Chocolate caramel tart... the "adult" candy bar

I was invited to a friend's dinner party a couple of weeks ago (as a side note, she promised a "homecooked Chinese feast" and seriously delivered!! The food was delicious) and I offered to bring dessert. She requested something involving chocolate - her boyfriend is not a fan of fruit-based sweets. I've mostly been baking fruity tarts and cakes for the last few months, so I had to dig into my pile of "to-do" recipes to find something appropriate. Last time I made dessert for them, it was the super delicious Chocolate Stout Cake. Not wanting to do another chocolate cake, but seeking something fancier than cookies or brownies, I settled on Saveur's Chocolate Caramel Tart.

My main concern with this tart was that it was going to be more tooth-achingly sweet than sophisticated. Now, I'm not one who is generally afraid of sweets. I occasionally snuck candy into my bedroom and SLEPT with it in my mouth when I was a young girl! (horrifying, I know...) In any case, as I've gotten older, my sugar cravings have mellowed into a longing for more complex desserts - I love cakes or pastries with olive oil, buttermilk, a sprinkling of salt, rosemary or thyme, etc. So, I was a little concerned that this tart would be too candy-bar-like and "simply" sweet. Eventually, though, I was won over by a huge number of positive reviews from people's previous attempts, and concluded that it would be a fun project. How bad could caramel and chocolate be, anyway?

I sought out the best possible ingredients for this tart, as it is fairly straightforward and the quality of the chocolate, sugar, butter, and cream really shine through (in my opinion, at least)... It went over very well with the dinner crowd! It certainly will satisfy any sweets-lover but has added complexity from the crème fraîche and final sprinkling of fleur de sel (not pictured below - I waited until right before serving to add it and didn't bring my camera to the dinner!)

Chocolate tart crust after a blind-bake, similar to a soft shortbread in consistency...

Caramel bubbling away - I let it get a shade darker than this before adding the cream, butter, and crème fraîche...

Tart shell filled with warm caramel

The finished product! Just missing the fleur de sel...

Chocolate Caramel Tart, adapted from Lottie & Doof >> Saveur (orig. from Brooklyn's Marlow and Sons)

Tart Dough

8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temp

1/2 c + 1 tbsp confectioners’ sugar

1 large egg yolk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1/4 c unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

Caramel Filling

1/2 c water

2 c granulated sugar (I used organic cane sugar here)

1/4 c light corn syrup

1/2 c heavy cream

8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter

2 tbsp crème fraîche

Ganache

1/2 c heavy cream

3 1/2 oz extra-bittersweet chocolate

Making the tart dough:

Cream butter and confectioners’ sugar until combined. Add egg yolk and vanilla, beat until smooth. Sift in flour and cocoa powder, and beat slowly until just combined (do not overwork the dough). Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and form it into a disk, and wrap tightly. Chill until firm (I waited about 2 hours).

Preheat oven to 325°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the tart dough into a large, flat circle with a diameter approximately 1 inch larger than the tart pan. Transfer the dough to a 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and press into pan. If the dough tears, simply press the pieces back into the tart pan. Chill the tart shell in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Prick the shell all over with a fork. Line with parchment paper or aluminum foil filled with dried beans and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper/foil and beans, and continue to bake until the pastry looks dry and set, around 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool.

Making the filling:

Place 1/2 cup water in a large saucepan with high sides (mixture will boil up later on). Add sugar and corn syrup, and cook mixture over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until it becomes a dark-amber caramel, 10-20 minutes. Remove pan from heat and and slowly add the heavy cream (the mixture will bubble up here, so be careful!), followed by the butter and crème fraîche. Stir until smooth. Pour caramel into the cooled tart shell and allow to set, first at room temp and then in the refrigerator.

Making the ganache:

Place chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Bring cream to boil in a small saucepan, then pour over the chocolate. Wait 5 minutes, then stir mixture until smooth. Pour the ganache over the tart (you must wait until the caramel has at least partially set to get distinct layers). Refrigerate until set.

Keep the tart refridgerated until a few minutes before service. Cut into wedges and sprinkle with fleur de sel. Enjoy!!

Comments

[Wendy]

YUM. This looks so good - it's so *shiny*! haha. I guess I can check other reviews for this too, but did you feel like the flavor of the salt really blended with the other flavors, or just offset the sweetness? I love salted caramel, but sometimes I feel like the flavors are too distinct.

[Sarah Carter]

it IS shiny, indeed! haha. i did feel like the salt actually blended with
the flavors of the tart, especially since i used bittersweet chocolate with
no added sugar for the ganache. it made all the difference (and the people
who helped consume it at the dinner party agreed!) the caramel also had a
bit of a savory note (though it was subtle, admittedly...) from the creme
fraiche.

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 5:22 PM, wrote:

[radish]

uh, i just forgot what i was working on. wow. this tart. seriously. i should make. this weekend. on top of all that other stuff. this looks delicious!!

[Umi]

Man, these are times I wished our oven worked. Mmm, that looks decadent! I look forward to seeing more of all this food I keep reading about in twitter!

[Anne]

Wow. I love salted caramel (in fact, I made some last week and need to post about it), and salted caramel plus chocolate is even better. What was the consistency of the caramel layer? It looks like it might not be too far off that of the salted caramels I made last week, which held their shape nicely without being too hard on the teeth. I like the idea of adding creme fraiche to the caramel!

[Sarah Carter]

it was very tasty, indeed! you should definitely make it when you have a
chance... though it sounds like you were concocting some fantastically
delicious desserts of your own last weekend! ;)

On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 6:35 PM, wrote:

[Sarah Carter]

i love salted caramel, too! looking forward to seeing your post :) the
consistency of the caramel layer is, well, fairly gooey (for lack of a
better way to describe it). it does help to keep the tart in the
refrigerator until 5-10 min before serving it so the caramel isn't too soft.
the softness is a nice juxtaposition to the fairly dense-chewy chocolate
tart dough layer underneath. and yes, the creme fraiche is a *fantastic*
addition, in my opinion. adds just the slightest bit of tang to an otherwise
straightforward caramel.

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 4:37 PM, wrote:

[male menopause]

They look delicious! Triple chocolate...must be delicious.