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Dessert

Chocolate Tarts

Chocolate tarts made with a chocolate custard filling topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Chocolate Tarts

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Rub the chocolate smooth in the milk and heat to boiling over medium heat.

  2. Stir in the dissolved cornstarch and cook for 5 minutes until thickened.

  3. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl to cool slightly.

  4. Beat the yolks and whites of 2 eggs with the sugar until light.

  5. When the chocolate mixture is almost cold, combine it with the egg mixture and flavorings.

Bake and top

  1. Pour the mixture into pastry shells and bake until set.

  2. For the meringue, beat the whites of 2 eggs with 2 tablespoons of sugar and add lemon juice.

  3. Spread the meringue over the tarts and bake until lightly browned.

  4. Serve cold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks and whites thicken the filling and set it into a custard once baked.
Cornstarch
Starch thickens the chocolate mixture as it heats, giving the filling body.
Baker's chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and much of the filling's richness.
Milk
Liquid that melts the chocolate smooth and carries the starch into the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps the whipped egg whites hold their structure.

The step that matters

Cool the chocolate mixture before adding the eggs. If the chocolate is still hot when the eggs go in, the yolks can scramble and the filling may curdle. Letting it cool almost fully keeps the custard smooth and even when it sets.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, chocolate, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, butter):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, chocolate, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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