Salted Caramel Chocolate Torte

175g digestive biscuits (crushed into crumbs)
85g butter (melted)
can of Carnation caramel
pinch of sea salt
300g plain chocolate (broken up into bits)
600ml double cream
25g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract


I found this recipe by James Martin, in this years Christmas Good Food magazine and chocolate always goes down well in this household.


Biscuit Base - I melted the butter in a small saucepan over a very low heat.  I put the biscuits into a bowl and crushed them with the end of my wooden rolling pin until crumbs.  I poured the melted butter into the biscuit crumbs and mixed it all together.  I tipped the mixture into a loose bottomed cake tin and used the knuckles to press down and flatten the mixture into the bottom of the tin.  I placed this into the fridge to cool and harden.

Caramel – I took out a tablespoon of the caramel from the tin an put into a small ramekin and mixed in a tablespoon of the cream.  I put a bit of cling film over the top and placed it into the fridge for decorating at the end.  Tipped the rest of the caramel into a bowl and mixed in a pinch of sea salt.  (The original recipe this stated 1 teaspoon but it turned out to be far too much salt so go with a large pinch instead)  Tip this into the center of the biscuit base but do not spread out to the edges and place back into the fridge to set.

Chocolate Torte - Melt the chocolate pieces in a bowl over a pan of hot water, over a very low heat.  Once the chocolate has melted take it off the heat and gently mix in the cream a little at a time.  You will notice that as the cold cream hits the chocolate it goes all lumpy looking don’t worry just keep mixing and after while it will melt and go smooth again then add a bit more cream and mix in again.  Keep going until all the cream is mixed in.  Sift in the icing sugar and add the vanilla extract and mix this into the mixture.  Carefully poor the mixture into the cake tin starting around the edges of the biscuit and slowly encasing the caramel in the center.  Put into the fridge to set.  Preferably for 24 hours.

Decoration – The following day or once set, carefully remove from the tin and put on a plate and decorate.  To do this put the caramel and cream mixture in a sandwich bag and then cut the tiniest of corner off the bag just enough to let a fine drizzle of the mixture run out.  Trail this back and forth across the torte in what ever decoration you like.  I then placed the torte on to a clean serving dish and placed some delicious chocolates I found in M&S (CHOCOLATE PEARL COLLECTION – by Gerard Coleman) on the top to add some Christmas glamour to the decoration.
Voila.
  
NOTE: I would maybe try adding more cream to the mixture next time to make the torte softer