Chocolate Caramel Tart

You will fall in love with this Chocolate Caramel Tart. A Creamy truffle-like filling, gooey caramel and a shiny chocolate ganache glaze sprinkled with flaky salt! All in a tender shortbread pastry crust.

4.80 from 5 votes

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Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 35

Additional Time: 8

Total Time: 8 55

Servings: Servings

Calories: 579kcal

Author: Pat Nyswonger

Ingredients

For the crust

Use this recipe for an easy shortbread crust

For the Chocolate Filling:

1-1/2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped
6 tablespoons butter cut into thin slices and softened
3 large eggs room temperature and lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Caramel Layer:

6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
6 tablespoons water

For the Ganache Glaze:

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon hot water
1 or 2 tablespoons of salt flakes final garnish

Instructions

Shortbread Crust:

Refer to the recipe in the link for the shortbread crust. After it gets baked, set it aside while you prepare the filling.

For the Chocolate Filling:

Preheat the oven to 250°F
In a 1-quart saucepan, set on medium-high heat, bring cream, espresso powder and salt to almost a boil, stirring to dissolve.
Place the chopped chocolate in a medium-size bowl and pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate. Cover with a lid or plate and allow to sit for 5 minutes. When the chocolate has softened, stir to a smooth consistency with a spatula or spoon. Add butter, one or two pieces at a time and continue to stir until the butter is well incorporated.
Pour the beaten eggs through a fine-mesh strainer into the chocolate mixture and mix well. Add the vanilla and stir to combine.
Pour the chocolate custard into the par-baked shortcrust shell, carefully bump the tart pan on the work surface several times to remove any air bubbles. Use a toothpick to pop any bubbles that appear.
Place tart on a baking sheet and transfer to the middle rack of the oven and bake until the outer edge of the filling is set and faint cracks appear on the surface, 30-35 minutes. The filling will be very loose and will appear to be un-cooked, that is just fine as it will firm up as it cools.
Remove the tart from the oven, leave the tart on the baking sheet and cool at room temperature. When cool, place in the refrigerator, uncovered until chilled and completely set, 3-4 hours, overnight preferably.

For the Caramel Layer:

Combine the cream, butter and vanilla in a small saucepan set over medium high heat. After the cream gets hot, reduce the heat to low and keep warm while making the caramel.
In a large saucepan, whisk together sugar, corn syrup, 6 tablespoons of water and bring to a boil.
Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer inserted into the syrup reads 340°F. and the caramel has become amber colored.
Remove saucepan from the heat and stir in the warm cream-butter mixture. It will bubble violently and is best to use a long-handled wooden spoon for safety. Stir the caramel sauce until smooth.
Pour caramel over the cooled chocolate filling and let it cool in the refrigerate until firm, 2-3 hours.

For the Ganache Glaze:

Add the chopped chocolate to a small dish.
Combine the cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
Remove from the heat and pour over the chopped chocolate. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes to soften.
Stir the mixture with a silicon or rubber spatula until it is smooth. Do not use a whisk as it will incorporate air bubbles.
Stir in the hot water until the glaze is shiny and pourable.
Pour the glaze onto the center of the tart, quickly but carefully pick up the tart pan and tilt it around so the glaze flows to the edges. Continue tilting and turning until the surface of the tart is completely covered. Do not use a spatula to spread the glaze as it will make marks and not be smooth.
Let the tart sit at room temperature for an hour, until the glaze is set before transferring to the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

To serve:

Transfer the tart from the refrigerator. Remove the outer ring from the tart pan. Insert a thin-bladed knife between the crust and the pan bottom and slide the tart onto your serving plate or cake pedestal. Sprinkle the tart surface with salt flakes.
Allow the tart to sit at room temperature for 30-minutes before slicing. It tastes better when it is not cold.
Use a thin knife dipped into hot water and wiped dry to cut each slice of the tart into wedges and serve.

Notes

The Chocolate Filling:

Do not use a whisk for stirring the chocolate as it will incorporate air bubbles in the filling.
Pouring the eggs through a strainer is optional but it does make a smoother filling by straining out any egg bits.
Check the tart after it has baked for 30-minutes, remove from the oven when the edges appear to have faint cracks. The filling will be loose but will firm up as it cools.

The Caramel Sauce:

When making the caramel sauce be sure that the cream-butter mixture is warm/hot. If it is cold it will cause the caramel to seize up.
The cream-butter mixture can also be heated in the microwave.
Use a large saucepan for cooking the caramel as the cream-butter mixture will cause the hot caramel to bubble up violently. Too small of a pan will cause the mixture to over flow.
Use a clip-on candy thermometer when making the caramel. If necessary, tip the pan occasionally for the syrup to contact with the thermometer tip. An instant-read thermometer may also be used.When pouring the glaze, work quickly to tilt and turn as the glaze flows to the edges. If bubbles arise to the surface, use a toothpick to pop them.

To Serve:

Remove the tart from the refrigerator and allow the tart to sit at room temperature for 30-minutes before removing from the pan and slicing .
Use a thin knife dipped into hot water and wiped dry to cut each slice of the tart into wedges and serve.
When ready to plate the tart, add a tablespoon of corn syrup to the center of the cake plate/pedestal, then place the tart on it. The sticky syrup will keep the tart stable on the plate/pedestal. Or a smear of butter will also work to keep the tart from sliding.
If you would like to cover the tart, do not use plastic wrap as it will cling to the surface of the glaze. I used the domed lid from my large soup pot that was the diameter of the tart pan.