Pumpkin Chocolate Spiderweb Tart
Serve this tart at a Halloween party, and watch as unsuspecting guests get lured into its chocolate web. The lightly spiced chocolate crust is coated with melted chocolate, then filled with creamy pumpkin purée. More melted semisweet chocolate is piped in a spiderweb pattern to add a frightful finish; the web also serves as an excellent guide for slicing.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes one 10-inch tart
Ingredients
For the Crust
For the Filling
For the Topping
Preparation
Step 1
Make the crust: Whisk together flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, salt, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl. Add butter; with an electric mixer on low speed, beat until butter is the size of small peas, about 5 minutes. Add egg; mix just until ingredients form a dough. Wrap dough in plastic; refrigerate 1 hour or up to 2 days.
Step 2
Preheat oven to 350°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to just more than 1/8 inch. Press dough into bottom and up sides of a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Trim excess dough flush with rim. Pierce bottom of shell all over with a fork. Refrigerate or freeze until firm, about 30 minutes or up to 1 day.
Step 3
Bake shell on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet until dry, about 15 minutes. Immediately sprinkle the 4 ounces chocolate evenly over crust; let it begin to melt, then smooth with an offset spatula.
Step 4
Make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, brown sugar, crème fraîche, eggs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and cloves until smooth. Pass mixture through a fine sieve into a clean bowl (discard solids). Pour filling into prepared crust, just to top edge.
Step 5
Bake until filling is set, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool at least 30 minutes.
Step 6
Make the topping: Place the 2 ounces chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water; heat until melted, stirring occasionally. Transfer chocolate to a parchment cone or resealable bag with a tiny hole cut in one corner. Pipe about 15 evenly spaced lines radiating out from center of tart. Pipe curved lines around perimeter of tart, connecting each spoke. Continue piping curved lines, spacing them closer together as you near the center. Refrigerate tart until set, 1 hour or up to 1 day.
