Chocolate Coffee Caramel Tart

Made by Pastry Chef of Ittoryu Gozu in San Francisco, CA

Tools

  • Spatula
  • Mini Offset Spatula
  • Knife
  • Tart Dish
  • Kitchenaid Mixer
  • Paddle Attachment
  • Whisk Attachment
  • Pastry Bag
  • Mini Sifter

Cooking Time

3 Hours
Makes 3 Servings

Ingredients

Directions

Shortbread
  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
  2. Cut the cold butter into small cubes, set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, salt, then rub the cold butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture starts to crumble into a ‘sandy-like’ texture.
  3. Place the shortbread crumbles onto a baking sheet and bake for about 7-8 minutes until golden brown.
  4. Cool, then break up the larger clumps with your hands until they are about the size of a pea. 
Chocolate Crust
  1. Melt the butter.
  2. In a large bowl, add the shortbread, almond flour, TCHO Super Powder, and powdered sugar.
  3. Pour the butter over the dry ingredients until the dry ingredients are completely coated with butter.
  4. Section off the dough into 3 equal parts and press the dough into four, 3-3/4 inch tart shells.
Whipped Caramel
  1. Place your gelatin sheets in iced water enough to cover to bloom. Set aside.
  2. In a tall stainless steel pot, on low heat, stir together the sugar and water with a spatula until the sugar is completely melted. Then, remove your spatula, turn up the heat and cook until the mixture starts to bubble and turn a dark amber color.
  3. TCHO Pro Tip:  For best results, once you have increased the temperature, do not use a utensil in the pot to prevent the sugar from crystalizing.   You may gently swirl the caramel in the pot using the pot handle.
  4. Once the sugar is a dark amber color, turn off the heat and gently add the cream in 2-3 parts and whisk together.
  5. Remove the gelatin sheets from the cold water, squeezing out the excess water. Then, add the bloomed gelatin sheets to the pot and whisk until the caramel stops bubbling.
  6. Add softened butter, salt, and coffee extract and whisk together until smooth.
  7. Pour the caramel into a bowl then place in the refrigerator for about 8 hours to chill.  
  8. Once the caramel is chilled, place the caramel into a mixer with a whisk attachment and whip until firm peaks.
  9. Scoop the caramel into a pastry bag and leave in the refrigerator until ready for use.
Ganache
  1. Place TCHO Choco Combo 68% into a large glass bowl. Set aside.  
  2. In a tall pot, heat the cream and honey on medium heat until it starts to simmer.
  3. Pour the cream over the chocolate in 3 sections to melt the chocolate stirring in between. Pouring the cream over the chocolate slowly, prevents the chocolate from overheating.
  4. TCHO Pro Tip:   Overheating the chocolate will cause the fat to separate.
  5. Add the butter and whisk together.
Assembly
  1. Cut the tip off of the pastry bag and pipe a small layer of whipped caramel onto the base of the tart shell.
  2. Ladle the chocolate into the tart shell over the caramel until the tart shell is full.
  3. Add another layer of caramel on top of the ganache, piping in a zigzag pattern.
  4. Garnish with TCHO Crush This and Dark & Bitter 100% chocolate shavings for extra flavor and texture.
  5. TCHO Pro Tip:  To shave the chocolate over the tart, you can use a zester. Gently move the chocolate back and forth over the blade (blade size up) until small chocolate shavings start to come out.
  6. Enjoy at room temperature!