What’s the downfall of being a newbie baker and bringing your baked goods to the office for taste testing? You get a reputation for actually being good at it.. oh, the pressure!
One of the gals recently brought some old Donna Hay magazines to work for us to drool over. The boss picked out a decadent chocolate caramel tart and challenged me to make it. Eeek! A few weeks later a we had a birthday morning so I had the perfect opportunity to give the sweet treat a try.
I had never made anything with shortcrust pastry and I found it surprisingly easy to use. Thankfully the recipe had detailed instructions so I now also know what ‘blind baking’ means!
I had a little trouble getting the right consistency with the chocolate and this resulted in presentation that wasn’t up to scratch. I sprinkled the top of each tart with flaked chocolate and boom, they looked fabulous! Such a clever way to hide imperfections.
Because I like to get things right, with the leftover pastry I made the tarts again a few days later and they turned out just right. Practice makes perfect!
Adapted from a recipe in the Donna Hay magazine 2009 August / September issue. The recipe called for a 20cm tart tin however I used 4 x 12cm fluted trays.
Chocolate caramel tarts
Melted butter, for brushing
Caster sugar, for dusting
2 sheets store-bought shortcrust pasty, thawed
1 x 380g can caramel condensed milk
200g dark chocolate, chopped
2 Tbs single (pouring) cream
- Preheat oven to 200deg.
- Brush a 20cm fluted loose-bottomed round tart tin with butter and dust with sugar.
- Line the tin with the pastry and trim the excess. Prick the base with a fork.
- Line with non-stick baking paper, fill with baking weights or uncooked rice and blind bake for 12mins.
- Remove the baking paper and weights and bake for a further 10mins or until golden and crisp. Set aside to cool.
- Place the caramel condensed milk in a bowl and mix until smooth. Pour evenly into pastry cases and refrigerate for 30mins or until set.
- Place the chocolate and cream in a saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring, until melted and smooth. Spread the chocolate mixture over the caramel and refrigerate for a further 30mins or until set.
Make sure the tarts are at room temperature prior to serving, otherwise the chocolate will be hard and they are difficult to slice. They would be great with a big blob of double cream or vanilla ice cream.
Have to admit, I prefer working with shortcrust than with puff or flaky, and it’s so much easier to make, too! One thing with shortcrust – make sure your hands are as cold as possible when working with it, because it makes it so much lighter.
I hear what you are saying about the office baking stuff, too: been asked to bake this week before I go on holiday, and am torn between cookies, muffins, or my chocolate coma cake!
Ooh thanks for the tip. Chocolate coma cake.. now THAT sounds like the winner!
Omg even though I don’t really like caramel ur tart looks really really good. I wanna be ur colleague XD
Oooh I’d love you to be my taste tester!
mmmmm…I wanna make this for breakfast tomorrow, obsessed with chocolate !!
Anytime is a good time for chocolate!
I def agree, I’m going to melt it and put it on my face just now lol
They look fantastic, love a chocolate caramel tart, nom.
Thanks Sara! They were surprisingly easy and quite impressive. Slowly starting to get the hang of this baking thing
Hahah I have the same thing at my work as well. These look like they would get eaten pretty quickly!
You’re right, these didn’t last very long at all!