Mexican Chocolate Tart

Sometimes, to create something beautiful, you have to do evil.

There were five of them. I tore off all covers, leaving them bare-naked on the cold wooden surface. The first one was strategically placed right in the centre. I knew what was about to happen. Gazing at its shiny, smooth outer, my mouth could not be detained from smirking a little. Then I ran the knife through it for the first time. Easier than imagined. Chop chop chop it continued. Chop chop chop. Bits and pieces flew everywhere, covering the others that were silently sitting right next to it. Chop Chop Chop. First one done. Four to follow. Let's see if I can do three at once, I thought. The knife went down with three dull thuds each time. What a peculiar rhythm. Still one to go.

As I said. Sometimes, to create something beautiful, you have to do evil.

Chopping chocolate really is not the most delicate activity in the kitchen. In fact, I thought it always creates a scenario reminding of the intro of Dexter. You know, where that whole procedure of preparing breakfast somehow has a murderous touch to it. Coming to the beautiful part, now.

This tart is insanely rich. The filling consists solely of a ganache made of chocolate and cream while the crust has a nice flaky crunch with hardly any sugar giving just the right level of sweetness. I would stick with the official version that I only had a small piece but the picture unfortunately outs me as a big old liar.

Pants on fire.

Depending on what chocolate you use, it can be a bit pricey. However, you know what I did? I did a quick search online looking for reviews of chocolates and found a reliable source that told me how good they actually are. I have found one that was rather low in price, yet high in quality and it still tasted great (I tried it, of course).

As the recipe told me, I sifted a bit of cocoa over the tart which I actually would not do next time as the flavour overpowered the rest quite a bit. I kind of ate a thin layer off of the top first so I could indulge in the rest sans dutch-processed cocoa powder.

It's fairly easy to prepare yet decadent and just too good. I guess I have found myself another monster to munch on. ;)

The hardest part is to really keep it in the fridge for four hours before cutting it!

The magazine I found this in calls it 'Mexican Tarte', although I am not quite sure what is so Mexican about it.

Mexican Chocolate Tart

Adapted from: Frau von Heute, 9^th issue, 25.02.2011: Mexikanische Tarte

• 160g (5.6 oz.) AP Flour
• 100g (3.5 oz.) Butter
• 50g (1.8 oz.) sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg yolk (size M)
• 1 tbsp dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 500g (17.6 oz.) dark milk chocolate (I was not too sure what exactly that was supposed to mean so I used 4 bars of 50% dark chocolate and 1 bar 30% so my ganache was generally rather on the milky side)
• 400ml (13.5 fl. oz.) cream
• 1 pack of vanilla sugar (this is lesser known in the US, I think you could either omit it or replace 1 ts cream with 1 ts vanilla extract)
• Cocoa for dusting the cake (I recommend skipping this)

In addition:

• Dry peas, beans or cherry stones for baking the crust blind.
• Parchment paper for the same purpose.

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F).
2. Combine flour, sugar, salt, egg yolk, cocoa and butter and knead until smooth (I did that with my hands). Put in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Grease a 24cm (about 9'') spring form pan and and lay out dough, forming a crust. Prick it with a fork several times and lay out with parchment paper. Fill with dried peas.
4. Bake for 15 minutes, remove peas and parchment paper and bake for further 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Chop up chocolate and heat up cream in a small pot. Remove from heat. Add the chocolate along with vanilla sugar to the heated cream and stir until smooth. Let it cool off for 30 minutes. (I added the chocolate to the cold cream and heated everything on low heat just enough to let it melt. It worked fine for me and there was hardly any time needed to let it cool down.)
6. Pour mass into crust and put in refrigerator for 4 hours. Dust with cocoa powder.

Forget about those damn calories and indulge!

Caramel Fudge glazed Zucchini-Almond Loaf with Dark Chocolate Chunks and Roasted Almond Topping (aka "The Monster")

Here. it. Comes.

Look at the thing that I have created. C'mon. Take a good look, long and ample. It can kill people. Poor, diabetic people. Seriously. It's basically a cake covered in caramel fudge, covered in roasted almonds, covered in caramelized sugar. It's snotty. It thinks it's better than you. It's dangerous.

It all started out nice and tame with a lovely little semi-HEALTHY loaf cake that even has ZUCCHINI in it. Do you hear me? Zucchini! How can this not be at least half good for you? I thought I was being extra considerate by using only half the amount of oil and replacing it with applesauce, creating something that could even be turned into breakfast muffins.

And then I must have fallen in a trance induced by the captivating fragrance of  roasting ground almonds and something took possession of my body and mind. Not something. Someone. I could swear that on the other side of the planet, Paula Deen was having an out of body experience. She controlled me and MADE ME do this. That must be it. I mean, I have to blame someone else but me, right?

The moment I gained control over myself again – with an inexplicable scent of fried cheesecake still lingering on me - I gazed at what I have done. It just sat there, taunting me with those roasted, sugar coated sliced almonds topping its glistening, buttery, fudgy glaze. “It – it's a MONSTER” were the first words that I managed to stutter. As if that wasn't enough, after cutting it, big chunks of dark chocolate came to light. How did they...?! Well, nevermind, y'all.

I don't have to tell you just how good this cake was, do I?

However, because of this...incident...I can never be sure of my own sanity again (like I ever could...).

Therefore, I have created a badge that, whenever something like this happens again, dares you to:

That's right. Whenever a recipe on this blog transcends into a different sphere of arteries clogging lusciousness, I am going to warn you with this. So look out for future monsters coming!

But now the recipe, y'all! :

Caramel Fudge glazed Zucchini-Almond Loaf with Dark Chocolate Chunks and Roasted Almond Topping (aka "The Monster")

Cake

I apologize for the measurements being in oz. but as the recipe this one is based on was written on an old note in grams, converting it into cups would only end up in an inaccurate mess.

• 12.8 oz. sugar (360g)
• 1 ts vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 4.5 fl. oz. applesauce (130ml)
• 4.5 fl oz. oil (130ml)
• 1 ts cinnamon
• 13.8 oz. AP flour (390g)
• 8.5 oz of finely grated zucchini, slightly squeezed out (about 240g)
• 3.5 oz ground almonds (100g)
• 1/2 ts baking powder
• 3.5 oz. dark chocolate or a bit more to taste, coarsely chopped (100g)
• Oil and breadcrumbs for the pan or if you are as lazy as I am, parchment paper to line it.

1. Preheat oven to 355°F (180°C), prepare a 12'' (30cm) loaf pan/tin by greasing it and lighly covering the surface with breadcrumbs afterwards.
2. In a small pot, carefully roast the ground almonds over medium heat until golden brown and the kitchen smells like heaven, set aside.
3. Whisk together eggs, sugar, oil and applesauce along with cinnamon and vanilla extract.
4. With a hand-mixer, add flour, baking powder and ground almonds.
5. Either with a dough scraper or tablespoon, fold in grated zucchini and dark chocolate.
6. Pour batter in loaf pan/tin and bake on centre rack for about an hour or a stick comes out clean.
7. Put on cooling rack and remove from pan/tin when temperature allows.

Alright, if you stop here, you'll end up with a nice late-summery loaf and loads of discipline. Congratulations. I couldn't.

Sliced Almond Brittle

• 3.5 oz. (100g) sliced almonds
• 3 tbsp sugar (heaping)
• 1 tbsp butter

1. While loaf is baking, put a small pot on high heat. Add almonds and stir until light golden.
2. Add sugar, keep stirring.
3. When the sugar starts to dissolve, add add.
4. Stir for another minute maybe, making sure that it won't become too dark.
5. Spread flatly on baking try lined with parchment paper.

You should do this step before preparing the glaze as you need to be able to touch the brittle when topping the cake.

Caramel Fudge Glaze

• 1 cup (225g) natural brown sugar (demerara/ turbinado, but what's in a name...)
• 3.5 oz. (100g) butter
• 1.7 fl. oz. (50ml) evaporated milk

1. In a small pot or saucepan, stir together all ingredients over medium heat,
2. Bring them to boil, stirring constantly
3. Keep stirring for 3 minutes

Finishing Touches

1. Place loaf on parchment paper
2. Evenly pour glaze on top.
3. With a spoon, spread dripped down glaze onto sides of the loaf until nothing is left.
4. Top loaf with brittle, crumbling it between fingers if needed.

That's it, from mah kitchen to yerrrrs WHO SAID THAT???

Do you have any recipes like that, that make you feel guilty and cry in a corner after having a bite (or two, or three or...). I'd love to hear them!