Skip to main content
Dessert

Chocolate Tartlets

Chocolate tartlets made with short‑crust pastry, chocolate, cake crumbs, sugar, butter, cornflour, egg, and topped with chocolate icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Chocolate Tartlets

Why it works: Chocolate and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate Tartlets

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. Cream the egg yolk and sugar together until well combined.

  2. Add the cake crumbs, grated chocolate, cornflour, and melted butter to the mixture.

  3. Whisk the egg white until stiff and gently fold it into the mixture.

Bake and finish

  1. Line 6 patty pans with short-crust pastry and fill them with the mixture.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

  3. Once cooled, cover each tartlet with chocolate icing and allow it to harden before serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg
Egg white whisked to stiffness lightens the filling and helps it rise, while the yolk binds it.
Cake crumbs
Add bulk and a tender, moist crumb to the filling.
Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and richness in the filling.
Cornflour
Thickens the filling and gives it a softer, more delicate texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps the yolk mixture become light when creamed.

The step that matters

Folding in the stiff egg white. Stiff whites hold air that lightens the filling and helps it rise in the oven. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring vigorously deflates the foam and leaves the tartlets dense.

“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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipesChocolate Drop CookiesChocolate Drop Cookies50 recipes