Abby Dodge’s chocolate truffle tart, MY way, two ways

It’s funny how one door closes and another opens.  Just after I decided that the Daring Bakers was no longer for me, I saw a conversation on Twitter between a few of my friends and the formidable Abby Dodge.  About baking together, virtually: #baketogether.  One recipe, your way? Sounded wonderful! I was SO IN!  I love Abby’s recipe’s – her book Desserts 4 Today features recipes all using only 4 ingredients – the non-bakers’ baking book, but one which offers more experienced bakers a lot of opportunities to personalise things.

This particular recipe (a Chocolate Truffle Tart, originally featured on Fine Cooking) is a simple chocolate truffle tart with endless possibilities to change the flavours up.  It features a biscuit crumb and butter crust, a filling of chocolate and a topping of flavoured mascarpone and as soon as I saw it, I knew that I wanted to make two different mini-tarts to experiment with a couple of possibilities.  First up: Honey graham cracker crust filled with Toblerone truffle and topped with honey mascarpone cream.

Abby’s recipe features a big old dollop of mascarpone on top of the tart but I don’t much like tarts with too much cream topping (even if is is mascarpone!) so I opted for a subtle swirl, topped with grated Toblerone.

I sent these tartelettes off to a dinner party with Neil for “testing purposes” and my taste testers wrote: “The chocolate fudge tart was absolutely perfect. Would not change a thing! Great texture, perfect balance of sweet-bitter. Crust was amazing!”  I am not sure what they mean by “bitter” but clearly they liked it.  I enjoyed the balance the not overly-sweet crust gave to the very sweet filling and the honey mascarpone lightened the flavour up a little too.

Next up, I went with a ginger cookie crust filled with white chocolate truffle and topped with lemon mascarpone cream.  I loved this – the crust has a little “bite” from the ginger and spices and the filling was creamy and even though it was rich, the lemon and ginger cut through that nicely.  My taste testers said: “The crust was especially notable on this tart and merits extra commentary. The spices really stood out! Possibly they slightly overshadowed the filling, hence my confusion of what I was tasting. I spooned out the (delicious, creamy, decadently sweet) filling and then followed up with the crust so I could enjoy both more fully!!! This crust struck me as perfect for pumpkin tart…Thanksgiving is only ~5 months away…”

Yes, indeed, that crust is perfect for a pumpkin swirl baked cheesecake.

I loved baking with Abby and will definitely be adding this to my dessert repertoire – so easy, so impressive:

Want more?  Abby Dodge’s book, Desserts 4 Today is available on Amazon US , Amazon Canada or with free worldwide shipping on The Book Depository.

 

58 thoughts on “Abby Dodge’s chocolate truffle tart, MY way, two ways”

  1. I think you have become the epitome of a daring baker in sending your tarts off for tasting (and critique)! I really like the exaggerated scribble of cream on top – less heavy and a lot more stylish than the blanket version. I’m going to enjoy the Abby Dodge series – looking foward to what you come up with next time.

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  2. Mardi, love what you did with your tarts!! They look beautiful and delicious. I want to try every version I’ve seen of Abby’s tart, I am surrounded by creative and talented bakers! Happy Mother’s day from the Dominican Republic. xoxo

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  3. When I saw the post title I couldn’t figure out how I knew Abby Dodge and then realized it was The Weekend Baker. Thanks for filling us in about #baketogether. The truffle tart looks wonderful but I’m in love with your ginger cookie crust and the white chocolate version.

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  4. All jokes aside I woke last night with an idea to make a dessert using toblerone. This looks absolutely delicious, love the ingredients, I’m a sucker for graham crackers and it’s my favorite to use for making crusts. Thanks so much for sharing! I’m going to have a costume party in a few weeks and I think I just might makes these. =]

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  5. “ginger cookie crust filled with white chocolate truffle and topped with lemon mascarpone cream.” = I’m in LOVE! Just the sound of it is ammmmmazing, let alone eating it…wow! Beautiful tarts… looking forward to your other #baketogether creations!!

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  6. These both sound incredible! I love the use of Toblerone in the Chocolate Truffle Tart and the ginger in the crust for the White Chocolate one. How inventive and delicious!

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  7. I’m supposed to be on a diet Mardi… hmmmph. 🙂
    I think I would like the lemon ginger one best but, if I was forced to, I’m sure I could eat the Toblerone one too. You know, if it was a life and death situation type of thing…

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  8. Oh darling, these are adorable! I love them!

    I struggle with sweet things – both eating and making. This looks perfect for a dinner party, though!

    Jax x

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  9. Anything with Toblerone in it has got to be delicious, great idea to use it in this tart! Very pretty presentation Mardi.

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  10. Bad Mardi 🙂

    I’ve been trying to cut down on desserts, and then you go and post this! I’ve actually made the ginger biscuit crust before, for my chocolate key lime pie, but both your tarts are just so decadent and unique, I can’t wait to try them out!

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  11. A-ha, I saw your tweets about bowing out of the Daring Bakers and thought it might be because you didn’t have enough time – now I realise it was because you had something even better up your apron sleeve! These look heavenly…

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  12. Oh I love Abby Dodge! I did not know there is a group for baking together. I need to go back to twitter and participate! Great tarts! I think the second one would actually be my fav of the two.

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  13. Loved this recipe and I agree that the combos and flavors are endless. I love both of your tarts and they are so inspiring me!!! I also think this is more fun and more inspiring than DB and I’ll do this again anytime!

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  14. How do we sign up for this taste testing gig?

    I have an issue with Toblerone as I don’t like how it gets stuck in my teeth and then I have to find a way to unstick it in some sort of ladylike manner (you think I’d give up trying to look ladylike by now). But, I think using it like this could totally work for me.

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  15. #baketogether was so fun and yet such a tease. I want to try all these creations. I’m a sucker for Toblerone. I might have eaten the whole thing before it made its way into the filling!

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  16. Can I just tell you I just texted my love bug about this recipe and he flipped out! He adores toblerone, in a crazy but cute way.

    Reply

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