Chocolate and semolina are two ingredients that apparently have two completely different lives.
Chocolate is the protagonist of the most spectacular desserts: dark, intense, often reserved just for the grown-ups. Semolina, on the other hand, reminds me of childhood, simple food, motherly cuddles. They meet and fall in love in this tart, two different layers, but well-balanced. It has also a homey, familiar character, as every tart made with a shell of shortcrust pastry dough.
RECIPE – CHOCOLATE AND SEMOLINA TART – TORTA DI CIOCCOLATO E SEMOLINO
[First Posted April 2014. Updated April 2024]
I am fond of this cake. I was given this recipe by Emanuela, a friend from Florence, the same who also taught me how to make pappa al pomodoro, something for which I will be eternally grateful.
It is also the dessert I ate the first night I had dinner with Tommaso. It was store-bought and taken out of the fridge at the end of the meal, but at that moment I thought it was the most delicious cake in the world, as if he had prepared it before my very eyes a seven layer chocolate cake.
Chocolate and semolina tart
a Florentine cake with semolina and chocolate to celebrate Easter
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For the chocolate ganache
Make the crust
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In a large bowl or on a wooden board, mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and grated lemon zest. Add the cubed butter and use your fingertips to rub it into the other ingredients, until they form fine crumbs, similar to grated Parmigiano Reggiano. You can also use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to do this.
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Add the beaten egg, and use your hands to quickly incorporate all the ingredients, until the dough just comes together. It will still be slightly sticky and not completely homogeneous, but the flour should all be incorporated, with no visible streaks. Flatten the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap, then stash it in the fridge to rest for a few hours, or ideally until the next day.
Make the semolina pastry cream
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Heat the milk in a saucepan, add the sugar, then pour in the semolina making sure that no lumps are formed. Stir constantly with a whisk. When the milk reaches the boiling point and you can see big slow bubbles form on the surface of the pastry cream, remove it from the heat, add the vinsanto and stir well to incorporate.
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Let the pastry cream cool down for about half an hour, then when it is barely warm add the eggs, and whisk until perfectly combined.
Make the semolina tart
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Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F and butter a 26 cm/10 in round tart pan with a removable bottom.
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Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out with a floured rolling pin into a disc big enough to cover the bottom and edges of your tart pan, then transfer it to the prepared pan, fitting it into the bottom and up the sides. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork. With a spatula or spoon, spread the semolina pastry cream evenly over the crust.
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Bake the cake for 50 minutes or until the semolina custard is golden and puffed up. Remove it from the oven and let it cool down. The semolina pastry cream will deflate a bit.
While the cake is cooling, make the chocolate ganache.
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Warm the cream in a small saucepan, and when it is barely simmering pour it over the chopped chocolate. Stir to melt the chocolate with a spatula, then add the butter.
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Pour the chocolate ganache slowly over the tart, then shake it gently to evenly distribuite it.
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Let the tart cool completely in the fridge for a few hours before serving. Remove it from the fridge half an hour before eating to bring it to room temperature. It can be kept in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.
More chocolate cakes from the blog and newsletter archive
- Torta Caprese. Torta caprese is an incredibly simple recipe to bake. Even though you could possibly use almond flour to make the cake even more quickly, it really benefits from the use of real almonds, toasted and ground into a coarse meal.
- Chestnut flour and chocolate biscotti. Turn the traditional Tuscan almond biscotti into a Fall treat. Substitute part of the all-purpose flour with chestnut flour, add the zest of an orange, and a generous amount of dark chocolate chips.
- Chocolate pudding. If you find a hundred year old recipe by Pellegrino Artusi which gives you the chance to have a soft, wobbling and refreshing chocolate dessert you don’t want to lose the chance to try it, especially because it is not too sweet as you drizzle it with a thick coating of dark caramel.
- Chocolate Salami. This is the chocolate salame of kids’ afternoon birthday parties, of rooms full of colourful balloons, gift paper excitedly torn into a million pieces, soft milk buns with prosciutto, tiny round pizzette that you could eat in one bite, bowls of popcorns and chips.
