Chocolate and wine really is a very good combination. How many of us secretly love eating our favourite chocolate with a glass of incredibly good red wine. Not liqueur or something sweeter – only top class, round, real, red Paul Sauer type red wine will do then – even eaten tiny little  pieces of Lindt 99% chocolate slowly sucked on the tongue and Meerlust Rubicon will do when the addiction hits even though there is the real possiblity of being labelled insane.  This is a really easy, but really good chocolate and brandy dream cake that you doesn’t even need to be baked plus it’s really good with good red wine. 

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp brandy
• 100 g digestive biscuits, broken into small pieces
• 100 g butter
• 3 generous tbsp runny honey
• 185 g dark chocolate (75%) broken into pieces
• 235 ml cream, lightly whipped
• 175 g whole mixed nuts, toasted and then chopped
• 55 g ready to eat dried peaches
• 100 g glace cherries, halved
• 85 g crystallized orange peel, finely chopped
• Cocoa powder, excellent quality to dust

Method

• Line a 20cm tart tine with a removable base with plastic wrap.
• Drip the brandy over the digestive biscuits in a mixing bowl.
• Melt the butter, chocolate and honey in a bowl over simmering water and stir well until smooth and everything is incorporated.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 5 – 8 minutes and then fold in the whipped cream, nuts, apricots, cherries, peel and digestive biscuit mix, stirring everything well and combining it all evenly.
• Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins and press everything down well.
• Chill in a refrigerator overnight.
• Invert the tart onto a dinner plate, peel off the wrap and discard it.
• Dust heavily with cocoa and serve.
• Notes* It will keep in the tin for up to 3 days in the fridge.