My oven is still broken (five weeks now) so this week I’ve been searching for some no-bake sweet treats, and somehow overlooked the one I’ve had saved in my phone since it first came out– Ravneet Gil’s miso caramel tart. I prefer my sweet treats actually not very sweet at all, and the juxtaposition of flavours in this really appealed to me. Mostly though, I was intrigued to make something sweet with miso, the fermented soy-bean paste, that is a staple in Japanese savoury cooking but has also become increasingly popular in sweeter bakes over the past few years such as these brownies from one of my favourite food writers, Meera Sodha.
Rather than the usual pastry base, for this no-bake version, you combine chocolate, nuts, and cornflakes – the classic combination for children’s party food. It’s been a long time since I rustled up this combination of food in my parent’s kitchen, and I forgot how dangerously addictive the crunchy chocolate taste is. If the filling failed, I would be more than happy to just munch on the cereal base.
Thankfully, the filling went to plan. I was a bit unsure with the caramel, I’ve not had much success with getting my caramels to set when I’ve made sticky toffee pudding and an opera cake in the past, but this time I felt a little more confident letting the sugar get darker than usual before mixing the cream in. The smell was heavenly, and it took all my willpower not to dip my finger into the scalding sugar to try a bit! Whilst the caramel was cooling, I made a simple chocolate ganache, and swirled the two fillings together on top of the set cereal tart shell. My filling decided to make an escape over the edges at certain points, but structural integrity was thankfully never lost.
I have to say, the tart isn’t the most photogenic. It’s hard to take appetising pictures of brown food, but trust me when I say it tasted a lot better than it looks. The chocolate was unquestionably sweet, but the miso caramel rounded the sweetness off, so it wasn’t overpowering – it really was the perfect balance between sweet and savoury. The crunchy base was also an absolute winner in my book, I was worried the amount of chocolate might be a bit overwhelming, but the difference in textures helped to shake things up a bit.
This was a truly delicious, and easier than I expected, no-bake tart, and one I hope to make again in the future!
New Day, New Thing 