The Halloween tart is a scenic and delicious cake made of shortcrust pastry and jam. To make this Halloween-themed cake original, I decided to make the shortcrust pastry with activated charcoal flour, giving it an unusual and totally natural black color. Additionally, I chose to create decorations that recall spooky subjects like the ghost, pumpkin, haunted house… For the filling, I opted for apricot jam, but you can choose your favorite, like peach to stay with the orange theme recalling the pumpkin color or red ones like raspberry, strawberry, cherry, or mixed berries.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 40 Minutes
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 10People
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Contemporary
- Seasonality: Halloween
Ingredients
- 14 oz apricot jam (or other flavor)
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (with activated charcoal)
- 5 oz butter (cold)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 packet vanillin
- 1 pinch fine salt
- as needed colored sprinkles (Halloween themed, optional)
- as needed all-purpose flour (for dusting the surface)
Tools
- Kitchen Scale
- Stand Mixer
- Paddle Attachment
- Spoon
- Plastic Wrap
- Cookie Cutter
- Pie Pan
- Silicone Rolling Pin
- Work Surface
- Fork
Steps
To prepare the Halloween tart…
In the bowl of the stand mixer, place the cold butter cut into pieces and the granulated sugar. Then, using the paddle attachment, start mixing the two ingredients until you obtain a sandy mixture.
Now add the whole egg, still with the stand mixer, incorporate it into the butter and sugar, then lastly add the all-purpose flour with activated charcoal, the vanillin, and the salt.
Work the dough by increasing the speed of the stand mixer until it begins to come together and pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, quickly work the shortcrust pastry with your hands to form a dough ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
After the resting time for the shortcrust pastry, quickly work it with your hands to soften it slightly, then roll it out again on the floured work surface and roll it out with the rolling pin to a thickness of about 1/5 inch.
Line the pie pan (9.5 inches in diameter, non-stick) with the shortcrust pastry, pressing well on the bottom, pricking it with the fork, and leveling the edges by removing the excess pastry, which you will need for the decorations.
Fill the tart with apricot jam, leveling it with the spoon, then decorate the surface of the tart with the leftover pastry, cutting out cookies using Halloween-themed cookie cutters. Position them as desired and also add the colored sprinkles.
While you preheat the oven to 356 degrees Fahrenheit, place the tart in the refrigerator for 5/10 minutes. Then bake it in fan mode for 30 minutes.
Once the tart is baked, remove it from the oven being careful not to let the still hot jam spill out.
Variations
If you don’t want to use all-purpose flour with activated charcoal, you can substitute it with plain all-purpose flour, and likewise, you can use any jam you prefer.
Storage
The tart can be stored in the refrigerator in a cake container for 4/5 days.
