Nadiya Hussain

Why it earned the handshake

Nadiya’s tart is a full chocolate-week production: chocolate shortcrust, salted caramel with chopped peanuts, cinnamon peanut butter, chocolate-peanut mousse, ganache, chocolate shapes, and optional peanut-powder truffles. It is rich, yes, but the textures keep changing under the fork—crisp shell, sticky caramel, soft mousse, and glossy ganache.

The handshake is in the layering and the nerve. The official recipe gives every component a job, including the peanut powder that turns ganache into truffles. There is a lot to do, but the tart’s logic is friendly: build, chill, set, decorate. Once the knife reaches the centre, all that chocolate starts behaving like a very good plan.

Ingredients

Chocolate shortcrust pastry

• 250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 30ml icing sugar
• 30ml cocoa powder
• 140g unsalted butter, cubed
• 2 medium egg yolks
• 5ml lemon juice

Chocolate ganache

• 400ml double cream
• 400g dark chocolate, at least 53% cocoa solids, chopped
• 60g butter

Salted caramel

• 65g brown sugar
• 50g butter
• 30ml golden syrup
• 85ml double cream
• 200g roasted salted peanuts, finely chopped

Cinnamon peanut butter and mousse

• 130g roasted peanuts
• 23ml peanut oil
• 15ml honey
• 2.5ml ground cinnamon
• 200ml whipping cream
• 23ml icing sugar
• 10ml cornflour
• 38ml smooth peanut butter

Decoration and optional peanut powder

• 50g dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids
• 45ml peanut butter
• 90ml tapioca maltodextrin, optional
• Cocoa powder, to dust

You will also need a food processor, a kitchen thermometer, and a 23cm loose-based flan tin or large rectangular tart tin.

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Sift the flour, icing sugar, and cocoa. Rub in the butter, then add the yolks, lemon juice, and 30ml cold water. Bring together, adding a splash more water only if needed. Chill for 5 minutes in the freezer or 15 minutes in the fridge.
2. Roll the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin and line the tin. Prick the base, cover with baking parchment and baking beans, and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for 10 minutes more. Cool.
3. For the ganache, boil the cream and pour it over the chopped chocolate. Stir until melted, then stir in the butter. Chill a ramekinful for the truffles and keep the rest at room temperature in two bowls.
4. Warm the brown sugar, butter, and golden syrup until dissolved. Add the cream and simmer. Cool completely, stir in the chopped peanuts, pour into the pastry case, and chill until set.
5. Process the roasted peanuts until they gather into a ball. Add the peanut oil, honey, and cinnamon and process to a smooth paste.
6. Whip the cream with the icing sugar and cornflour to soft peaks. Fold in one bowl of ganache and 38ml cinnamon peanut butter. Spread over the set caramel.
7. Melt the decoration chocolate in short bursts until it reaches 32°C. Pipe shapes onto non-stick paper and leave to set.
8. If using the peanut powder, pulse the peanut butter and tapioca maltodextrin together. Shape the chilled ganache into three balls and coat them in the powder.
9. When the mousse has set, spread the remaining ganache over the top and chill until firm. Remove from the tin, dust with cocoa, and decorate with the truffles and chocolate shapes.

Baker’s tips

• Chill each layer until it is properly set before adding the next; this tart is a relay race, not a pile-on.
• The source’s optional peanut powder is made with tapioca maltodextrin; crushed nuts are suggested there as an easier coating.
• Keep the ganache smooth by pouring the hot cream over the chocolate and giving it time to melt before stirring.
• Use the thermometer for the chocolate shapes so they set with a clean finish.

Make-ahead

The official recipe is built around chilling and setting, but does not give a longer storage schedule. Prepare the shell and components ahead, keep the tart chilled while it sets, and decorate after the final ganache layer has firmed.