There was a birthday coming up and the order had been put in. Something chocolatey. It was a loose request that held lots of possibilities. Cake? Nah. I still hold some reservations on the old chocolate cake front, if I can avoid making one I certainly do.
Now this particular birthday request just had to involve chocolate somewhere along the lines of the dessert. Surely I could put something on the table that could be used in a celebratory, I’ve just turned another wonderful year older kind of thing.
I had a coffee, (it’s when I do my best thinking) and came up with a chocolate caramel tart. Doable, certainly doable I thought. Then I promptly forgot about it.
Fast forward several weeks and the day in question arrived. For lots of reasons I was a little distracted in the lead up to it and didn’t plan it in my usual military precision birthday sugary goodness celebratory fashion. Instead it was a little like… oh what’s in the fridge/cupboard, and can I whack it in to build up this tart?
And so that’s how almond meal ended up in there, (toasted mind you, I’m not a complete hack.) Tart got a thumbs up verdict and there were scrambles for the last tiny wedge.
Seems the unplanned Chocolate Caramel Almond Tart was ok.
Chocolate Caramel Almond Tart
Pastry
150gms softened butter
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg yolk
* if you want your pastry sweet as well add 50gs of icing sugar, I thought there would be enough sugar in the caramel and chocolate layers.
In a processor add flour and butter, process until resembles bread crumbs. Tip mixture out to a bowl and add vanilla and egg yolk. Bring together and give a quick knead until it’s smooth. Roll between two pieces of baking paper, and roll out to about 5mm. Carefully place pastry in greased tart base and bake blind for approximately 25 minutes at 180C. Remove beads (or whatever you used to bake blind with and pop back into the oven for another 5 or so minutes or until golden.
Almond Caramel
1 cup condensed milk
1 knob of butter
2 tbls brown sugar
Put these three ingredients in a pot and stir over medium heat, until it turns to caramel. Don’t leave it, continually stir, should take about 4 minutes. (If you let it get too thick it will be harder to manage.)
In another pot over medium heat add 100g of almond meal, gently toast it. Stirring continuously until light golden. Add this to the caramel.
Add the almond caramel to slightly cooled tart pastry.
Ganache
300mls cream
300g dark chocolate
Bring the cream to a boil and then turn off heat. Drop broken chocolate into the cream and stir until melted through. Allow ganache to cool slightly and then pour over caramel tart. Allow to sit for a few hours before serving.
Ha I avoid chocolate cake too! Definitely would avoid this though, holy yum!
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I think you have to be on the chocolate cake side or you don’t…there doesnt seem to be a middle ground!
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I cannot wait to make this!!!!
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I hope you do 🙂
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Oh my, yes please Brydie. This looks magnificent! I started to worry when I didn’t see your blog earlier this morning in my feed! But, alas there you are with something totally delicious. Thank you x
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Occasionally…just occasionally mind you Jane…I um completely forget things 🙂 Yep that would be one of those kinda mornings. (The human element of blogging eh.)
Have no fear though am here now!..with a tart. Fancy a slice and a cup of tea?
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God that looks good. I’m pretty sure my last minute “quick what can I make” scenario would end up with a trip to the shops!
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Ah see you could make something curd infused as a last minute bit of baking goodness Sam and that girl, is most assuredly worth it. Damn I love curd.
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All I can hear is angels singing. Happy birthday to the lucky ducky.
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Well there was a chorus of excitable children singing… that’s almost the same 🙂
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Looks and sounds delicious. xo
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Thanks dear Julie. Hope you have a good week. x
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Wow it looks amazing and I bet it was. Zoe xx
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This is most definitely better than a plain chocolate cake (or even a non-plain chocolate cake). it looks absolutely wonderful. Happy birthday to the birthday-ee, too!
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Delish Ms Cityhippyfarmgirl. Have you heard about the (temptation SO strong to type “bird” then 😉 ) new, you beaut use for canned chickpea liquid? Seems the stuff we have been draining down the sink can actually be whipped just like egg whites. I made vegan meringues the other day that you would never have been able to tell from egg white meringues. Clever vegans everywhere have been turning this into some very amazing things like macarons, lemon meringue pie and apparently it works amazingly well as an egg replacer in cakes. Turns out we have probably been throwing the most useful bit of the canned chickpea equation down the sink for too many years! http://aquafaba.com/
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Right dear lady I have some aquafaba in the fridge ready to go…are you sure about this?!
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Damned sure. Give it a go. What have you go to lose? A can of bean water that you would have drained down the sink ;).
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I never say no to a chocolate cake – or a chocolate caramel tart for that matter – looks wonderfully decadent
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Wow! I thought it was shortbread, but this is so much better sounding!
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Is there anything better than chocolate and caramel! What an excellent birthday treat. I love how you managed to make this by improvising and not having to rush to the shops xx
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Wow this looks delicious!
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A perfect combo of flavours and with a twist on the traditional choccie cake too. Loves it and I cant wait to make it. 🙂
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Hehe you know I’m convinced that is how recipes came about-by people seeing what they had in their cupboards! 😀
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I have all the ingredients for this and I don’t have to leave the house either 😉 Yay!
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I would like to ask, how much is “knob of butter”? Never heard of that in central Europe. Thanks for answer.
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