Chocolate truffle tart question

I've been asked to bring a chocolate truffle tart for Thanksgiving dinner dessert. I have an 11" and a 10" tart pan. Many of the recipes I see are for 9" tart or pie pans.

How bad of a mistake will I be making if I use a recipe intended for a 9" tart pan in my 10" pan? I have what I need to bake it blind.

I'm intending to use a dark chocolate ganache (chocolate/heavy cream) filling. I've found many recipes but would appreciate some that you've tried and liked. The same would hold true for crusts, including those made with nuts other than almonds.

Thanks in advance,
Mezzaluna

Just make twice the ganache, save it for hot chocolate or chocolate mousse later.

I like a nut crust. Use nuts and melted butter, put the tart pan on a sheet pan and bake. Any excess butter will come out.

If you have trouble scaling the recipe up, just post it here, and we'll increase it for you.

Here's the recipe I'm considering using. Let me know if you think it needs tweaking. It's from The Cook's Encyclopedia of Chocolate by Christine McFadden and Christine France.

How will the filling amount need to be modified to allow generous filling of the larger tart?
How far in advance can I make this without harming the filling or the crispness of the shell?

Thanks in advance for your help!!
Mezz

________________________
Chocolate Truffle Tart
Pastry:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter cut into pieces
1 egg yolk
1-2 tablespoons ice water

Sift the flour and cocoa into a bowl. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process the flour mixture with the sugar and salt. Add the butter and process for 15-20 seconds, until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.

In a bowl lightly beat the yolk with the ice water. Add to the flour mixture and pulse until the dough begins to stick together. Turn out the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Use the film to help shape the dough into a flat disk. Wrap tightly; chill for 1-2 hours until firm.

Lightly grease a 9-inch tart pan with a removable base. Let the dough soften briefly, then roll it out between sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap to an 11-inch round, about 1/2 inch thick. Peel off the top sheet and invert the dough into a tart pan. Remove the bottom sheet. Ease the dough into the pan. Prick with a fork. Chill for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the tart with foil or baking parchment; fill with baking stones. Bake blind for 5-7 minutes. Lift out the foil with the stones, return the pastry shell to the oven and bake for 5-7 more minutes, until the pastry is just set. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.

Filling:
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
12 ounces couverture or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons brandy or liqueur (**I WOULD LIKE TO OMIT THIS- ANYTHING I NEED TO KNOW IF I DO?)

In a medium pan over medium heat bring the cream to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth. Stir in the butter and brandy. Strain into the prepared tart shell, tilting the pan slightly to level the surface. Do not tough the sruface of the filling or it will spoil the glossy finish.

Chill 2-3 hours until set. To serve let the tart soften slightly at room temperature.

I got out my trusty calculator and, using formula for volume (of a cylinder), I think I'll need 17% more filling and crust for a pan that's one inch larger in diameter.

Is that correct? Is scaling up the amounts as simple as adding 17% more of what's in the recipe?

Sorry, Mezz., I've been too busy to stop by. 17% is fine, but I would've gone up to 25%, just to make the math easier.

You can omit the alcohol; no prob.

Here's the formula increased by 25%"

1 1/4 c AP
1/2 c + 2T cocoa
1/4 c + 1T sugar
1/2 t salt
5 oz. butter
1 xl yolk
2T H2O


15 oz. cream
15 oz. choc.
1/4c + 1T butter.

Bless you! I'm about to go to the store, so your timing is perfect, Momo. :D Thank you very much for the help. :bounce:

Mezz

Momo,
help. I'm trying to make 300 pumpkin pies out of 200 pumpkin pies. Can you do the math for me?:D :crazy: :lol:
Pecan Pan

It's easy math pan.... you just cut a slice equal to 1/3rd of each pie existing pie, then place 2 of the new slices together to for a new pie.

Just remember to sell them as 'reduced-calorie' and charge a premium!! :roll:

Pumpkin Pie Bow Ties:look:
Just cut off all orders, time for a little Chianti and cheese;)
Sorry Mezz, no hijacking here.
I like the looks of that formula for the crust.
I know you know to use heavy cream and not whipping cream, but some here may not.

You are correct, Pan. I just bought the items I need and will make the tart Wednesday evening. I assume I should refrigerate it. How can I avoid condensation?

I'm not so sure it needs to be chilled that much. IIgnoring the FDA, I would leave the tart covered at a nice cool temp. If it's to soft to slice, that another thing. Wait, 1 to 1 on the choco and cream. Your probably right, it needs to set.Just keep air away from it in the icebox, and don't bring it to room temp to quickly.
If you're using a fluted pan, make it pretty. If it's straight don't hesitate to make the crust a little more rustic looking, with the ganache it's a nice contrast. Good cocoa is a nice garnish if sparingly used, maybe on the plate.
sorry, been giving orders all day, it'll be fab!

So I should cover it with plastic wrap?

Pan, sorry, that was about all the math I could muster up for the year.

Let us know how it goes, Mezz.

Will do!

As for the math, I'm right there with you, Momo. It was all I could muster to remember the formula for finding the volume of a cylinder. Then my engineer-husband came home and said, "Well, all you had to do was...." but descended into mathematical gibberish. :roll: He's totally left brain; I'm as right as one can be. :lol:

I heard that!!
I spent an hour yesterday trying to find the answer for a question on how much more cake was actually going to be on a layer 2 inches bigger. I amassed every measuring device in the kitchen, put the pile aside to pick up the 15 yr old who promptly figured it out exactly with pye or something, I thought he was talking Cherry pie:D

No cherries involved :D



Continuing the saga of the inexperienced home cook attempting do make pastry (I'm basically a savory person), I just made the dough recipe. It is quite dry, the consistency of barely damp sand. It does press together between my fingers but doesn't hold its shape as a disk (it's in the fridge chilling before rolling). I put in the 2 tablespoons of water with the egg yolk. But could I need to add more? How dough-like should this be? I realize it's more like a cookie dough, but it's not at all clay-like.

probably another yolk or 1/2 yolk and a spritz of water. I assume it should come together for ya. Ya know Connecticut chickens average around 15 lbs.:lol:

I added a full tablespoon more of ice water and it worked perfectly. The only slip-up was when I grabbed the cooled crust to fill it with ganache and bumped the edge with my thumb. But it "healed" when I filled it. I let it cool on the counter and covered it carefully with plastic wrap. Tomorrow I'll drizzle some white chocolate on it (if I get a chance) and serve it with whipped cream.

Thanks, everyone, for holding my hand on this. I just don't have as much confidence with pastry as I do with savory cooking.