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low 45 degree angle picture of a slice of chocolate caramel tart being lifted up and away from the whole tart. A small bottle of milk is peeking in in the upper left corner, and a small bunch of baby's breath flowers are in the upper right corner.

Chocolate Caramel Tart

Leanne Neill
This Chocolate Caramel Tart combines silky chocolate, rich caramel, and a crisp cookie-like crust into an eye-pleasing dessert. Not only is it pretty to look at, it's delicious and simpler to make than you or your guests might think.
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Prep Time 23 minutes
Cook Time 37 minutes
Chill Time 3 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 8 people

Ingredients
  

Tart Shell

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (190g)
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar (40g)
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon table salt
  • 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes (113g)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Caramel Layer

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter (115g)
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar (60g)
  • 3 tablespoons corn syrup (55g)
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk (300mL)(395g)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt (optional) don't need to add if you will garnish with flaked sea salt

Chocolate Ganache Layer

  • 8 oz dark chocolate I used semi-sweet
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream also known as whipping cream
  • 2 tablespoons corn syrup (36g)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
 

Tart Shell

  • Preheat oven to 350F.
  • In a food processor quickly pulse the flour, powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt together.
  • Add in the cold butter cubes and keep pulsing until you get a coarse meal texture, about 6 pulses. It’s ok if you have a few pea size chunks of butter covered in flour.
  • Add in the egg and vanilla extract, pulse until a smooth dough forms.
  • Empty dough onto a very lightly floured large piece of parchment paper. Flatten the dough into a disk with your hands.
  • Cover the dough disk with another large piece of parchment paper which has the side facing the dough lightly floured.
  • Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out between the two pieces of parchment until the dough is ¼” to an 1/8” thick and at least a little over an inch wider than your tart pan on all sides. The floured parchment pieces should not stick too strongly to the dough, you can add more flour if necessary.
  • Remove one of the parchment pieces and transfer the dough carefully into a 9” fluted tart pan with the dough touching the pan and the last piece of parchment laying on top. Gently remove this last piece of parchment and gently press the dough into the pan making sure the bottom edge and side edges are pressed in gently.
  • Remove the excess dough on the top by rolling the rolling pin over the edges.
  • You can use a fork to dock the bottom of the tart shell all over if you want which helps to prevent the centre from rising during baking.
  • Scrunch up a piece of parchment paper then unscrunch it and place in the tart shell. Fill the tart with pie weights or dry rice, or dry beans (see note 1). Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, remove beads and bake another 5-10 minutes until lightly browned.
  • Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack

Caramel Filling

  • Turn oven down to 325 F
  • In a medium sized saucepan add the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Gently stir over medium heat allowing the butter to melt and the sugar to dissolve (about 2.5-3minutes). Once it starts to bubble around the edges pour in the condensed milk. Stir constantly as you do not want the sugars to burn. Continue stirring and cooking for 2-4 minutes, until the mixture begins to bubble again. Remove from the heat.
  • Stir in the vanilla, and salt if using. See Note 2.
  • Pour into the cooled tart shell. Place in the oven and bake for 12 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature on a cooling rack about 1.5 hours. See Note 3.

Chocolate Ganache

  • Place chopped chocolate, heavy cream, and corn syrup into a heatproof bowl and place in the microwave. Heat for 30 seconds and then stir. Heat for another 30 seconds and stir stir stir. Often the warmth from the cream is enough at this point to melt the remaining chocolate chunks if you just keep stirring, but if necessary, continue heating and stirring in 15 second increments. See Note 4.
  • Pour on top of the cooled caramel and tilt the tart around to allow the ganache to cover the entire tart. Place in the fridge to set for at least two hours or overnight. The time will depend on how warm your ganache is when you poured it on.
  • The tart can be served directly from the fridge. Garnish with flaked sea salt if you like. For clean slices run your knife under warm water and wipe dry before cutting into tart each time. Enjoy!

Notes

  1. Pie weights prevent the tart shell from puffing up while you bake it. Anything that is relatively heavy and small so it can fit in the nooks and crannies can be used, like dry rice or dry beans.
  2. If you plan to add flaked sea salt to the top of the tart as a garnish you don’t need to add salt to the caramel.
  3. The caramel will still be a little jiggly when it comes out of the oven but will solidify more as it cools.
  4. You don’t want to overheat your ganache or it can become grainy. Best to go slow and err on the side of caution.
  5. Best to add the flaked sea salt just before serving. If placed on the warm ganache it starts to dissolve.
Keyword Chocolate Caramel Tart, Salted Caramel Tart