Pumpkin Chocolate Tart

Pumpkin Chocolate Tart is rich pumpkin pie filling inside a spiced chocolate tart shell that is coated with a layer of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate. All the flavors of fall in a festive, eye catching dessert!

UPDATE August 2020: This post was originally published on October 8, 2009. This pumpkin tart has been a staple at our Thanksgiving meal for years now. It's my girls favorite Thanksgiving dessert, and I look forward to it too. Traditional pumpkin pie often suffers from a soggy crust due to the moisture content in the filling. This crust of this tart stays crisp because of a chocolate barrier that protects the crust from the filling! The chocolate is not only functional, it's delicious!

Last week I saw Martha Stewart on the Today Show featuring some sweet and savory pumpkin dishes. The first thing that caught my eye was this pumpkin tart, mainly because I loved the spider web design!

Since I've been trying to come up with a dessert to make in my new mixer and take to lab meeting, this was perfect. First of all, the mixer is awesome!!! Love it! It mixes so wonderfully and is very easy to operate and clean. I can't wait to start challenging it with meringues and yeast doughs!  

This tart was pretty simple to make, and even the design was fairly easy. I guess I didn't use enough flour when rolling out the crust dough because it was a bit sticky, so it started to fall apart when I transferred it to the tart pan. I simply just pressed it together like you might do for crumb type crusts, and it was fine.  

Now for the taste:

The crust has some nice spiciness to it because of the cinnamon and cloves. I thought the spices paired nicely with the chocolate; it almost tasted like gingerbread.

One thing I loved about the crust was the layer of chocolate on top - seriously good. One member of my lab even commented that the crust can be used for a number of recipes.

The pumpkin filling was really delicious - with all of the 'moistness' and spiciness you expect from a pumpkin pie. I really, really like this dessert. I think the combination of chocolate and pumpkin is fantastic. It was simple to put together, and everyone loved it - especially the design!

Jump to:

• Make the Crust
• Make the Decorations
• Make the Filling
• Bake and Decorate
• Gluten Free Option
• 📖 Recipe

Make the Crust

To make the crust, the dry ingredients are mixed in a mixer. Then the butter is added and mixed until it becomes the size of small peas. Next, an egg is added until the dough comes together.

The dough is rolled on a floured surface (or you can use cocoa powder to avoid having white flour show up on the brown crust).

The rolled dough is transferred to a tart pan with a removable bottom and pressed into the pan. A fork can be used to prick the bottom of the shell so that it doesn't puff up during baking. Chill the raw crust for about 30 minutes.

Bake the tart shell for about 15 minutes until the dough is firm. Immediately sprinkle the chocolate chips over the warm crust.

Allow the chocolate to melt slightly and then spread over the crust and up the sides with a small offset spatula. You want to create a barrier with the chocolate to prevent the crust from getting soggy from the pumpkin filling.

Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature while you make the filling.

Make the Decorations

With the leftover crust, I like to roll it out and use small fall-themed cutters to make leaf, pumpkin and acorn shapes. I bake these on a parchment lined baking sheet like cookies.

Once cooled, I store these in an airtight container until I'm ready to serve the tart. If you put these little pieces of crust on the tart too early, they will get soggy.

In the past, I have used fall themed cookie cutters (like leaves, a pumpkin, or a turkey) and put melted bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips inside, then remove the cutter and let the chocolate set. This creates festive little chocolate decorations that I place on the tart before serving.

Make the Filling

In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, brown sugar, creme fraiche/sour cream, eggs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt until smooth.

Place a fine mesh sieve/strainer over a clean bowl.

Pour the mixture into the strainer.

Whisk it through until all of the liquid has been passed into the bowl and only the solids are left in the strainer.

This steps creates a very smooth filling and is well worth the extra effort!

Bake and Decorate

Pour the filling into the prepared crust. At this point the chocolate should be set.

Bake the tart until the filling is set, about 40 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack and let cool at least 30 minutes.

Refrigerate tart until ready to serve, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

When it's time to serve, carefully unmold the tart from the tart pan. Place decorations on top. Cut into wedges and serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Gluten Free Option

I have made this several times using my favorite Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour instead of all purpose, and you'd never be able to tell a difference. The dough is slightly more fragile when rolling it out, but it has the exact same flavor after baking.

📖 Recipe