Strawberry Chocolate Tart

Memorial Day.

Requires a spectacular dessert. Ideally, to go with a spectacular BBQ.

Short of making two desserts, what do you do when two adults require chocolate in the dessert, and two adults require chocolate-less dessert?

You make this:

Slightly burned crust, not a great picture, but you need to see the whole thing.
And someday soon I will have a real tart pan.

A strawberry chocolate tart, with chocolate on only half of the tart.

Brilliant, no?

You may think that the ganache drizzle is not enough chocolate. But there is a secret layer of ganache between the crust and the tart filling.

Awesome indeed.

Strawberry Chocolate Tart


Ingredients:

For the crust:
1 large egg yolk
1 TB heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
8 TB cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

For the ganache:
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 TB unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 TB milk or cream

For topping:
Fresh strawberries, sliced
Melted bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, for drizzling (optional...but not really)


Directions:

To make the tart crust:
Whisk together the egg yolk, cream and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside.

Place the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Process briefly to combine.

Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture and process to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses.

With the machine running, add the egg mixture and process until the dough just comes together, about 12 seconds.

Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a 6-inch disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. (If refrigerated for more than an hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable.) Unwrap and roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 13-inch round.

Transfer the dough to a 9-inch tart pan. (You can use a pie pan if you must, and I must). Mold the dough to the sides of the tart pan and remove the excess off the top. Set the dough-lined tart pan on a large plate and freeze for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to middle position. Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Set the dough-lined tart pan on a baking sheet, press a 12-inch square of foil into the frozen shell and over the edge, and fill with pie weights.

Bake for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time.

Remove from the oven and carefully remove the foil and weights. Continue to bake until deep golden brown, 5-8 minutes longer.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To make the ganache:
Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.

Bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan.

Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Let sit 3 minutes to melt the chocolate.

Whisk together until a smooth ganache forms. If there are still bits of unmelted chocolate, microwave in 10 second intervals, whisking in between, until the ganache is completely smooth.

Whisk in the butter.

Spread the ganache in a thin even layer over the bottom of the cooled tart shell. Place the pan in the fridge or freezer and allow the ganache to set up.

To make the filling:
Beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar in a bowl on medium-high speed until smooth. Blend in the vanilla and milk or cream. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cooled ganache in the tart shell.

Adding the strawberries:
Starting from the outside and working toward the center, place the sliced strawberries in concentric circles slightly overlapping each other. Gently press the berries into the cream cheese mixture to help keep them in place. Drizzle with melted chocolate, if desired. Chill until ready to serve.

Adapted from Annie's Eats:
Strawberry Cream Cheese Tart

Kitty

We need a few more Kitty pictures around here.

I love this girl.

And my goodness, we love summer.

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

BEHOLD!

The best cake ever.
Three layers of chocolate cake.

With raspberry ganache filling.

Raspberry buttercream frosting.

KEEP BEHOLDING!

And...dark chocolate glaze.

This cake was so fun to make. Labor intensive, yes. But oh, so fun.

And just in case you think raspberry truffles would have looked perfect atop this gorgeous cake, you would be right. But on this particular week, no raspberries were to be found in all of southside Indianapolis.

THE CAKE

Ingredients:
1½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ cups boiling water
¾ cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)
1 TB vanilla extract
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups plus 2 TB sugar
3 large eggs
1¾ cups plus 2 TB all-purpose flour
1¼ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt

Directions:
Combine the cocoa and boiling water and whisk together until smooth. Let cool slightly. Whisk in the sour cream.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl; stir together to combine. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl in three additions, alternating with the cocoa-sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat each addition just until incorporated.

Grease and dust the edges of three 9-inch round cake pans with butter and cocoa powder. Line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.

Divide the batter between the prepared baking pans. Bake 30-35 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pans about 15 minutes, then transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

THE FILLING

Ingredients:
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (semi-sweet is fine too)
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Place chocolate and jam in a glass bowl.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan to boiling, then pour over chocolate/jam mixture.

Let it sit for about 3 minutes, then stir until smooth.

If ganache is still lumpy, pop it in the microwave for 15 seconds and give it another stir. Continue to heat and stir until the ganache is nice and smooth.

Put 1/2 cup or so of the ganache in a piping bag and put it in the fridge for about 10 minutes. You want this part to be more firm than the rest.

Let the rest of it sit for 10 minutes or so at room temperature til it has thickened a bit.

THE FROSTING

Ingredients:
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Directions:
Place the butter and jam in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream on medium-high speed until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. Sift in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

THE GLAZE

Ingredients:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup light corn syrup
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Place chocolate in a glass bowl.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan to boiling, then pour over chocolate.

Let it sit for about 3 minutes, then stir until smooth.

Add corn syrup and vanilla extract.


PUT IT TOGETHER

Bake and cool the three layers of cake. Place first cake on a cake stand (be sure you peel off the parchment paper). Tuck strips of parchment paper between the cake and cake stand to catch any frosting/glaze drips.

Pipe a border of ganache around the edge of the cake. This will keep the rest of the ganache from leaking out when you add the next cake layer.

Spread 1/2 of the ganache within the piped border.

Gently add the second layer of cake. Pipe another border of ganache around the edge and spread the remainder of the ganache within the piped border.

Add the last layer of cake.

Put the cake in the fridge (or freezer) while you make the frosting. The ganache filling will firm up more quickly so your cake layers don't slide around while you are trying to frost it.

Now frost the cake with that beautiful pink raspberry buttercream frosting.

Put the cake back in the fridge while you make the glaze.

Now pour the glaze over the top of the cake, allowing some to drip artistically down the sides. It's harder than it looks to make it look pretty. I did not succeed, better luck next time.

You should have some ganache left in the piping bag. You can use that to make some pretty swirls on the top of the cake.

And if you can find raspberries, they would look awesome on top of the cake.

Now enjoy all your hard work. The best cake you'll ever make. Maybe the prettiest too.

Adapted from Annie's Eats:
Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Layer Cake
and
Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

Vanilla Pastry Tart with Fresh Fruit

I made a cake for my sister-in-law the week before Kitty's birthday. It was gorgeous and delicious and I can't wait to blog about it. But then I was caked out. So I decided to make a tart for Kitty's birthday 'cake'. She's crazy about raspberries and blueberries, so I thought she would love it.

I made this once before and the pastry cream didn't set up quite right. So I was so relieved when everything worked out perfectly. Except that it got eaten up too fast.

As I was photographing the tart, I realized it would make a perfect Fourth of July dessert. We may have it again this weekend.


Vanilla Pastry Tart with Berries

Ingredients:

For the tart dough:
1 large egg yolk
1 TB heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
8 TB cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

For the pastry cream:
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch salt
5 large egg yolks
3 TB cornstarch
4 TB cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping:
Fresh raspberries
Fresh blueberries

Directions:

To make the pastry cream:

Heat the half-and-half, 6 tablespoons of the sugar, and the salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat until simmering, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.

Meanwhile, combine the egg yolks and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until the sugar has begun to dissolve and the mixture is creamy, about 15 seconds. Whisk in the cornstarch until combined and the mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 30 seconds.

When the half-and-half mixture has reached a simmer, slowly add it to the egg yolk mixture to temper, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a few bubbles burst on the surface and the mixture is thickened and glossy (the original recipe said this takes 30 seconds...it took me 90 seconds).

Remove pan from heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla.

Strain the pastry cream through a fine mesh sieve set over a medium bowl. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until cold and set. (At least 3 hours and up to 2 days.)

To make the tart shell:

Whisk together the egg yolk, cream and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside.

Place the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Process briefly to combine.

Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture; process to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses.

With the machine running, add the egg mixture and process until the dough just comes together, about 12 seconds.

Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a 6-inch dish. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. (If refrigerated for more than an hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable.) Unwrap and roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 13-inch round.

Transfer the dough to a 9-inch tart pan. Mold the dough to the sides of the tart pan and remove the excess off the top.

Set the dough-lined tart pan on a large plate and freeze for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375° F. Set the dough-lined tart pan on a baking sheet, press a 12-inch square of foil into the frozen shell and over the edge, and fill with pie weights.

Bake for 30 minutes (on center rack), rotating halfway through the baking time.

Remove from the oven and carefully remove the foil and weights.

Continue to bake until deep golden brown, 5-8 minutes longer. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To assemble the tart:

Spread the cold pastry cream evenly over the bottom of the tart shell. Arrange the fruit on top of the pastry cream as desired.

*Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats*

Happy Birthday, Kitty

Here we are, already at the end of the crazy and fun month of June. We celebrated Kitty's second birthday this month.

We played at a splash park...
...and had Chocolate Cheerios for breakfast.

She loved opening her gifts.
Her new puzzle was a hit (as was the sidewalk chalk that you can see on her shirt)...

...and she was a huge fan of the pillow pet from Grandma. She grabbed a blanket and snuggled right down.
She loved the 'cake' (fruit tart with vanilla pastry cream...um, I loved it too). She squealed when she saw it and grabbed a raspberry.

I must say that she has risen to the occasion of being two. She insists on doing everything herself. She pats her chest and shouts, "My! My!", meaning of course, "I'll take care of this myself, thanks."

She has ditched her little potty seat and sits on the potty like everyone else. I'm quite impressed with her balance. Occasionally she falls in, but she just says, "Uh!" and pulls herself out with a giggle.

She loves to tell Boo to "shhhh", which dissolves Boo into tears every time. She adores Hide and Seek, Duck, Duck, Goose, puzzles, counting, and letters. Dogs still rank up at the top of the list of things she loves, followed closely by bears and her books.

Happy Birthday, Kitty!