Whenever possible, I pick up a coy of Waitrose’s Food Illustrated magazine to enjoy both the recipes and variety of in-depth articles. Though my current copy is several months old, it contains a recipe which I decided to make, kept buying the ingredients to make but until today hadn’t actually managed to make: Salted Caramel and Chocolate Tart, or as my husband described it, Banoffee Pie without the banana. Describe as you wish, the results are sinfully sweet and utterly delicious.

The subtle difference in this tart is the addition of salt; combining salted butter with sugar in the pate briseé pastry case then additional grains of sea salt in both the caramel and chocolate which results in a perfect deathly-sweet-but-savoury-balanced dessert. Obvious advice is to try it yourself, serving to compliment a light, summery main course.

For ease, prepare the pastry case by piling the flour, sugar and butter into the goblet of a food processor, pulsing until they have combined, and resemble fine breadcrumbs – the eggs in my fridge were a small so the whole egg was necessary to bind together, adding a little at a time to avoid wet, heavy pastry.

175g plain flour
15g icing sugar
90g salted butter, chilled and cubed
1 egg yolk

Though the weather is warm today I managed immediately to roll the pastry to line a 24cm metal flan ring. If the pastry is a little soft, then wrap in film and chill for about 30 minutes prior to use. However, the important stage is to allow the pastry-lined flan ring to rest and chill before baking which in turn inhibits shrinkage. I often prepare a pastry case to leave in the fridge until later in the day when I will bake several items together in the oven.

As an avid collector of ceramics I have acquired a range of pretty ceramic quiche dishes, though prefer pastry using a loose-bottomed metal tin which is an excellent conductor of heat, giving a crisp pastry. If using a ceramic dish, place it on a pre-heated metal baking sheet, though never directly from the fridge - chill the pastry case then allow it to return to room temperature before baking.

Blind-bake the case: Prick the base with a fork to allow any steam to escape then line with crumpled baking parchment and either ceramic beans or a handful of dried beans to weigh down. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C for 15 minutes, remove the parchment and beans, cook for another 10 minutes until a pale golden colour. Cool.

Admittedly, caramel is something I try to avoid making – there are several pitfalls, no stirring, possible formation of sugar crystals, then to either under or over cook. This recipe is no exception, considering its sugar content:

300g caster sugar – golden if possible
250ml double cream
200g salted butter
150g plain chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
¼ tsp sea salt

Place the sugar into a large heavy-based pan together with 1tbs water. I found the quantity of sugar too large to naturally dissolve in this small amount of water, so mixed the two beforegently heating. Resist temptation to stir – the sugar must dissolve then raise the temperature to allow it to bubble to a beautiful amber colour.

Stirring the sugar solution will induce a formation of crystals rather than liquid amber nectar. Unfortunately, my mixture did contain crystals, so used a stabbing action to eradicate: do this with caution as it is strictly unofficial!

Pour in 200ml cream followed by 175g butter plus sea salt. The instructions issued care as the liquid may splatter – mine didn’t splatter (hooray!) but instead, seized into a toffee ball sitting in a puddle of cream (?). Logically, this seems reasonable as I had added cool liquid to hot sugar which would immediately lower its temperature. Not beaten, I stirred over a low heat, the toffee eventually dissolving into the cream and butter, raised the heat, then simmered for 3 minutes to produce an indulgently sticky caramel which was allowed to cool a little before pouring into the waiting pastry case.

Melt together the chocolate with the remaining butter and cream, drizzling over the top of the caramel and swirl with a spatula.

Chill well, preferably overnight, before serving.