Tarte au lait au chocolat (milkshake tart)

It’s time for more tart fun. This nine inch tart is an amped up version of what I called a chocolate milkshake tart back in the day when I was the pastry chef at Gracie’s in Providence RI. It’s a bit over the top from my usual not-too-sweet approach to baking and pastry, but most chocolate lovers won’t say no to a piece.

The chocolate pâte sucrée is fully baked (the only oven use portion of the program) and can be done earlier in the day of assembly or even a few days ahead and held in the freezer until ready. I placed mine on a doily covered cardboard cake round since it was being delivered to someone else, but you can place it on your favorite platter or plate as you wish.

A necessary part of the make ahead-ability is to make a milk chocolate ganache with 140 g milk chocolate and 260 g heavy cream then chill it down thoroughly. Plan for a good 4 hour chill, but you can make it a day or two ahead and keep it refrigerated as well. It will ultimately be whipped and is the essence of the milkshake nature of this tart.

When you’re ready to go, have your prepared crust at the ready. Now make a dark chocolate ganache with 2 parts (by weight) dark chocolate to 3 parts (by weight) heavy cream. For the thin layer in this tart I used 100 g chocolate to 150 g heavy cream but you can certainly make a larger quantity if you have other ganache plans going on in your head - ganache keeps in the fridge for many days. Gently rewarmed, you can dip choux puffs into it, drizzle it over ice cream or make a bunch of smaller tarts for a dessert table. And that’s just the beginning.

Pour the warm ganache into the baked crust then, using your own favorite brownies (I’m a fudge-y fan myself), dot brownie cubes all around. Chill it an hour or so to set the ganache.

Time to whip the milk chocolate cream - yay! You’re going for medium firm peaks.

I piped the cream using a star tip to give it the circular zen-garden-like ridges. As you pipe be sure to let the cream sort of fall among the brownie pieces so you have a nice fill of cream throughout the tart. Don’t be too fussy with it all.

Garnish with caramel drizzle and a sprinkle of chocolate cookie crumbs and you’re all set. Hold in the fridge until time to serve and enjoy your creation. Now that’s some tasty creamy, crunchy, caramel-y, fudge-y goodness!

While we still have some summer left, have a grand time whatever you do. Cheers!

Queen Anne’s lace along my walking route