I totally fan-girled last week when I realized my pastry chef crush David Lebovitz had pinned my Earl Grey Lavender Lemon Tart. To celebrate, I wanted to create a fresh take on the cream-topped tart. You know those amazing dreams you have when you can fly? This Dark Chocolate Tart with Espresso Whipped Cream is what your morning coffee dreams it can do. A chocolate crust, not-too-sweet dark chocolate filling topped with luscious swirls of deep espresso flavored whipped cream. It’s rich and it’s elegant. In my house, it’s also breakfast.
Surprisingly Straightforward:
This tart is actually pretty simple to make. The blind-baked crust is made from 3 ingredients: finely ground chocolate graham crackers, melted butter and sugar. The filling is a simple ganache with eggs, vanilla and salt stirred in before baking. And the lovely swirls on top are stabilized whipped cream with espresso powder beaten in. I’ve made my tart in a 10″ wide pan with 2″ high sides
Some Tips For the Perfect Dark Chocolate Tart With Espresso Whipped Cream:
Using stabilized whipped cream is key here. The gelatin ensures that it keeps its structure and doesn’t melt away, making your crust soggy. Make sure the gelatin doesn’t set before you add it to the cream or you’ll have gummy bits in the finished topping. It will keep for up to 3 days covered in the fridge and still be delicious (although it’s best the day it’s made. Duh.) I used a packet of Starbucks Via to flavor my whipped cream but any powdered espresso or even instant coffee will do. It’s also important to not over bake the filling. It should be quite wobbly in the center when you take it out. Don’t worry it will continue to set as it cools. For the silkiest texture, let the ganache cool to almost room temperature before adding the eggs so that you don’t get bits of cooked egg in your tart.
Decorating the Top:
To decorate the top of the dark chocolate tart, I like to use a 1M tip
More Coffee Sweets and Tart Treats From Bakers Brigade:
- Chewy Chocolate Espresso Cookies
- Cranberry Curd Tart with White Chocolate Mousse
- Raspberry Almond Cake with Candied Blood Oranges
- Earl Grey Lavender and Lemon Tart
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- 14 5 X 2 1/4 inch chocolate graham crackers about 7 ounces, finely ground
- 1 stick butter melted
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 9 ounces bittersweet or dark chocolate not more than 65% cacao, chopped or in chips
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 4 teaspoons warm water
- 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder or 1 packet Starbucks Via
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream very cold
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
Ingredients
For Chocolate Crust:
For Dark Chocolate Filling:
For Espresso Whipped Cream:
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- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine graham crackers, butter and sugar then press evenly into the bottom and sides of a 10"w x 2"h tart pan. Bake for 10 minutes then cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes.
- Boil cream, then pour over chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Let stand 5 minutes then stir until smooth. Let cool until no longer warm to the touch.
- Whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and salt in a separate bowl then stir into the chocolate mixture until smooth.
- Pour filling into the cooled crust. Bake until filling is set around the edges but still just a bit wobbly in the middle, about 20 minutes. Cool completely (about an hour) on a rack.
- In your smallest pan, combine gelatin, espresso powder and warm water. Let stand until thickened.
- Heat over low heat until gelatin and espresso are just dissolved. Remove from heat. Do not allow it to set, move directly on to the next step.
- In a cold bowl, with a cold whisk attachment, with the mixer on high, beat the cream and powdered sugar until slightly thickened.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly pour in the gelatin mixture. Then whip at high speed until stiff peaks form and it is thick enough to pipe.
- With a 1M tip, pipe the whipped cream in large rosettes onto the top of the cooled tart, filling in any gaps with small stars. The tart should keep, covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
How do you think this would do with stevia instead of today, and an egg replacer like Bob’s Red Mill?
I don’t do a lot of substituting but there are a lot of blogs devoted to just that! If you do try a variation, please come back and tell me how it went 🙂
With mousse or ganache type recipes, I find silken tofu works better than a dry egg replacer. Make sure you purée it well so there are no white lumps. Approximately 1/4 c. tofu purée per egg. The chocolate completely masks the tofu so no one is ever the wiser.
How much water should be added to the gelatin?
Hi Lisette! Darn it. It’s always my best recipes that have typos. I’ve fixed the recipe, you need 4 teaspoons of water. Thanks for bringing the error to my attention <3
Thanks! It tasted amazing and my husband loved it!
Yay! Thanks for letting me know ❤️
OMG! I loved that chocolate
Tart. It was amazing . You should be the Greek Goddess of Baking
Made this tonight and it was delightful. Not quite as pretty without the piping but the taste was phenomenal! Served with a fresh raspberry on top. Yum!
Hi Sue ❤️ I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I have made this tart three times. I have ZERO decorating skills but, on Jane’s promise that these rosettes are easy, I gave it a try. My rosettes have looked better and better with each attempt, earning me oohs and aahs whenever I have served it.
My best friend absolutely hates anything coffee flavored (weirdo!) so I have also made it substituting cinnamon for the espresso powder with great success.
I’m a big fan of Mexican chocolate; cinnamon is a great accent to chocolate. How much cinnamon did you add to the whipped cream topping?
Dina, when you substitute cinnamon, how much do you add. Do you u change the amount of powdered sugar? (I’m a big fan of Mexican hot cocoa so I’d love to try this substitution!). Thanks!
How long does it take to make start to finish?
I’m making this tart for a holiday dinner. Can I use heavy whipping cream in the filling instead of heavy cream?
Absolutely. Any heavy cream should do nicely.
Can I make the whipped cream ahead of time, refrigerate and pipe just before serving? You said up to 3 days in the fridge but I wasn’t sure if you meant the tart or the cream! Thanks!
Hi Danielle! Yes, that should be fine as long as it’s airtight. If you’re not going to pipe it on right away, I would probably not make it a full 3 days ahead of serving. I’d maybe make it one day ahead. No logical reason, I’ve just had better luck letting frosting or stabilized whipped cream when I pour it then let it sit around than when I let it sit around in the piping bag.
Loved this! How many days will it keep after making.
I’m so glad you liked it! I made it for Christmas Eve at my house. I think this will easily keep 4-5 days but you’ll know when it’s past its prime when the whipped cream starts to get rubbery or lose its shape. Happy New Year!
I Made this tonight for my Bunko group – 4-stars from everyone! The only adjustment I made was to use 70% cacao dark chocolate in the filling (but we like it less sweet as we age!). I will try it with cinnamon in the whipped topping next time. And you’re right – the piping was SOOOO easy and it looked like it came from the bakery!
Excellent! I’m so glad your friends liked it. And yeah, so easy to decorate, right? Also, I don’t know what a Bunko group is but if it involves dessert, I want one.
Oh I adore a chocolate ganache tart any day of the week. Adding a coffee whip is happening.
This looks amazing! Will definitely be making this weekend. Thank you!
Hi! Can I substitute the powdered gelatine for sheet gelatine? If so, how much should I add?
Hi Yessica! Yes, that should be fine. You can substitute 2 gelatin sheets for 1/2 teaspoon of powdered gelatin.
Hello! I’d like to make this but in mini tart pans. How long would I bake everything in mini pans?
I came to the comments to see if anyone had tried in mini tart pans. Did you try it? If so, how did it go?
I haven’t tried it, but I know others who have made it this way with no issues! Let me k ow how it goes for you <3
I baked my tart for 20mins but it wasn’t set up. It was still chocolatey. I dont want to overbake it. How much longer would you recommend? For future use, should I use less heavy whipping cream?
This is a great recipe. It was the first tart I ever tried to make (about a year ago) and it was an instant hit in our house. It’s become my husband’s favorite dessert and he’s nicknamed it the “choco-bar.” Thank you for posting it!
Can I use milk chocolate instead?
Hi Salma Yes, that should work fine! It may just be a touch sweeter
I substituted the gelatin with Agar Agar with a 1:1 replacement and it worked the same!
Just don’t keep it on the stove too long, it will set after like 3 stirs if there’s too much heat.
Delishhhh dessert, will be making this over and over again!
Thanks Alma! I get a lot of questions about substituting for gelatin but have never tried it myself. So glad the agar agar worked for you ❤️
Do you think I can use Oreo crumbs for the base? I can’t seem to find chocolate graham crackers in Canada.
Hi Peggy! That should work, I’d just scrape out the creme filling. You can also use any other chocolate biscuit-type cookie. Let me know how it turns out!
Jane, I lise the skinny OREOS with the cream and don’t add the extra sugar
Also, I only use enough melted butter to moisten the crumbs
Thanks Christie!
I’ve made this recipe twice now! It’s still amazing! Delicious, really easy to make and an absolute crowd pleaser!!!!!
I’m so happy to hear that Esca! We really love this one too <3
Hello! So what should the consistency be of the tart filling? It seems like I may have overbaked mine as it didn’t really have the wobble and it was somewhat inflated when it came out of the oven ( almost looking like a cake but not having the consistency)
I also admit I tried 3 different stores but could not find heavy cream. They were all just heavy whipping cream. Are they not interchangeable?
I love your recipe and definitely want to take another crack at it.
Thank you so much
Hi! It is definitely very rich, thicker than pudding. It is puffed when it comes out of the oven. Before pronouncing it a failure, try it 🙂 And yes, heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are interchangeable on my book. Thanks for trying the recipe out, that makes me happy!
I used the one stick of butter ( 1/2 cup ) but my crust was very greasy … floating in melted butter after baking it for 10 minutes. Is this measurement correct? Anyone else have issues?
Hi Adam, so sorry to hear your crust didn’t turn out. I haven’t heard that before. Are you sure you used the proper amount of chocolate graham crackers?
7 oz … 1 oz. short of a cup? Did I manage to interpret wrong? It seemed to be the right amount for the size of the crust, but perhaps I assumed wrong.
Ah, that must be the issue! 7 fluid ounces would be 1 fluid ounce short of a cup. But fluid ounces is a volume measurement. This is 7 ounces, ounces being the weight measurement. I haven’t measured the volume but I imagine it would be closer to 1 1/2 cups-2 cups. So sorry about the confusion! Next time you could just count out 14 graham crackers, I put the weight in there for folks who sub out with something else or have non-standard sized graham crackers.
I had the same issue. I weighed the Oreo crumbs out (7 ounces) and the butter ended up dripping out of my tart pan onto the bottom of the oven. Next time I will use less and put it on a sheet pan to bake.
Hi Heather! Sorry to hear that. Yes, things like baking crumbs and Oreos will have about double the fat content of graham crackers so you will have too much fat and it will leak out. I’m going to make a note in my post to clarify, thanks for bringing this issue to my attention. I’ve heard that people have good luck with Teddy Grahams.
Holaa.. Saludoss.. Me encantaría q pudieran colocarla en español… Gracias.. Y se ve super deliciosa..
Gracias Patricia!
Ojalá mi español fuera mejor. Espero que pueda encontrar lo que busca <3
If I’m skipping the espresso do I still need to do the gelatin and water?
Hi Jessica! The gelatin stabilizes the whipped cream, and the water is an essential part of blooming the gelatin. You can too this tart with just regular whipped cream, but it will not keep its shape and last for days so would need to be consumed that day ❤️
I’m excited to make this for my husband’s birthday. I think my tart pan may be a little small, would a springform pan work?
A springform would absolutely work! Let me know how it goes
Just finished making this. Looks delish! The flavor of the espresso cream it wonderful! However, I knew going in 1 cup of heavy cream wasn’t going to be enough – should have listened to my instincts. Next time, I will double that portion of the recipe, and definitely use a whole packet of gelatin. Can’t wait to try it for dessert tonight! Thanks!
So glad you liked it! And if you’re using double the cream, please invite my over so I can give my expert opinion, lol. Have a lovely evening!
It is FANTASTIC! I’m making my 3rd one today, for our tiny Super Bowl gathering tomorrow. Absolutely everyone who’s had the privilege of eating this has LOVED it, including me! This is my FAVORITE dessert to make! Thank you so very much for this OUTSTANDING recipe!
Thank you Jeannie! I’m so happy you like it, it’s one of my favorites too ❤️
If we wanted extra espresso flavor how much more would you say we add? To taste? Can you add the powder straight to the finished whipped cream
Yes, you can add the powder right to the whipped cream but you may see little flecks. For a stronger flavor, I usually double it.
Hi! Do you grease the tart pan before putting in the crust?
Nope! I just plop it right in there
If you can’t find chocolate graham crackers, chocolate Teddy Grahams work well.
Genius! Thanks for sharing ❤️
I use chocolate Belvita biscuits; also an excellent “substitute.” I can never find the chocolate graham crackers – our store doesn’t seem to carry them.
This was our featured dessert for Easter dinner. I made it in a 14×4” tart pan with enough extra ganache for 6 mini rounds as well. Final shape was a large cross as I used two rounds on each side for the crossbeam. On a scale of 1-10 it was a 100! Home run! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Hi Jessica! Sounds like a showstopper presentation ❤️ I’m so happy you liked it!
Attempting this recipe with 4, 4” tart pans was an adventure.
Crust: I used Compliments chocolate baking crumbs, since chocolate graham crackers are nowhere to be found (Alberta). The recipe’s butter to crumb ratio was way off. The crust puffed, the pans were sitting in butter (as another commenter experienced). Didn’t use that, so I followed the no-bake crust recipe from the baking crumb package. Blind baked 5 min 350F anyways to set. The crust amounts from the Bakers Brigade recipe to the Compliments recipe were very close in amount. Apparently baking crumbs and graham crackers are not the same.
Filling: The filling:crust ratio was incredibly off in amount. It easily filled 4, 4” tart pans AND 3, 3”ramekins. The filling could have easily been halved. I don’t see how the recipes crust amount would be appropriate for this much filling, unless it was a no-sided crust. I baked the tarts and ramekins for 20 min 350F.
The espresso whipped cream didn’t work. The espresso/gelatine gelatinized and didn’t blend well, stiff peaks never formed, then the cream separated. I followed directions to a T.
Although the recipe made twice as much as needed, the filling turned out incredibly smooth and rich. If I had more whipping cream, I’d give the espresso mousse another shot, but since it’s a pandemic and going to the store isn’t going to happen, a divine naked chocolate ganache tart it is. Oh darn.
Jamie, I’m sorry to hear this turned into such a Donnybrook!
Yes, the crust recipe will not work with baking crumbs, they have twice the fat content that graham crackers have so there will definitely be some issues with leaking butter.
For the filling, I use a 2″ deep quiche tart pan, the link is above, so it holds about twice the filling of a traditional tart pan. My 4″ tart pans must be deeper than yours!
As for the espresso whipped cream, I’m not sure what happened. I have made this at least a dozen times and not had the problem you describe, though I have had a couple of times where little flecks of espresso gelatin are visible in the topping. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!
I’m glad you liked the filling, I really do too. Happy baking!
Hi, could I make the whipped cream without gelatin?
I just got on Walmart.com to place my grocery order for this- chocolate Graham crackers are only available with 3 day shipping and cost $282!! I will try it with Annie’s bunnies instead
WhoaMG, that’s nuts! Yes, I’ve heard that the Annie’s Bunnies work great. Let me know how it goes!
I’d like to make this for Christmas dessert next weekend but we’ll have one person who doesn’t like coffee and one allergic to cinnamon. Would it work to use cocoa in the whipped topping. If so, would it be the same amount as the espresso powder. I’m looking forward to making this after reading all the great reviews. Thanks
I think cocoa would be wonderful! I would start with a tablespoon of cocoa powder, definitely add a pinch of salt too!
All of your bakes are stunning! Wow, sure wish I could make something as beautiful as this but at my age, just don’t have it in me nor do I have the ambition anymore! Keep up the great work!
Thanks Lori! I bet you’d be pleasantly surprised at how straightforward this one is <3
Hello! I braked the tart for 25 minutes and it’s fully set. I mean to check it at 20 minutes but got distracted. Is it ruined? I’ve never made a tart before so wasn’t sure. It looks good except for the many bubbles on top but that won’t matter with the topping. TIA!
Hi Marla! It’s definitely not ruined 🙂 It may be a bit less moist but that shouldn’t be a big issue once you get the topping on. Let me know how you like it!
This might seem like an odd question but do you have an example of how wobbly the middle should be when done baking ? My oven doesn’t heat as well anymore and somethings need to bake a little longer. I appreciate the help. Thank you.
Sorry, I’m just seeing this question! Yes, it should not wobble at all at the edges. The wobble should start about halfway to the middle and should look jello-y but not liquid-y.
Can I use a premade Oreo pie crust? All the stores around me are sold out of chocolate graham crackers.
Absolutely! That will taste great 🙂
My first attempt to make this.
First things first- Chocolate graham crackers are nowhere to be found. However, I added some cocoa powder to regular ~hopefully~ this will work.
Everything else went smoothly.
Except for the whipped cream. The second it hit the cold bowl it gelatinized and never blended into the cream. not sure if it will hold its shape overnight, but fingers crossed.
I sprinkled the top with cocoa as I am pretty sure it will have no expresso flavor.
Oh no! Not sure what happened, I haven’t experienced this. I am going to do a little research and see if I can unravel that issue 🙂
Just made this for the first time! Everything was going great. A little wobbly in the middle and everything was followed according to recipe. I just used a pie dish instead of a tart pan. The middle did not set at all, it remained liquid but the edges were perfectly cooked. What did I do wrong?
Hmmm, not sure. I’ve never made this in a pie dish but I imagine that’s what the issue was, maybe a different thickness of the mixture and different conductivity of glass vs. metal. Probably just need a few more minutes 🙂
I was thinking of making this in individual portions… Like cupcake size. Have you ever done this? If so, recommendations on adjusting cook time?
I am going to attempt to make this in 3 inch tart pans for an event. In order to have it fresh as possible I am going to make the tarts 3 days in advance and then frost it the day of. Do you think. The chocolate portion of the tart will be as fresh tasting on that 3rd day or do you think freezing it would hold it better?
If I used mini tart cups how long should I bake them for.Thanks