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Dessert

Chocolate Tarts

Chocolate tarts made with 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

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the chocolate filling

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Combine the grated chocolate and milk in a saucepan and heat until boiling.

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

  4. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

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

  6. Combine the chocolate mixture with the egg mixture and vanilla, stirring until well mixed.

Bake and top

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

  2. Beat the remaining egg whites until soft peaks form.

  3. Gradually add 2 tablespoons of sugar and lemon juice until stiff peaks form.

  4. Spread the meringue over the baked tarts and return to the oven until lightly browned.

  5. 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 thicken the filling and whites form the meringue topping, adding structure and lift.
Cornstarch
Thickens the chocolate mixture as it heats, giving the filling a set, sliceable body.
Grated chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavor and richness of the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps stabilize the whipped egg white meringue.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess to the chocolate filling.

The step that matters

Adding the sugar and lemon juice to the egg whites. Sugar and acid help whites form stable, stiff peaks. Adding sugar too early or too fast can slow whipping, and under-beaten whites may weep or collapse in the oven.

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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