Chocolate Creme Fraiche Tart

I know I teased you all this week on Instagram, but I wasn't really trying.  I just took all my pictures of the above Chocolate tart for the blog and promptly sat down and ate it when I was done. Then I looked over at my fabulous plate from England and saw I had practically licked it clean. So here today is my Chocolate Creme Fraiche Tart. I know rich right and yes RIGHT and so good.  

I know you all go buy the Creme Fraiche at Trader Joes, I cannot be the only one. I use this stuff for everything. Mixed with Tapatio for quesadillas, or chicken taquitos. Mixed with sugar and lemon zest for french toast and whatever else I can come up with. This time when I took the package off I noticed there were recipes on the back. So I thought, I'm having dinner with my friend, she loves chocolate, I love Creme Fraiche. It's a match made in my kitchen. 

Chocolate Creme Fraiche Tart

1/2 cup milk (I used whole milk, cause why not) 

7 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli) 

1 large egg yolk

7/12 ounces of Creme Fraiche

9 inch tart pastry (I made my own, recipe found below, but you can use a pre-baked pastry shell if that's easier for you) 

Preheat the oven to 325.

Lightly whip egg yolk with the Creme Fraiche and set aside. Bring milk to a boil, stir continuously. Turn off heat and add chocolate to milk. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Slowly add egg and Creme Fraiche mixture to the chocolate mixture and stir thoroughly. 

Place the pastry into a 9 inch tar pan and pour in the chocolate Creme Fraiche mixture. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove tart from oven and cool to room temperature. Chill in refrigerator for at last one hour before serving. Serves 8.

Tart Pastry

1 1/4 cups (6 1/2 oz/ 200g) cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (4 oz/125 g)  unsalted butter, chilled

2 tbsp, or more, cold water

I used a food processor, but you can do this by hand using a pastry blender. 

Place the flour, sugar and salt in the processor. Cut the butter into small pices and add them. Process using rapid pulses until mixture resembles small crumbs or flakes. Add 1 tbsp of water and process a couple of seconds. Add additional tbsps of water untill it is damp enough to form a rough mass. 

Dump the dough onto a piece of clear plastic wrap and form into a cake. I wrapped mine up and let it sit in the refrigerator to cool for 30 minutes. After that pull it out, roll it to a nice round circle and form it into your tart pan. I like to use removable bottom steel tart pans, but use what your used to.

I enjoyed this tart with a cup of coffee in the morning and well a cup of tea in the afternoon. Whatever works for you it was delicious the next day. 

Almond Lemon Gluten Free Cake

I get so inspired by all the great photo's and blog post and especially about making things gluten-free. I tolerate gluten, but feel better when I don't partake of it. I saw this recipe and knew I had to give it a try. I still haven't been brave enough to try the vegan route...i just can't give up butter. This cake is really moist and very yummy. Give it a try.

Almond Lemon Gluten Free Cake
(Adapted from Cakelets and Dollies Recipe which was adapted from Donna Hay's Recipe)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract

(NOTE: if you have a vanilla bean, use that, split and scrap out the seeds to put in the mix For my recipe I didn't have a vanilla bean on hand, so vanilla extract worked great.) 1/4 tsp almond extract (because why wouldn't you want more almonds)
Zest of 4 lemons, if you want in more lemony taste you can squeeze a little lemon juice, but this is already a very moist cake so be warned.  Original recipe called for 1/4 cup lemon zest which can be about 6 lemons.
4 eggs, separated, make sure you let them get to room temperature
2 1/2 cups almond meal (Surprisingly I found this at Trader Joes, but you should be able to find in a local health food store or Whole Foods)
10 1/2 oz ricotta
Flaked almonds, to decorated and add more crunchiness
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 325. Butter 8-9 inch cake round, I use parchment paper on the bottom and also butter that, it makes it easier to get the cake out of the pan.

I used my KitchenAid stand mixer, but you can also use a regular beater. Mix softened butter, 1 cup of sugar, lemon zest, vanilla (either extract or vanilla seeds from the bean), until its pale yellow and creamy. I did this for about 6 minutes (thus why i like to use my KitchenAid stand mixer). Add in the separated egg yolks one at a time, that is if you didn't already blend them all together, in that case just drizzle egg yolks in a little bit at a time.  You'll need to scrape down the sides of the bowl through out the process.

Mix in the Almond Meal. Scrape down sides and take bowl from under mixer and fold in the Ricotta.

In a separate bowl mix the egg whites until white and fluffy, slowly pour in the 1/3 cup of remaining sugar until it makes glossy soft white peaks. Gently fold in 1/2 the egg whites, you want to make this a lite and airy cake, finally fold in the rest of the egg whites.

Pour mixture into cake pan. Sprinkle almond slices over the top, I covered mine as much as possible.  Put in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes. May need more time, I think I added about 8-10 more minutes to this, but test center with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean and the cake is fully baked. 

When you pull it out it look like a fluffy cake, once it cools down it deflates a bit. After it cools down dust with powdered sugar and serve. With coffee is great.