Chocolatey Cake Tarts

  • Chocolately Cake Tarts

    Who ever said you can’t stuff crumbles of rich chocolate cake into little tart shells, then top them off with whipped cream, and then drizzle chocolate sauce over top of all of that sin?

    (If you’ve ever heard anyone say that then I think you need to distance yourself from him/her.  No good could ever come out of that relationship.)

    I’ve had these little tart shells in our freezer for almost ever, and before freezer burn set in I knew I had to make my big move.  I pre-baked the little shells with the express purpose of stuffing them with a pre-baked something else- allowing for total flexibility.  So after rummaging through the multiple ziploc bags in the freezer of other “I’ll wait and see what to do with this later” desserts, my plan was in place.  Chocolate cake crumbles.  I didn’t have to think about it.  The bag of cake pieces spoke to me, and I listened.

    Adapted from my Flaky Double Pie Crust recipe and my Old-Fashioned (Vegan!) Chocolate Cake recipe…

    PASTRY:

    3 cups flour

    1 ¼ tsp salt

    1 tablespoon sugar

    1 ½ sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter (very cold & diced)

    1/3 cup vegetable shortening (very cold & diced)

    7-8 tablespoons ice water

    CAKE:

    1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

    1 cup sugar

    1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

    1 teaspoon baking soda

    1/2 teaspoon salt

    1 cup hot water

    1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

    1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

    1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules (or 1 teaspoon instant espresso granules)

    1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

    1/2 cup mini or regular chocolate chips- optional

    TOPPING:

    1 cup whipping/heavy cream

    3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

    1/2 teaspoon vanilla

    5 tablespoons chocolate sauce (for drizzling)

    1. PASTRY CRUSTS:
      1. Pulse dry ingredients in a food processor until mixed.
      2. Add butter & shortening and pulse until mixture resembles shape of peas (approx 10 pulses).
      3. Drizzle ice water into feed tube of running processor, and then pulse until dough starts to form into a ball.
      4. Place dough onto a floured surface, shape into two equally sized balls, and refrigerate (in separate plastic wrapped packages) for 30 minutes.
      5. Preheat oven to 375°.
      6. Roll each dough ball out on a well-floured surface, into approximately 12” circles.  Using a floured biscuit or cookie cutter, cut out circles that will fit over the individual muffin cups (using the BOTTOM side of your muffin tin… so turn your muffin tin over, and drape the pastry rounds over the muffin cups, rather than fitting them into the cups in the right-side-up tin).
      7. Bake for about 13 – 15 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.
    2. CAKE:
      1. Preheat oven to 350° and spray two 8″ cake pans with non-stick spray.
      2. In a large bowl, whisk all dry ingredients (flour through salt) together.
      3. In a measuring cup, stir hot water with oil, vinegar, instant coffee/espresso and vanilla together.  Pour into bowl with dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chips if using.
      4. Pour batter into pans and bake for 30 – 35 minutes (until cake tester/wooden skewer comes out clean).  Cool cakes on a rack for 15 minutes then remove cakes from pans to finish cooling.  Using a serrated knife (like a long bread knife), slice cakes into small chunks (either 1″ or smaller if you prefer) and fill into cooled pastry cups.
    3. TOPPING:
      1. In a large bowl, beat whipping cream with sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form.  Dollop as much as you’d like over tops of cake-filled tarts and drizzle with chocolate sauce (I like the kind from King Arthur Flour, but you can use whatever you prefer or just melt semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave until smooth… just know it will dry crunchy whereas chocolate sauce stays a bit soft).

    Tips:

    • Want a whole pie instead?  Roll one of the dough balls out and fill a 9″ pie plate.  Fill with pie weights and bake until golden brown.  Fill with a cut-up cake layer- and serve like a pseudo-pie.
    • Lazy?  Buy store-bought cake (like a chocolate pound cake) and save time.  (Please use real whipping cream, though- you can totally taste the difference!)
    • Refer to the original recipes for more tips on the pastry dough and the cake…
    • You could fill the muffin cups in the traditional upright way, but they’d puff up and you wouldn’t have room to fill them up with cake.  Better that they puff up on the outside and leave room on the inside (at least that’s what I think).  (Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?)
    • Serve with ice cream if your head is screwed on right.
    • This recipe is so not vegan with the pie pastry crust and whipped cream, just so you know.  The cake on its own is totally vegan though.
    • Enjoy!