There's a whole lotta chocolate in this recipe...chocolate in the tart crust, chocolate pastry cream is the filling, and chocolate shavings on the top of the whipped cream. The guys couldn't be happier! The tart crust was similar, but not exactly like Dorie's regular tart crust, was easy to make and assemble, and set up nicely. It baked in my oven for the amount of time it specifies in the recipe. I will say, the crust is more fragile than the regular tart crust. I took a photo when it was in the pan still as I had heard that some of the TWD bakers had theirs fall apart, and I wanted to be sure to at least have a photo. When I removed the tart pan, I did lose three or four of the crowns, but the tart itself stayed intact. Whew! The filling was made, hung out in the frig to get really cold, and then I filled the tart shell with it...it came up about 2/3 of the way, leaving enough room for the whipped cream topping. I stuck with the regular amount of whipped cream this time as I figured all this chocolate was really rich and the guys could live with a little restraint now and again. As I was spreading the whipped cream on top of the chocolate filling, Mark commented, "That doesn't look like enough topping. Shouldn't there be some more whipped cream...it doesn't look very high...." I offered to go make more, but he said he could "make do this time." The tasting notes: Mark: "Most excellent! One of my top 5 so far." Matt (photo at left with goggle imprints around eyes after just returning from a three hour swim practice, at which point ALL FOOD looks wonderful, so trust his judgment accordingly): "This is really really good, definitely top 5." Alex: "It tasted quite delicious, excellent." Jessica (visiting at the time): "You made this? I thought it was from a bakery. This is really good." I am sure it all needs a tad more sampling to get the definitive answer, but I have a feeling that this one will be requested again and again. And, the final photo is what happens around here when you turn your back after saying, "Oh, hold on a minute while I get the camera so I can take a photo of an individual slice." They are completely untrustworthy in the "hold on" department. Three of the pieces exited, and while Mark was still hanging around, he had eaten half of his by the time I returned in the four seconds it took me to get the camera. I would say this recipe was a big hit. Next week's recipe was chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures, is Tiramisu Cake, and can be found on pages 266-268. This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan is Chocolate Cream Tart, can be found on pages 352-353, and was chosen by Kim of Scrumptious Photography. If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Kim's site above and she will have it posted today.
Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest. It is too late to join the online TWD baking blog, but you can always join us in spirit as the recipes for upcoming weeks are posted on the site and you can bake along in your own kitchen. See you there!