course Dessert
Cuisine Indian
Keyword dessert, eggless, homemade, Indian dessert cake, no bake, saffron, simple, vegetarian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 25 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients

Saffron sugar syrup

  • 280 g sugar
  • 2 cups water
  • 5 green cardamom choti elaichi
  • Saffron strands
  • 1/2 lime juice of

Dough balls

  • 100 g milk powder
  • 60 g plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 25 g clarified butter/ghee
  • 50-55 g saffron infused milk infused overnight

Oil/ghee for deep frying

Instructions

Saffron sugar syrup

  • Make the syrup first and keep it warm.
  • Add the sugar, water, green cardamom, saffron strands and rose essence to a sauce pan and simmer gently until you get a sticky syrup but NOT a thick one string syrup. If the syrup feels sticky between your finger tips, it’s good to go. If the syrup gets too thick, the dough balls won’t be able to absorb it.
  • Keep the syrup warm while you make the dough.

Dough balls

  • Place the milk powder, plain flour, baking powder, ghee and 45g of the saffron infused milk in the jar of a hand blender. Process until you get a soft dough which comes together smoothly and pulls away from the sides. Add more saffron milk, a tsp at a time, if you need more to get a soft smooth dough.
  • You can even mix this together an a biwl, gradually adding the saafron infused milk and knead it, but the hand blender does a quicker, neater job.
  • Divide the dough into 18-20 grape sized small portions, bringing the dough together tightly by closing your hand into a tight fist, then rolling them while applying pressure to get neat, smooth little dough balls. They might look tiny, but they almost double in size after soaking in the syrup.
  • Heat the oil/ghee over a low medium flame until it’s hot but not smoking.
  • To check the consistency of the dough and heat of the oil, it's best to put one dough ball into the oil gently and deep fry it to check if the ball holds and doesn't split etc.
  • Once that is done, then fry the dough balls in one batch or two, depending on the size of the wok and quanitiy of oil.
  • Fry over a low medium flame, turning the balls with a slotted spoon often to get an even golden brown colour.
  • Once done, remove the balls to a deep dish and immediately pour over the warm saffron sugar syrup. Cover and leave the balls to absorb the syrup. It should take 3-4 hours.
  • Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled.
  • Note: You can add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of rose essence to the dough if you like.

Eggless Saffron Pistachio Cupcakes with Saffron Buttercream … perfect for Diwali

Eggless Saffron Pistachio Cupcakes with Saffron Buttercream …. sweet dreams are made of these! Festive, simple and ever so delicious, these are literal cupcakes baked in demitasse cups. Perfect for anytime, especially now. The saffron pistachio flavours, kesar pista as popular locally, scream Happy Diwali!

It’s that time of the year on the subcontinent when the festival of lights is round the corner and everything is being spruced up, homes are being cleaned, desserts are being made. The saffron pistachio combination is one of our favourites in India, a quintessential pairing in desserts. It’s a beautiful way to uplift a dessert, both gentle flavours and both add special touch to dessert.

Saffron of course is special, the world most expensive spice, where a little goes a long way. Who would ever imagine that the stamen of a flower could work it’s magic so beautifully into dessert! It’s by far my favourite way to spice an Indian inspired dessert, and a little goes a long way.

I stumbled onto the idea of baking cupcakes in cups one day while rustling through my pantry looking for appropriate cupcake liners for this flavour profile. Nothing I had was a good fit, some too dark, others just meh! Clearing the counter a short while later, I was about to put away these little demitasse cups and it suddenly struck me! Cups and cupcakes, I’m sure they would work, and they absolutely did!

I fell in love with the idea of literal cupcakes, something quaint as it is charming. Demitasse cups are smaller cups used to serve espresso and these turned out to be the perfect fit. Try them for a high tea, for an after dinner treat or for a Diwali gift. I think they look pretty special.

The cupcake recipe is one I’ve shared earlier but I’ve simplified it even more now so I thought I’d share it again. What’s not to love about a simple ingredient, hand mixed one bowl recipe that turns out amazing cupcakes! And the best thing is that you can do these in any flavour. Think coffee with a chocolate frosting, think tiramisu cupcakes, think vanilla salted caramel cupcakes, orange and strawberry ...

As for the buttercream, it’s also an upgrade from the one I’ve used in the past. This is a simple 3 ingredient buttercream, a no fail recipe. It works every time and is finger licking good. I like to pipe it on a little while before serving the cupcakes as it is addictive at room temperature. They keep beautifully piped in the fridge too and will taste best if you leave them at room temperature for 30 minutes perhaps to allow the buttercream to soften a little.

You can find more INDIAN INSPIRED recipes here!
You can find recipes with SAFFRON here.

Do tag me on Instagram at Passionate About Baking if you make this, or any other recipe from the blog. I’d love to see it!

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Eggless Saffron Pistachio Cupcakes with Saffron Buttercream

Makes 4-6 cupcakes
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine British
Keyword baking, cream, dessert, eggless, eggless baking, Indian dessert cake
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
30 minutes
Servings 4 cupcakes

Ingredients

Saffron Pistachio Cupcakes

  • 120 g thick yogurt
  • 75 g vanilla sugar
  • 50 ml light olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • Generous pinch saffron
  • 110 g plain flour/maida
  • 2-3 tbsp pistachios chopped

Saffron Buttercream

  • 100 g unsalted butter room temperature
  • 80 g condensed milk
  • Few strands saffron

Instructions

Saffron Pistachio Cupcakes

  • Preheat the oven to 180C
  • Lightly grease 4-6 teacups/demitasse cups with oil. I used a mix of sizes.
  • Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in saffron and pistachio. Reserve.
  • Whisk together the yogurt and sugar with an electric hand blender until smooth, then whisk in the olive oil, baking powder, baking soda and apple cider vinegar.
  • Stand for 5 minutes, then whisk in the saffron, flour and chopped pistachios.
  • Divide between cups and bake for 15-18 minutes until risen and light golden brown/until a tester comes out clean. Remove to cooling rack and allow to cool.

Saffron buttercream

  • With an electric hand beater, beat the butter for 5-6 minutes until smooth and fluffy. Add the condensed milk and saffron and whip until smooth. Transfer to piping bag fitted with star nozzle and pipe over cooled cupcakes.
  • Garnish with pistachio slivers, saffron strands and rose petals.
  • Taste best same day when the frosting is fresh, light and fluffy.

Two Ingredient Mascarpone from scratch, the joy of small things

Two Ingredient Mascarpone from scratch … why buy expensive tubs of mascarpone when all you need is two staple ingredients and a little planning, oops time! This recipe is truly the joy of small things. It reminds you how so little can yield so much!

As you can see above, I use mascarpone in my desserts very often. Mascarpone is a soft cheese of Italian origin best known as the star ingredient in tiramisu. It’s also great as frosting or filling in cakes, in trifles and parfaits, in cheesecakes, sometimes to make panna cotta. Tiramisu is one of my all time favourite desserts, and in turn, mascarpone is my favourite soft cheese.

Coffee in desserts is my pet flavour so it comes as no surprise that I do a whole lot of tiramisu inspired desserts from time to time. My version of the tiramisu now without the zabaglione to keep it eggfree. It’s not traditional but it’s pretty darned delicious and I thank mascarpone for it!

Its sweet, buttery, rich and smooth feel is sometimes all you need to take a tea cake from simple to special. That good! The Eggless Saffron Pistachio Cake above is one such example. Mascarpone is also great in savoury options as well … think pasta, dips, salad dressings, soups and sauces etc. The good thing is that it keeps well for a week refrigerated, so it’s quite handy to have on hand.

I began making mascarpone at home in 2009, one of the simplest and probably cheapest ways to make this soft cheese. If you check this post here, I explored a slew of soft cheeses here – mascarpone, cottage cheese, quark, ricotta etc. Mozzarella was the only one I found cumbersome and that was the one I abandoned.

I have always used mascarpone a lot. Somewhere along the way, commercial mascarpone became available quite easily here on the sub continent, life got busy, I got lazy and I began buying an odd tub here and there. Was the silliest thing ever and a right royal waste of money. I had time last week to finally make a couple of batches and I can honestly say I really enjoyed the process , or the little there is to making it.

When I compare it to commercially available mascarpone, homemade mascarpone has the good old taste from the old times. You can feel it clean, fresh and no aftertaste, just as mascarpone should be. No stabilizers, additives etc, just like it should be.

Traditionally, mascarpone is made out of heavy cream of at least a 36% fat but I’m using a relatively low 25% fat cream since that’s all we get here easily. It still yields quite a nice firm mascarpone but feel free to use heavy cream if you can lay your hands on it.

The process is as simple and straightforward as can be. The idea is to heat the cream to around 85C. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, then watch for little bubbles to show up around the bottom edge, a slight escape of steam. That is a good indicator that the cream is hot enough to add the lime juice. Adding lime juice to warm cream helps it coagulate and thicken. Stir for a few minutes and take off heat. After that it’s pretty much resting it, then straining it overnight to remove the excess liquid. Plan 24 hours in advance because an overnight rest is key.

You can find more dessert ideas with mascarpone here.

You can find Tiramisu & Tiramisu inspired desserts here.

Do tag me on Instagram at Passionate About Baking if you make this, or any other recipe from the blog. I’d love to see it!

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Two Ingredient Mascarpone From Scratch

Why buy expensive tubs of mascarpone when all you need is 2 ingredients and a little planning, oops time! This recipe is truly the joy of small things. It reminds you how so little can yield so much!
Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Keyword cream, dessert, eggless
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
12 hours
Servings 700 g

Equipment

  • 1 saucepan
  • 1 Large pan large enough to fit the main saucepan like a bain marie
  • 1 spatula
  • 1 Cheesecloth
  • 1 Sieve/colander
  • 1 Large bowl to hold the sieve
  • 1 Plate to cover the cheesecloth in the sieve

Ingredients

  • 1 litre cream / 25%-30% fat cream I used Amul Fresh Cream
  • 1 lime, juice of

Instructions

  • Pour the cream into a large vessel and place over water in a pan. It's ok if the base of the vessel touches the base of the pan.
  • Simmer over low to medium heat until the cream warms to about 80C or small bubbles can be seen coming up the sides.
  • Add in the lime juice and stir well. The cream will begin to thicken. Stir well until the cream looks thick, then take it off the heat.
  • Leave the cream to cool for about an hour, then refrigerate for 3 hours.
  • Line a strainer with cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl. Turn the cooled thickened cream into the cheesecloth, bring the ends of the cheesecloth together and tie the mouth. Cover it and refrigerate overnight.
  • Discard the liquid from the bowl or use it in a smoothie etc. The mascarpone is ready for use.

Notes

I usually add 1 tbsp icing sugar and a dash of vanilla extract for every 150-200g of mascarpone. Cream of a higher percentage will yield a firmer mascarpone.

Once you have a nice bowl of mascarpone ready, here are a few ideas for dessert!

Eggless Tiramisu Inspired Cake
Eggless Tiramisu Inspired Cake … Coffee, Kahlua and mascarpone, everything you'd want in dessert if you love coffee. I love how many avatars a simple cake can take, and this one turned out to be the perfect coffee lovers dessert, simple & fuss free!
Check out this recipe
No bake Mango Mascarpone Tart
When life gives you mangoes, you make this tart! A crisp biscuit crumb gives way to a nice bite of slightly tart mango, then the sweetness of mascarpone floods the palette. The jelly really makes this shine!
Check out this recipe
Strawberry Almond Roulade with a Burnt Honey Mascarpone
Life is sweet, made sweeter with honey. Strawberry Almond Roulade with a Burnt Honey Mascarpone to make things even sweeter! This roulade also turned out great, the burnt honey mascarpone adding special flavour. If you don't have time to make the burnt honey, you can always use the honey as is, adjusted to taste.
Check out this recipe
Eggless Raspberry Vanilla Bean Cake
Delicate, calming and deeply indulgent, this is a special cake for October!
Check out this recipe
Eggless Tiramisu Chocolate Tart
Simple pantry ingredients make this delicious tiramisu inspired tart with classic flavours of coffee, Kahlua and mascarpone.
Check out this recipe

Delicate & Delightful Eggless Raspberry Vanilla Bean Cake … it’s #Pinktober

Eggless Raspberry Vanilla Bean Cake … some cakes are delicate, soothing, calming, and some cakes are wickedly delicious and satisfying. This Eggless Raspberry Vanilla Bean Cake is all that and more, all these beautiful adjectives coming together in one dessert.

The cake also ticks off an important box I tick every October, it has PINK, so yay, I’ve got #Pinktober covered as well!

What is Pinktober you might ask?

October 1st marks the beginning of breast cancer awareness month all over the world. American Cancer Society uses this time to boost their campaign to raise awareness to breast cancer and to inform people that there is now a 98 percent rate of survival if the cancer is detected early. October is the month where you will see pink ribbons everywhere, which has been the national symbol for breast cancer awareness since it was first introduced back in 1991.

So yes, it’s that PINK time of the year and October begins with Mr PABs birthday and it’s always a cake with a pink element for Pinktober. It’s been over a decade that I’ve been doing pink desserts to raise awareness for breast cancer, to spread the message. The cake above was the one I made for Mr PABs birthday 2 years ago, the cake that made it to the cover of my cookbook with Penguin.

I’ve missed sharing the cakes on the blog for a few years but that’s only because of so many distractions, generally too much to do. Pink cake however has always been home made and has always seen some pink, a colour I use often in my desserts, styling and photography!

This year I’ve decided to be a little more proactive, keep things up and running, so here we go screaming PINK into October. This Raspberry Vanilla Bean Cake, Mr PABs birthday cake this year, turned out to be everything I hoped it would be. I had my fingers crossed that it would set neatly and it didn’t disappoint.

The flavours were something I knew would work, and they did in perfect harmony. An eggless sponge flavoured with fresh orange zest, mascarpone with a raspberry compote {what’s not to love}, and a delicious vanilla bean mascarpone layer. The cakes moistened with a dash of Cointreau, an orange liqueur, added oomph to the Raspberry Vanilla Bean Cake and how!

I didn’t use fresh raspberries since they are far too expensive as we are not native raspberry growers. I did have a couple of boxes of frozen raspberries in the freezer that FroGo had sent to me a short while ago. They are a breeze to use and so much more economical. Of course, the charm of fresh berries, the delicate beauty of raspberries would make the cake look even prettier yet I loved how this looked!

You can find more EGGLESS recipes here!
You can find recipes with BERRIES here.

Do tag me on Instagram at Passionate About Baking if you make this, or any other recipe from the blog. I’d love to see it!

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Eggless Raspberry Vanilla Bean Cake

Delicate, calming and deeply indulgent, this is a special cake for October!
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword agar agar, baking, cake, dessert, eggless, eggless baking, eggless cake, eggless layered cake, fruit, summer dessert, sweet, vegetarian
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 10 hours
8 hours
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

Eggless orange sponges {6″ + 4″}

  • 105 g buttermilk
  • 25 g oil
  • 50 g castor sugar
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • Pinch of salt
  • Zest of 1 small orange
  • 85 g plain flour/maida

Raspberry compote

  • 60 g frozen raspberries
  • 30 g sugar
  • Juice of 1/2 lime
  • 1 tsp cornflour
  • 1/4 tsp agar agar

Mascarpone filling

  • 225 g Amul Fresh cream / 25% fat cream
  • 2 tsp agar agar
  • 15 g sugar {to taste}
  • 100 g white chocolate chopped
  • 200 g mascarpone
  • 1/2 scraped vanilla bean
  • Cointreau to moisten {optional}

Instructions

Eggless orange sponges

  • Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 6″ tin and a 4″ tin with parchment.
  • In a large bowl, add all the ingredients and give them a good whisk.
  • Divide the batter between the tins {about 170g in the 6″/ 90g in the 4″ tin}. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tester comes out clean. Cool completely, then trim the tops.

Raspberry compote

  • Stir together, and leave in the pan to macerate.
  • Simmer over very low heat until the raspberries break down and thicken slightly. Strain out about 1 tsbp to colour the frosting if you like. Reserve.

Mascarpone filling

  • Place the cream, sugar and agar agar in a saucepan and whisk until smooth. Simmer over low heat for 2-3 minutes stirring often to activate the agar agar.
  • Pour this over the white chocolate and leave until the chocolate melts. Whisk until smooth.
  • Whisk in the mascarpone just before you need to pour it in.
  • Divide into 2, approx 270g each.
  • Layer 1 – Stir in the raspberry compote into one half, then blend with an immersion blender.
  • Layer 2 – Whisk the scraped vanilla bean into the other half.

Assemble

  • Secure an acetate sheet snugly around the 6″ orange sponge. Moisten with Cointreau.
  • Pour over the raspberry mascarpone filling. Place the 4″ sponge in the centre of the filling and very gently push in a little. Moisten the small sponge with Cointreau, then pour the vanilla bean filling over to cover it completely.
  • Place in the freezer for 3-4 hours until frozen, then peel off the acetate sheet and leave in the fridge overnight.
  • Frost with mascarpone if desired.

Video

Top 10 Eggless Dessert Recipes – eggless cakes & more!

Eggless Cakes & more! I went eggless in my baking a couple of years ago, something I honestly never thought would work, something I didn’t think I could successfully pull off. But as they say, never say never, my desserts are totally egg free, look quite pretty {IMHO} and are vegetarian as well {read no gelatine, only plant based setting agents}. A journey I have enjoyed immensely, a challenge of sorts, it was conversations on Instagram that largely drove the change, something I am profoundly grateful for.

Why eggless you might ask? I never did enjoy the egginess that egg based desserts had and though I made them often, I didn’t enjoy some of them. While most like special layered cakes were enjoyable indeed, my palette always picked up the aftertaste of eggs, something I just couldn’t tolerate. Yet that was just me! As the pandemic took over the world, requests for eggless recipes grew and that was a definite sign for me.

There was no looking back and I’ve come a long way. From eggless cakes, eggless layer cakes, eggless baked cheesecakes and loads in between, I have come to look at baking with new eyes. Not that there is anything wrong with baking with eggs; this is just a personal choice. You can find loads of delicious recipes using eggs on the blog and I do hope you’ll find something you like.

Best Ever Eggless Baked Chocolate Cheesecake
Best Ever Eggless Baked Chocolate Cheesecake … Deep, divine, satisfying and smooth, the clarified butter giving caramel tones to the biscuit crumb makes it even better! It's simple to bring together and most satisfying to dig into. Makes 1 8" heart shaped or round cheesecake.
Check out this recipe
Eggless Baked Mango Swirl Cheesecake
Simple, smooth, indulgent, no cream cheese yet ever so satisfying! Makes one 6" cheesecake
Check out this recipe
4 Ingredient Fudgy Chocolate Brownies – Eggless & Gluten-free
Fudgy, eggless, whole grain, one bowl, hand mixed and quite special, you are going to absolutely love these gluten free, millet brownies that come together in minutes.
Check out this recipe
Vegan Rose Coconut Pudding
A light, refreshing vegan jelly pudding perfect for spring and summer. With just 4 ingredients, this wobbly pudding is as simple as it is delicious!
Check out this recipe
Eggless Chocolate Coffee & Vanilla Ombre Cake
When chocolate, coffee and vanilla come together to create a dreamy ombre cake, it can only be good. Here's an eggless Chocolate Coffee & Vanilla Ombre Cake that is as simple as it is delicious!
Check out this recipe
Eggless Baked Lime Curd White Chocolate Pudding
Light, dreamy, mousse like and bowl scraping good, here’s a baked eggless pudding that’ll have you hooked.
Check out this recipe
Chocolate Orange Cavity Cake Eggless
This cake tastes beautiful, and offers an inviting citrus overload. The eggless sponge is flavoured with orange zest and is light and delightful. The cavity has layers of chocolate and vanilla cream, finished off with an interesting marmalade jelly and fresh orange wedges. All in all a delightful take on yet another variation of my cavity cake.
Check out this recipe
Eggless Saffron Mango Tres Leches Cake
The mango season is incomplete without a mango tres leches and this egg free version is sooooo good!! You could make this with berries as well, or late summer stone fruit.
Check out this recipe
Nama Chocolate Tart
… the name says it all! An addictive, delicious, no bake, eggless tart with a filling of the much loved Nama Chocolate. Each bite is indulgent, a celebration in a tart if you like, a gentle tease on the palette that is so sublime that it's addictive. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Check out this recipe
Chocolate Vanilla Strawberry Jelly Cavity Cake
Another delicious version of the cavity cake, three layers fill the cavity – dark chocolate, vanilla bean white chocolate and strawberry jelly from scratch. I always have frozen berries in my freezer but you could use fresh ones too. The recipe is a simple one bowl eggless sponge, and the way to make the cavity is as simple as it looks. 
Check out this recipe

You can find more EGGLESS recipes here!
Do tag me on Instagram at Passionate About Baking if you make this, or any other recipe from the blog. I’d love to see it!

Nama Chocolate Tart … simple, luxurious, satisfying

Nama Chocolate Tart … the name says it all! An addictive good tart with a filling of the much loved Nama Chocolate, a remarkably simple and luxurious Japanese chocolate that is quite easily made at home. Each bite is indulgent, a celebration in a tart if you like, a gentle tease on the palette that is so sublime that it’s addictive. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

My first memories of Nama Chocolate go back to a visit to Japan in 2014. Tokyo had the prettiest little patisseries, aesthetically showcased and the desserts are so delicate and stunning to look at. One of the first things I bought as we exited the airport was Nama Chocolate though at the time I took no pictures, just simply savoured it!

That first bite of chocolate was unforgettable. Smooth, rich, comforting, satisfying, and above all, so pretty to look at. It never crossed my mind that I could make it at home since it seemed too exotic, maybe very complicated too. A few attempts later, here’s a very simple recipe for the famed chocolate and it tastes as good as I remember it to be!

I made it as a tart because it’s really warm here these days and the chocolate tends to melt quite quickly in the summer. It will definitely work like a dream in winter and I can’t wait for the weather to improve. If you’d just like to make the chocolate portion, then consider setting it in an 8’X8″ square loose bottom lined tin. Once set, sift over with cocoa powder and then cut it into squares with a sharp knife, cleaning the blade between each cut.

The chocolate tastes best left at room temperature for ten minutes after which it begins to soften because of the chocolate to cream ratio. The tart holds it better in summer since the chocolate has a base that carries it. Either which way, it’s luxurious!

What is Nama Chocolate you might ask?

Nama chocolate comes from Japan. But there are many theories out there regarding who exactly created it. A widely circulated urban legend attributes authorship to pastry chef and chocolatier Masakazu Kobayashi. When he was the owner Sils Maria, a small pastry shop in Shonan, he invented nama chocolate and gave it the name. MICHELIN Guide
 

The recipe is simple and fuss free and can be easily made at home. The filling is basically just 3 ingredients, 4 if you choose to add coffee powder like I did, so do make sure you use quality ingredients because they really shine in here. Pick a dark couverture chocolate, anything above 54% is good. For me, the darker the chocolate, the more luxurious the feel of the filling. I find that a 70.5% works really well though the 54.5% tastes great too.

I use normal Amul Fresh cream, a 25% fat cream available easily in India. You could use a 30% fat cream if that’s what is available where you live. Use the best butter you can find, and your favourite coffee powder. That’s about it. Oh and of course, the signature finish which is a sifting of cocoa powder on top. That really completes the dessert.

The tart base is also super simple and just has 3 ingredients. I find that I use less clarified butter/ghee in the base in summer. If it’s cooler/colder where you live, then perhaps increase it a tsp at a time until the crumbs come together when pinched between the fingers. I’ve shared a tart base FAQ at the bottom since I always get loads of questions on Instagram asking about how I make the base. Hope that helps you too.

Try it please! Perhaps make it for home or as an edible gift for someone you love. With the weather quite warm and extremely humid, it works beautifully in a tart. In cooler, better weather, the Nama Chocolate will hold well on it’s own! In any case, it’s delicious both ways!

More CHOCOLATE recipes to inspire you! More TART recipes & EGGLESS DESSERT ideas

Do tag me on Instagram at Passionate About Baking if you make this, or any other recipe from the blog. I’d love to see it!

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Nama Chocolate Tart

… the name says it all! An addictive, delicious, no bake, eggless tart with a filling of the much loved Nama Chocolate. Each bite is indulgent, a celebration in a tart if you like, a gentle tease on the palette that is so sublime that it's addictive. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Course Dessert
Cuisine Japanese
Keyword chocolate, dessert, eggless, homemade, no bake, one bowl, simple, stovetop, vegetarian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
6 hours
Total Time 6 hours 30 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients

Tart base

  • 150 digestive biscuits
  • 45 g clarified butter/ghee melted, cooled
  • 10 g cocoa powder

Filling

  • 270 g 46% dark chocolate chopped
  • 125 g Amul Fresh cream/25% fat cream
  • 75 g unsalted butter
  • 1 tbsp coffee powder

Ganache

  • 125 g Amul Fresh cream/25% fat cream
  • 175 g 46% dark chocolate chopped
  • Cocoa powder for dusting over

Instructions

Tart base 8”

  • Place the biscuits and cocoa powder in a processor and blend to a fine meal. Blend in the melted clarified butter/ghee on low speed. {If the weather is cool, you might need 5-10g more of melted ghee}
  • Work up the sides of a tart tin firmly, then press firmly to make the base.
  • Place the tin in the freezer for an hour while you make the filling. Once the base is chilled and firm, gently loosen the edges of the chilled tart shell and return to the tin and leave in the freezer.

Nama chocolate filling

  • Pour the cream into a heavy bottom pan and add the remaining ingredients. Simmer over very low heat until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth and glossy. Cool slightly, then pour into the chilled tart base {still in the tart tin}.
  • Place to set in the freezer for 2 hours or in the fridge for about 6 hours or overnight.
  • Demold, pipe with ganache and dust with cocoa powder.

Video

  1. How do I get a clean tart shell?

    1. Use a loose bottom good quality tart shell. Here’s the TART TIN I use. It’s available on Amazon.in.
    2. Line the base with a circle of parchment. This is optional but I find it useful.
    3. Begin by building the sides first, nice and neat and firmly built to the top. Use your fingers or a spoon. Once the sides are built, make sure they are parallel to the edges, scrape off any extra to the bottom so you get a straight, flat wall right around. Once this is done, firmly push the remaining crumbs to form the base, then neaten up the edges where the base meets the walls.
    4. Once done, place the whole tin in the freezer for about an hour until it is frozen, then gently push the base up, applying equal pressure all around to loosen the biscuit shell. Once loose, return to the tin and leave in the freezer until required.
    5. Always be gentle when handling the biscuit base since it isn’t baked. Once the filling has set, the tart isn’t that fragile.

    Tip: Please don’t remove the biscuit base from the tin before filling it. If you do, the tart will collapse with the pressure from the yet to set filling.

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