Chocolate Cafe Manchester Tart

It’s not every day you get sent a Manchester Tart. In fact, until this week I had no idea what a Manchester Tart was – and that’s despite most of my family being Mancunian.

Helpfully, The Chocolate Cafe, who make this bar helpfully tweeted a photo of Bett Lynch, which explained everything.

A Manchester Tart, it turns out, is a shortcrust pastry tart filled with raspberry jam, custart and topped with desiccated coconut and a cherry. This bar version uses white chocolate instead of custard and – perhaps unsurprisingly, given the name – has lost its cherry.

As you can see, the bar looks very similar to Chocolate Cafe’s Strawberry & Black Pepper bar, with the same bright pink, speckled appearance.

It uses the same 28% white chocolate with the dried coconut flakes embedded in the chocolate itself, giving it a slightly crunchy, biscuity texture.

Taste wise, it’s what you’d expect. Sweet, creamy and a little fruity. The freeze dried fruit builds in flavour as the chocolate melts, so if you can resist the temptation to crunch the coconut, you get a much fuller and more satisfying raspberry flavour.

This is a fun bar, and something I’d quite happily nibble on at my desk through the day, but I’m not entirely convinced it entirely merits the ‘premium chocolate’ description. It’s very nice, but it’s confectionery. Having never met had a real Manchester Tart, I’ve nothing to compare the taste to. I do think it makes a fun gift for that special Mancunian in your life though.

It is, apparently, the official chocolate bar of the 2010 Manchester Food & Drink Festival which runs until 11th October. Personally, I think they have gone for Valrhona Manjari enrobed Eccles Cakes… but that’s just me.

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