Happy Easter Chocolate Caramel Tarts

I love Easter for lots reasons, many of which involve sweets: big chocolate bunnies, small caramel-filled eggs, malted eggs, pastel jelly beans and marshmallow chicks. I love the Easter bunny, 

hunting for Easter eggs, and seeing little kids in their brand-new Easter outfits. I remember once, in fact, when my sister told me that she saw the Easter Bunny's tail going out the back door in the 

middle of the night. I was so excited I almost fainted.  If I had to pick one flavor combination that transports me to the Easters of my childhood, though, it would have to be chocolate and caramel. It’s 

one of my preferred pairings, and I’ve featured it in a few recipes (like this one) on this blog. Here’s another one of my favorite recipes, which comes from Claudia Fleming’s wonderful book, The Last Course (Random House, 2001). Happy Easter to all!!

Recipe notes: I found the tart dough to be a little crumbly and hard to work with, so I added a little cold water to the dough, as directed below. I also found that there was too much caramel

filling in the original recipe, so I cut it in half. The original recipe also called for using 2-inch tartlet pans, which I think are a bit too small, so I used 3-inch pans instead.

Walnut Layer Cake with Apple-Caramel Filling and Calvados Cream Cheese Icing

Ever wonder who’s making the desserts at The White House these days? The Executive Pastry Chef of the Executive branch is Bill Yosses, a talented guy who has been in the pastry biz for over 30 years. He apprenticed in France, and then worked under chefs Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller and was Pastry Chef at the 4-

star Bouley Restaurant and Bakery. I’ve known Bill for many years, and have always liked him very much. He is a down-to-earth, no b.s. kind of guy, and lets the flavor in his desserts really shine through, without gimmicks. Recently Bill released his first cookbook, The Perfect Finish (Norton, 2010; $35). It’s my kind of 

cookbook—the kind that when I flip through it I want to make just about everything in it. Bill’s desserts are simple, intriguing and beautifully executed. There are 80 recipes in The Perfect Finish, which Bill chose from a repertoire of over 5000. How did he decide what to include? “I’m always on the lookout for the 

extraordinary, whether it’s a simple or a complex dessert. And I chose recipes that deliver a flavor beyond what you are used to and what you normally have.” Out of the 80 recipes that Bill chose, I chose his Walnut Layer Cake with Apple-Caramel Filling and Calvados Cream Cheese Icing, which features some of my favorite flavors. Though the results were mixed (see my recipe notes below), I am ready to try another recipe from The Perfect Finish, and very soon.

Recipe Notes: though it looked great, I found the cake itself to be a little tough and dry. Perhaps I overfolded the batter; I freely admit that that is a distinct possibility. I also found the apple filling to be too lemony, which detracted from the caramel notes. I would cut down the amount of lemon juice to 1 teaspoon next time. And the frosting was not sweet enough for my taste. I would double the amount of confectioners’ sugar next time, and leave out the Calvados, which I didn’t think worked. One final note: the recipe in the book calls for 3 small apples, cubed, or 680 grams. The 680 grams is just plain wrong--that would be more like 6 apples. Sorry to say it, but cookbooks are very poorly edited these days, and it is not always the author’s fault…