Dairy Free Chocolate Tart
In honor of Great British Bake Off’s pastry and chocolate weeks, I present to you a chocolate tart, but dairy free!
I worried that dairy free substitutes would not set, or that the taste of a plant alternative would overpower other flavors.
Will I break my curse and be able to set a filling? Let’s find out!
Method
Recipe Sources:
Pastry: Pate Sucree from Martha Stewart
Chocolate tart filling: Filling portion of Barefoot Contessa’s Dark Chocolate Tart recipe with cashew cream
Whipping topping: Friendly Farms Dairy Free Heavy Whipping Cream Alternative (from Aldi)
Dairy Free Modifications:
1) In the pate sucree, I used margarine (Imperial margarine sticks) instead of butter
2) In the chocolate tart filling:
I used a homemade cashew cream instead of heavy cream.
I also used Trader Joe’s semisweet chocolate chips instead of the bittersweet chocolate recommended.
3) Since I knew my filling would be sweeter (see above), I opted for unsweetened whipping cream to garnish the tart instead of the chocolate ganache per Ina Garten.
Procedural Notes:
Pate Sucree:
The first part of the process is making the pie dough. I opted for pate sucree since I thought it might have more snap and pair more nicely with the chocolate filling. However, following the recipe exactly with the 1:1 substitution of margarine to butter, I found my pie dough to be too wet and sticky for rolling. I could tell the difference even before it was chilled and it persisted after. I regretted not trusting my gut and stopping after 1 T instead of 2 T of water.
Chocolate tart filling:
I tried to make the cashew cream per Food 52’s recommendations with a 2:1 ratio of cashews to water. However, my personal size blender couldn’t handle it, so I needed to increase the ratio to about 1:1 before it would blend smoothly.
However, I discovered that using cashew cream to thicken a meal or using it as a dip is much different than trying to heat it up to melt chocolate. My cashew cream started to cook, thickening and sticking to the bottom of the pan. Most of it was salvageable and still melted the chocolate nicely with some minimal help from the microwave. However, I’d trust my usual eyeballing method to create a creamy milk texture over this ratio in the future, for this purpose at least.
Whipped Cream:
No notes from me- thanks for making it, Mom!
Results
Despite the concerns listed above, the tart still came out quite deliciously. It set, it was tasty, chocolatey, and rich. A small slice went a long way, though this was devoured pretty quickly.
Discussion
Despite challenges in making some elements of this tart, it was enjoyed by all who tried! The unsweetened whipping cream lightened the rich chocolate filling which was held together by the pie dough.
As noted above, the pie dough texture was not what I was hoping. Paul and Prue would have surely had some choice words to share. While it was still tasty, the fact that it did not flake and was a little tougher than I would have preferred may have been due to the more variable fat to water ratio in the margarine. I would reuse this recipe, but trust myself to add the water slowly and stop when it reaches the desired texture.
Similarly, I struggled using cashew cream in the chocolate filling as a substitute for heavy cream. I was excited to try this, because heavy cream can be difficult to find and expensive too. If I were to try to replicate heavy cream again in the future, I’d either use a plant based version (hopefully this one from Aldi is a recurring item!) or I would make a thinner version of cashew cream using more water, and heat it more gently.
Overall, though limitations abound about the generalizability of my modifications, I can say that future directions will certainly involve more trusting of my experience in dairy free baking. Adjusting dairy recipes to be free of dairy involves knowledge of possible substitute ingredients, balanced with knowledge of how the recipes themselves work to find the right ingredients and methods to make something safe and delicious. The more I bake, the more I learn about how ingredients and baking work, so I hope to continue to improve in baking and trusting myself along the way.