Daring Baker Challenge: Milk Chocolate & Caramel Tart

August 29, 2007 · Filed under Recipes

Yes, I am now officially a member of the Daring Bakers (at least I think I am). My first challenge, to create an exquisite Milk Chocolate & Caramel Tart (pictured below). I hope any of you who visit my site, will take up the challenge yourselves as well and try making this delectable tart.

Here’s the recipe:

Chocolate Shortbread Pastry (re-scaled for single recipe)

Ingredients:

• 84 grams unsalted butter
• 51 grams confectioners’ sugar
• 18 grams ground hazelnuts
• 2 grams ground cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 135 grams cake flour
• 3 grams baking powder
• 3 grams cocoa powder

1. In a mixing bowl of a food processor, cream the butter.

2. Add the confectioners’ sugar, the ground hazelnuts, and the cinnamon, and mix together

3. Add the eggs, one by one, mixing constantly

4. Sift in the flour, the baking powder, and the cocoa powder, and mix well.

5. Form a ball with the dough, cover in plastic wrap, and chill overnight (pictured below).

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart

Ingredients:

• ½ lb (250 g) chocolate shortbread pastry (see recipe above)
• 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
• 1 cup (250 g) heavy cream or crème fraiche
• ¼ cup butter
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 ½ tablespoons (15 g) flour
• 1 ¼ cups (300 g) whipping cream
• ½ lb (250 g) milk chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 325 °F.

2. Line the baking pan with the chocolate shortbread pastry and bake blind for 15 minutes. The instructions don’t call for docking, but I docked mine just to be on the safe side.

3. In a saucepan, caramelize 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar using the dry method until it turns a golden caramel color. I tend to want to push the caramel to the limit, since I want a bittersweet flavor, hence the darker color. Incorporate the heavy cream or crème fraiche and then add butter. Mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.

4. In a mixing bowl, beat the whole eggs with the extra egg yolk, then incorporate the flour.

5. Pour this into the cream-caramel mixture and mix thoroughly.

6. Spread it out in the tart shell and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

7. Prepare the milk chocolate mousse: beat the whipping cream until stiff. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave or in a bain-marie, and fold it gently into the whipped cream.

8. Pour the chocolate mousse over the cooled caramel mixture, smoothing it with a spatula. Chill for one hour in the refrigerator.

So that’s it for this month’s challenge. I must admit, the resulting product was quite good, and I had a fun time baking. The pictures posted above are the ones I took on my first attempt. I figured it wouldn’t be right to post pictures from my third attempt. Also, I opted not to do toppings on my first attempt, as I wanted to taste it sans toppings. Here’s a last picture of a slice of the tart…

Sorry for the sub par pictures… hehehe… I’m still waiting for my digital camera, and I’m currently using my video cam to take pictures. I’m not really sure what else to write, so see you again for next month’s challenge.