Salted Caramel Tart

Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
25 mins
Total Time
40 mins

This is made using the Australian way of making creamy caramel using condensed milk. While most recipes use golden syrup to get the caramel flavour, I find it works better to use a simple caramel – better flavour and the caramel is creamier. You don’t need a candy thermometer, and the caramel sets perfectly so it is beautifully soft and doesn’t run everywhere when you cut it. The topping is a chocolate ganache that is soft and melds into the caramel with every bite. This is decadent and luxurious, yet straight forward to make. Great show off dessert!!! Recipe VIDEO below.
Course: Sweet Baking
Servings: 12
Calories: 562 kcal
Author: Nagi

Ingredients:

Base:

225 g / 8 oz plain sweet biscuits, 2 cups crushed (Arnott’s Marie Crackers, Graham Crackers, Note 1 for Digestives)
150 g / 5 oz unsalted butter , melted (Note 1 for Digestives)

Caramel:

100 g / 7 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup / 200g (packed) brown sugar
2 cans sweetened condensed milk (395g / 14oz each)
1 3/4 tsp salt (2 ½ - 3 tsp salt flakes)

Chocolate Ganache Topping:

1/3 cup heavy/thickened cream
150 g / 5 oz dark chocolate melts / chips
Sea salt flakes, for topping

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 160C/320F. Grease and line the base only of a 23cm / 9" tart tin with a loose base. (Or a springform pan of a similar size)
Roughly break up biscuits and place in a food processor, then whizz until fine crumbs form. Or do this step with a ziplock bag and rolling pin.
Pour crumbs into a bowl, add melted butter, mix until it looks like wet sand and no dry crumbs remain. Pour into tin, then press firmly into base and sides – use something flat like a cup to assist (refer to video).
Transfer to tray (safe handling), place in oven and bake for 10 minutes, then remove and cool slightly (5 minutes in fridge).

Caramel:

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar and whisk to combine – butter may not incorporate fully.
Once it starts bubbling and the sugar is completely melted, pour in the condensed milk, whisking as you go. Whisk constantly until you see steam coming off the caramel (~ 4 minutes), then remove from heat.
Add salt (adjust to taste), then pour the caramel into the tart base.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges of the caramel surface is golden and the surface has a “skin” on it, but the caramel is still soft and the centre jiggles slightly (see video for demo.)
Cool on counter while you make the chocolate.

Chocolate Ganache:

Place cream and chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Microwave in 2 x 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until smooth.
Set aside for 10 minutes to thicken slightly, then pour over the base. Smooth top or make swirls like I did (just wait until the chocolate thickens slightly). Sprinkle with sea salt flakes.
Refrigerate for 1 ½ hours to allow chocolate to set. Then remove and bring to room temperature before slicing to serve. Handle carefully when sliding the tart off the base - or just leave it on to be safe and just remove the sides.

Recipe Notes

1. You need about 2 cups once crushed. No need to be exact here, the crumb crust is fairly forgiving so just eyeball the weight based on the whole biscuit packet weight.

Another biscuit that is terrific to use for a biscuit crust is Digestives which is very popular in the UK/Europe and also quite popular here in Australia. If you use Digestives, reduce the butter to 75g because they are more buttery than Marie Crackers and Graham Crackers.

Other biscuits: Basically any plain biscuit works great like Arnott's Arrowroot works great, and even flavoured ones like Gingernut. The dense sticky filling of this tart makes the crumb crust quite strong so it's fairly forgiving re: biscuit and butter quantities.

1. STORAGE - This tart keeps SO WELL! It will keep in an airtight container for a week and still taste like it was made yesterday albeit the crust on the edge does soften a bit, but most people wouldn't even notice (I don't think). If it's super hot where you are i.e. the chocolate becomes melty, keep it in the fridge but always bring to room temperature before serving otherwise the caramel won't be creamy. It also freezes great - again, bring to room temp before serving. I've only frozen it for a couple of weeks but see no reason why it wouldn't keep for several months.

2. This is a VERY rich tart. I find that when cut into 12 (so quarters, then each quarter into 3), a slice is too much for me. So I have said that this serves 14 to 16. The nutrition is for 14 servings.