January 10, 2016

Seriously Amazing Chocolate Tart

Chocolate, Tart, recipe, chocolate tart,  巧克力, 撻, cake
By Published: 2016-01-10
I wanted to share this chocolate tart recipe because it really is seriously amazing.  Not due to any special skills of mine or anything, let me assure you, this tart is amazing all by itself! 

I had to bring a dessert to a New Year's Eve barbecue that we were invited to and naturally wanted to impress and thus stumbled on this recipe for chocolate tart that seemed easy yet delicious.  But I was wrong...it was super easy and amazingly delicious!  Not just my opinion, this tart got rave stand up reviews from the folks at the barbecue, many of whom are chefs themselves.  

So if you're a super chocolate fan (like we are!) and need to produce an impressive but easy to make dessert, do try this Seriously Amazing Chocolate Tart.  You won't be disappointed, I promise!

Chocolate, Tart, recipe, chocolate tart,  巧克力, 撻, cake,

The original recipe uses chocolate graham crackers, which seem to be very hard to find nowadays. (Impossible to find in Hong Kong, that's for sure.)   So I did manage to find chocolate graham animal bear crackers quite easily and they did make the most perfect and easy to make chocolate crust.  

If you have a food processor you can probably blitz these into a fine dust in no time at all, but if you're like me and work with old exhausted appliances (my loyal coffee grinder again) you will need to use your hands to break up the little bears beforehand.   The key here is to grind it fine so that you can pack the crust smoothly and tightly, thus allowing you to form a lovely thin and firm crust for your tart.

Chocolate, Tart, recipe, chocolate tart,  巧克力, 撻, cake,

In the recipe below you will see it calls for the addition of the final amounts of butter in increments.  This melted butter is to bind the crust together.   The first time I made this crust it was a bit of a disaster, melted butter everywhere after baking.  So I cut down on the butter a lot, using just enough so that all the ground cookie was moist and the mixture stuck together easily when pressed.  

Because I cut down on the butter a lot, I was quite nervous for the second crust.  But all the worries for naught, it was perfect, removing from the pan easily, a beautifully thin, firm and chocolatey crust!

Chocolate, Tart, recipe, chocolate tart,  巧克力, 撻, cake,

Actually I'm still a little bit awed by the fact that such a simple few ingredients with such a minimum of preparation could make such a yummilicious filling.  It's basically just chocolate (good quality chocolate , mind you), cream and eggs, that's it!  No separating, no refrigerating, no whipping.  Just melt the chocolate with your heated cream, mix in your eggs add a splash of vanilla and fine salt.  That's it!!  

And you'll find yourself with a rich, deeply, densely chocolatey (but not super sweet!), smooth, creamy and just firm enough to hold itself together chocolate filling of the most divine sort.  I spied one of our barbecue party that night, a self avowed non lover of all desserts, secretly tucking into his third slice in a dark corner, shaking his head solemnly in disbelief?  In first love?  Ah, the super powers of chocolate!!

Chocolate, Tart, recipe, chocolate tart,  巧克力, 撻, cake,

You must let the tart cool down completely.  Then you can easily lift it from the tart tins with removable bottoms with no trouble at all.  No need to butter and flour the tart pan, the crust doesn't stick!  

For decoration you could add some raspberries, or maybe some whipped cream.  Or you could go the lazy way and dust with the magic of icing sugar, easy but always impressive.  Just remember to dust just before serving, if you leave for too long the icing sugar melts into the tart, becoming invisible (oops, my bad!).  I made two tarts because my tart pans are kinda small so I wanted to bring two tarts to the party.  But you could just as easily adjust for one larger tart.  Or even several small tarts (more work, but so cute!).

Okay, chocolate lovers , off to the kitchen you go!  And be sure to let us know if you make any chocolate converts from this Seriously Amazing Chocolate Tart!

Chocolate, Tart, recipe, chocolate tart,  巧克力, 撻, cake,
Seriously Amazing Chocolate Tart Recipe
2 tarts, adapted from here  Prep time: 15 mins   Cook time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

   Crust

   Filling
  • 2 cups heavy cream (480 ml)
  • 14.5 oz dark chocolate (I used half 70% cocoa and half 50% cocoa) (435 g)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F (176 C), rack in center.

Crust - Grind your crackers as finely as possible (I used my coffee grinder.)  Mix together sugar, ground crackers and 5 tbsp of melted butter.  Add the rest of the butter in tbsp increments until the mixture is wet enough to stick together easily when pressed.  (I ended up using 7 tbsp.)

Use fingers to press evenly and firmly into your tart pan, from bottom then up the sides.  Bake 10 mins. Let crust cool completely.

Filling - Chop up chocolate roughly.  Heat cream in small pot until just boiled, then pour over the chocolate.  Let stand for 5 mins, then stir until smooth.  Whisk eggs, vanilla and salt in another bowl, then stir into the chocolate all at once.  Pour into cooled crust, being sure not to over fill the crust as you still must get it into the oven without spilling.

Bake approx 20 mins, or until the chocolate center sets 3" from the edge, the center will quiver when you shake the tart pan.  Remove from oven (the center will set as the tart cools).  Let cool in pan for 1 hour.  Dust with icing sugar just before serving.  Enjoy your chocolate!

Tip:  Slice your chocolate tart to small slices when serving.  The chocolate filling is super rich and chocolaty and best appreciated a little at a time.

Tip:  I used a stencil to decorate the tart with icing sugar.  You can find similar cake stencils here.

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