Chocolate Caramel Tart Recipe (2024)

1. Dough will shrink - leave a bit (maybe .5 inch) above the tart border, and fold up a bit to create a nice ledge (and it allows for a bit more caramel and chocolate - who doesn't like that?)
2. Large saucepan for caramel - think of using a soup pan (HUGE) as the bubbles and growth of the caramel is quite high once the cream and butter are added. The soup pan prevented anything from bubbling over and out.

A stick of butter is 4 ounces or 113 grams. By the way, Google is a sure-fire way to find the answer to a question like "How many grams is an American stick of butter?"

I have made this numerous times and it is always a hit. Make sure the caramel is a deep caramel color or it won't set up properly. When this happens, the caramel filling oozes out...still tastes great just not as pretty. And the salt is essential.

I had to do the caramel filling twice.
1st try, I never got the caramel color and it set up like pudding in my tart crust. I decided to scoop it out and redo.
2nd time: i used a giant pot. Ingredients probably only filled an inch of the pot.
I upped the heat a bit the 2nd time and saw much more bubbly foam in the pot. I left it on until I SMELLED the change- it smelled a tiny bit burney- and removed immediately from heat.
Perfect but soooo rich. It's like a pie-sized double caramel Twix.

David Lebovitz is definitely talking about cream of tartar or lemon juice as a replacement for corn syrup (which is acting as an interfering agent here to prevent the sugar from crystallizing, not an add'l sweetener). Don't take my word for it, however! He has a great post about substitutions for corn syrup over on his blog.

I had this problem; the water all boiled off and left me with the granulated sugar I started with. Searching the web found the answer: I'd made the mistake of stirring while boiling. I added water back and, this time, left the mixture alone to simmer. It caramelized just right.

Pastry chef here... don’t agitate caramel while its cooking or it will probably crystallize. Bring it to 330-340 (320 is light caramel and 340 is dark caramel) and then quickly get it off heat.The corn syrup helps with preventing the crystallization and is less sweet than sugar so don’t substitute it. If you sub for sugar it will be sweeter and probably crystallize more easily.If using a thermometer, make sure its calibrated correctly by testing it in boiling water (212 F)

@ Ellen - as an American living in Europe I can share with you that one stick of butter in America is different than what we have here in Europe. Since we do live in a globally connected world these days it is always welcome when absolute terms are given in recipies - that means weights or measures. Remember that lots of people are seeing these recipies in places that don't have your local Safeway around the corner.

Instead of swishing the pan to dissolve the sugar it's better to use a rubber spatula, gently pulling it from the edges to the center along the bottom of the pan until the sugar is melted, then let it boil without stirring. Swishing the pan causes sugar crystals to stick to the sides, which can cause the rest of the mixture to crystallize.

Sorry about that! You need a 1/2 cup water. I've fixed the recipe.

Please provide WEIGHTS for the all the ingredients. Yes I know what a stick of butter is but having to look up 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp confectioner's sugar? Annoying. Crust was a disaster for me and I bake a great deal. Thick, gummy, impossible to deal with. I use valrhona cocoa powder and it came out looking like an oreo with 25 grams of cocoa (1/4 cup according to every internet source). Had you actually give a weight our dessert might not have been such a disaster!!

This recipe is amazing, it's pretty much pie-size candy...
My favorite part was the chocolate pie crust, I now wonder why there is such a thing as non-chocolate pie-crust.

The corn syrup helps prevent crystals from forming and helps achieve the silky mouthfeel of the caramel. I can't confidently recommend a substitution because we've never tested the recipe as such, but David Lebovitz recommends substituting a dash of lemon juice or cream of tartar (dissolved in a bit of water).

Also, just a note to all. Caramel stage is between 320 and 340 depending on the depth you'd like in color (I pulled mine at 340 and the color is perfect). This imprecise recipe should list that, but in fairness to the author, on a commercial stove over medium high heat with a thermometer and a timer, 12 minutes was nearly exactly the moment the sugar turned dark amber and started to get that slightly burnt smell.

Great recipe!I find the cookie crust difficult to shape in the pan. I also use a 9” tart pan instead of the 10” called for. In order to make the crust manageable and thinner, I roll it out to about a 1/4” thickness before putting it in the pan. It’s no big deal if it tears, because the dough is soft enough to patch easily. Then I bake the crust as directed, leaving a 1/2” overhang, which I trim when I take the crust out of the oven. That way the edges don’t retreat when the crust bakes.

Quite disappointed in the caramel. I've made many caramels, wet and dry before, and this did not work out. I made it twice and the second batch did not improve much over the first. It came out the colour of sweetened condensed milk despite using a thermometer to get to "medium amber" (320CF according to other sources) and did not get much of the caramel flavour - much longer than 12 minutes - even with advice in comments. It crystallized upon setting up. Much more than a pinch of salt needed.

Question: could one melt caramels for the filling instead of making caramel? If so, how much dairy would one add per caramel?

This dessert is RICH, but luckily not overly sweet. This was my first time making caramel, I was nervous I was going to burn it, but you just have to be patient. I let mine go for exactly 12 minutes, the color change was very apparent when it happened so that was when I pulled it. It set perfectly. I used a pre-made chocolate crust, dark chocolate for the glaze to bring down the sweetness, and Himalayan pink salt for the top. Tasted like a giant twix bar!

Absolutely delicious and simple. Crust was very crumbly when I mixed it up, but baked down nicely. I used a 9" tart pan and subbed agave nectar for corn syrup 1:1, cooked for about 15 min at a steady boil and it ended up cooling a light tan color but held very nicely. Ended up not using about 1/3 cup caramel. Used a mix of milk and dark chocolate for the glaze. Covered with maldon salt flakes - next time I would either put salt into the caramel or use a more generous salt sprinkle at the end.

After reading all of the Notes, I was hesitant to make this as it sounded complicated. I’m just a slightly experienced cook / baker and made this as directed. It turned out great. To others who feel the same - give it a go. It’s delicious.

I think what's needed here is the temperature to bring the caramel (260? 280?). This would be helpful.

Very sweet for all of us. It is good but if I make it again, I will decrease the amount of caramel by 1/2 and increase the dark chocolate ganache (double it) The proportions are off for us, but we like dark chocolate & not so much of the sweet caramel. 3 1/2 stars

I didn’t care for it. It’s not a slice of pie so much as a dark chocolate caramel piece of chewy goo. The flavor is ok but a bit overwhelming for Thanksgiving when served alongside other deserts. It isn’t that easy to make either.

Can this be made a day ahead?

Reading up on caramel staging helped me quite a bit. I put a candy thermometer in the pot before it started boiling (to avoid adding a foreign object after the boil that could throw it off). I boiled it on a medium high stove setting. I aimed for a medium stage at 355 to 360 F degrees. I took it off the heat right at 355 & put in the next ingredients immediately. Achieving this stage took a solid 20 minutes, but it came out beautifully.

Caramel to 335 degrees

I failed at this dessert. I cooked the caramel for twice as long as suggested after reading the advice from others, and still the layer didn't set up. It was a lot of work, so I don't think I'll try it again. Also my chocolate layer didn't spread nicely. I'm not sure if that's because the underlying caramel was too soft. I tried to serve this for Christmas and we all got a good laugh about my baking flail.

I recommend reading up on how to make caramel. My reading of these directions came out too blonde. Most caramel guides suggest keeping it on heat until it begins to brown, then quickly removing. I patched it with some heavily caramelized sugar and got something passible.

Since many comments have said too much caramel sauce…..could a store bought caramel sauce be substituted? Trader Joe’s has an excellent salty caramel sauce. Thanks, could be so much easier!