TWD: Chocolate Cream Tart

Ok, truth be told, I wasn't very excited about making this recipe. I wasn't in the mood to make a crust. It's birthday central around here, and I have cakes coming out the wazoo. Really. But I skipped the previous week, so I'll make a tart.
This is a chocolate cream layered in a chocolate crust with whipped cream on top. What could be bad?

The crust was easy to make in the food processor. I decided to make the full amount of crust because I knew the extra would freeze easily. I found these adorable mini tart pans, so I joined many of the TWD bakers and made mine mini. And then I found my even mini-er pans and made some individual tarts. I took Dorie's advice and froze three of the mini tart pans full of uncooked dough. Now, when I have a chocolate crust emergency, I have some in the freezer. The crust baked up easily. Upon tasting one of the baked crusts, however, I was a little nervous. It was a bitter chocolate taste. I hoped that the chocolate cream and whipped cream would offset it.

I only made a 1/4 of the cream. Luckily, it was easy to reduce the recipe. I simplified the recipe (by mistake) and had some good results. I boiled the milk in the microwave. Worked great! I added the hot milk to the sugar, corn starch, and egg yolk and brought it to a boil. I added the un-melted chocolate to the pan (whoops!) and it worked out just fine. Into a bowl and into the fridge. Done.
I copped out on making whipped cream. I just didn't have enough stuff to cover. I opted for that faux standby -- Cool Whip.

So, it's time to assemble. I layer in the chocoate cream to the mini tart pan. Good. I spoon it into the individuals. Ooops! Should have taken those out of the pans first. Ah well. I'll remove the mini ring from the pan before I finish. I take off the outer ring. Good. I, for some unknown reason, decided to remove the metal plate from the bottom of the tart.

And then I got this.

Dang! About 1/4 of it fell into the sink. Dang!


So the rest gets covered with Cool Whip.


And the mini minis get covered as well.

The verdict -- these are really good. Really good. The slight bitterness of the crust is offset by the sweetness of the cream. The crust was incredibly crumbly. It wasn't bad, but I would have liked the structure to have been a little more stable. It was really easy to make the cream, and I do have three crusts in the freezer. I could see myself making this again. Or I could just bake off the crusts and fill them with ice cream. Could go either way.

Thank you Kim of Scrumptious Photography for picking this yummy recipe. Go check out her blog to see the recipe and to drool. Her photos really are fabulous.
I'm skipping next week. It's a Tiramisu cake. I'm sure it's amazing. But as I said above, I have cake coming out the wazoo. I have baked (or still have to bake) a total of six birthday cakes all in the last two weeks. All for two kids. That's my next post.