Chocolate Strawberry Tart – a chocolate crust is filled with a vanilla pastry cream and topped with fresh strawberries.
I was going to post this yesterday, but never got around to it. I have felt especially busy the last few days. Plus, my husband, who is a baseball fanatic, has been watching the College World Series and has gotten me into it as well…..so, too much time watching baseball and not enough time doing other things!!
This tart was made from 3 recipes in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. This is quickly becoming my baking bible. I knew I wanted to make something with strawberries, and I thought about doing a cheesecake, but I wanted to use a tart pan that I had purchased a while back and have never used. So I thought about doing a lemon tart topped with strawberries (that I still want to do sometime) but I didn’t have the 4 hours that the lemon filling needed to be refrigerated for. What else goes better with strawberries??? Chocolate, of course!!
These strawberries are from my in-laws garden. They are the sweetest, juiciest strawberries that I have ever eaten. We had already gone through 2 batches of them, and this was the third. They weren’t quite as ripe as the previous ones were, but they were still wonderful!! They are a lot smaller than the berries that I usually purchase, but the size worked very well for the tart.
I usually try to give away a lot of our desserts when I make them. We’ll each have a piece, save one for later, and give the rest away. That didn’t happen with this tart!! My husband and I finished the whole thing (minus one piece given to my brother in law.) Maybe that’s why my pants feel tighter this week!!
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Chocolate Strawberry Tart
- Yield: 1 9-inch tart 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake, Stove Top
- Cuisine: French
Description
Chocolate Strawberry Tart – a chocolate crust is filled with a vanilla pastry cream and topped with fresh strawberries.
Ingredients
Vanilla Pastry Cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits at room temperature
Chocolate Shortbread Tart Dough
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons) very cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg yolk, stirred slightly
Chocolate Ganache
- 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped finely
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
Other
- about 1 lb fresh strawberries, stemmed
Instructions
Make the vanilla pastry cream:
- Place the milk in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. While the milk is heating, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch together in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Slowly whisk about 1/4 cup of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture. Slowly pour in the remaining milk, whisking constantly and vigorously. Bring the mixture to a boil, still whisking, for 2 minutes and then remove the pan from the heat. Whisk in the vanilla extract. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, then start whisking in the butter, whisking in until they are fully incorporated and the cream is smooth is silky.
- Pour the mixture into a bowl and cover with a piece of plastic wrap, placing the wrap right on the surface of the pastry cream. Refrigerate until fully chilled.
Make the tart dough:
- Butter a 9-inch tart pan.
- Combine the flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the pieces of cold butter and pulse just until the butter is coarsely cut in. (You will have pieces about the size of peas.) Add in the yolk and pulse just to combine, then process in long, 10 second pulses. The dough will start to form clumps.
- Turn the dough out onto a work surface and lightly knead the dough, just to incorporate any dry ingredients. Press the dough into the prepared tart pan, then freeze for at least 30 minutes before baking.
- When you are ready to bake the crust, preheat the oven to 375ºF. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and place buttered side down on the surface of the pastry, fitting the foil tightly against the pastry. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, use the back of a spoon to press it down. Let the crust cool completely.
Make the ganache:
- Place the into a heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan (or microwave safe bowl) combine the cream, sugar and water and bring to a full boil. Pour the mixture over the chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds. With a whisk or rubber spatula, stir the mixture in small circles until it is completely combined and smooth.
Assemble the tart:
- Spread the vanilla pastry cream in the crust. Arrange the strawberries on top of the pastry cream. (You can slice the strawberries, or if they are smaller, you can leave them whole like I did.) Drizzle the chocolate ganache on top of the tart. Refrigerate any leftovers.
- Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream, sugar and water to a full boil, then pour the liquid over the chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds. Working with a whisk or rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate and cream together in small circles, starting at the center of the bowl and working your way out in increasingly larger concentric circles.
Recipe Notes:
all individual recipes from Baking: From My Home to Yours
Andrew says
The tart in the photo is clearly not what is described in the recipe. The tart in the photo shows a blond flour colored crust, whereas the recipe calls for a crust employing cocoa which would give the crust a definite chocolate brown color. Hopefully the other parts of the recipe may be trusted, but the use of a photo that is clearly not what the recipe will produce does not inspire confidence.
Deborah says
@Andrew, If you look at the bottom of the photo, you will see that the crust is brown. The white that you see is the vanilla pastry cream, that is also part of the recipe. I can assure you that the tart that you see is the same one that is in the recipe.
Julie says
Strawberries and chocolate are such a winning combination. This tart looks delicious.
Ramya's Mane Adige says
Hey! Came here through the foodie blogroll. Your chocolate strawberry tart looks out of the world!!!! Can’t stop admiring the pic… I dont own the book, so thanx for the recipe 🙂
Laura says
Looking good Deborah, I made a strawberry tart recently but not so glamorous as yours! I missed the last few posts and I’ve been looking through and drooling, I think I’ll have that tortellini with breadsticks for dinner tomorrow (will have to find veggie ones though!) and strawberry tart for dessert!
dorie says
How great that you put three recipes together! They look as though they should have been introduced to one another years ago.
Mandy says
Deborah,
This tart is soooooo pretty! I won’t have given it away to anybody too! Can just imagine how tasty this tart will be, with fresh picked strawberries.
Elle says
Yes, please, do post the recipe. That tart looks so yummy and we still have some ripe berries around. Love the chocolate dripping over the berries. Heaven.
Nora B. says
Deborah, I can see why you didn’t have to give away many slices – that tart looks amazing and with all the stuff that I like in/on it. Choc crust too! Can’t wait to see the recipe.
Kristen says
What a gorgeous looking tart!
JennDZ - The Leftover Queen says
This looks incredibly beautiful! Food art!
Jerry says
Sounds so yummy! Thanks for the offer for dog watching.
Patricia Scarpin says
Deb, what a beautiful tart!
That book is wonderful, you’re right.
I made the lime meringue tart for my sister but couldn’t wait for 4 hours either – instead, I mixed 200g sweetened condensed milk and juice and zest of 2 limes. The more you mix, the thicker the mixture gets. Then I added 120g cream (the one we buy here in cans, made by Nestlé) and mix well until it thickened again. It worked wonderfully!
I will be trying your version of chocolate and strawberries – looks too good to be missed!
Kelly-Jane says
Looks fab! The drizzling of the chocolate is a lovely effect.
Lis says
OMG That looks HEAVENLY, Deborah!!
I can’t wait to hear which 3 recipes you spliced together to get that beautiful tart. I can totally understand how this one didn’t leave your house. hehe
xoxo
Cheryl says
Best looking dessert of the day you have. When I opened your site and saw it I went “Whhhooooaaa”.
The drizzling over the strawberries is the killer there.
Meeta says
I love Dorie’s book too! Deborah the tart looks incredible and combines 2 of my faves, chocolates and strawberries!!