This chocolate “caramel” tart began as an attempt to redeem a baking mishap. It was Passover, and I had found beautiful pink rhubarb at the market. I wanted a rhubarb tart, so I improvised an almond flour crust with butter, sugar, a pinch of salt, and an egg yolk to bind it. The crust baked up looking perfect, topped with a delicate lattice of poached rhubarb. But when I tried to release it from the tin, it wouldn’t budge—the egg yolk had essentially welded the tart to the pan. I could have waited until after Passover and returned to my usual recipes, but I wanted to redeem that tart immediately.
Short on time and not in the mood for another rhubarb lattice, I decided a chocolate tart with a simple ganache filling would be more practical. This time I followed a tested recipe for an almond flour crust (adapted for chocolate). A pure ganache filling would have been the easiest option, but felt like too much chocolate. While researching almond-flour crusts, I came across a vegan caramel recipe made from dates. It reminded me of dairy-free cacao-caramel bites I’d made earlier from Donna Hay’s Modern Baking—soft dates blended with nut butter, coconut oil, and cacao. Those bites had been an unexpected hit with friends, so the idea of a date-based caramel for the tart stuck with me.
Since I was already making a gluten-free, dairy-free crust (thanks to coconut oil), I went all in. The result is a vegan, gluten-free tart that’s surprisingly successful: sweet and satisfying without being overly sweet. The only refined sugar comes from the dark chocolate used in the ganache. Best of all, it released from the tin easily. It’s likely the quickest, simplest tart I’ve made. A heads-up: the “caramel” is in quotes because it has a wholesome, date-forward flavor—less like a traditional cooked caramel and more like a rich, fruit-sweet layer. The thick vegan ganache provides a satisfying counterpoint of decadence. I used high-quality chocolate for the ganache—the result is noticeably better with good chocolate.
Vegan, Gluten-Free Chocolate Caramel Tart
The “caramel” in this dairy-free, gluten-free tart is a smooth mixture of soft dates blended with almond butter, coconut oil, and cacao powder. A vegan chocolate ganache tops the tart for balance and richness. The date caramel is adapted from Modern Baking by Donna Hay; the crust draws inspiration from a popular almond-flour tart recipe.
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 c. / 200 galmond flour
- 1/4 c. /23 graw cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
- pinchsalt
- 3tbspmaple syrup
- 1/4c.coconut oil,melted (plus more for greasing tin)
Date Caramel Filling
- 500gsoft Medjool datespitted
- 75galmond butter
- 1.5tspvanilla paste or vanilla extract
- 5tspcoconut oil,melted
- 21graw cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
- pinchsalt
Vegan Chocolate Ganache
- 224 g / 8 ozdark chocolate (60% to 70%)chopped
- 3/4c.full-fat coconut milk
To finish:
- raw cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
Instructions
Make the crust:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 9-inch tart pan with melted coconut oil. In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, cacao powder, and salt. Add the melted coconut oil and maple syrup and stir until evenly combined. Press the mixture evenly into the tart pan, using a measuring cup or the back of a spoon to compact it along the bottom and up the sides. Bake for 15 minutes, until dry and firm. Allow to cool slightly.
Make the date caramel filling:
When the crust has cooled a bit, place the pitted dates, almond butter, vanilla, cacao powder, melted coconut oil, and a pinch of salt in a large-capacity food processor. Blend until smooth and glossy, scraping down the sides as needed. Transfer the date mixture into the cooled crust and press it into an even layer with a spatula.
Make the chocolate ganache:
Put the chopped dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the full-fat coconut milk until it reaches a simmer, then pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for 30–60 seconds, then whisk until smooth and glossy. Immediately pour the ganache over the date layer and smooth it with an offset spatula. Refrigerate the tart until the ganache firms, at least one to two hours, preferably overnight.
Decorate the tart:
Once chilled, dust the tart with cacao or cocoa powder. Use a stencil if you want a decorative pattern. For clean slices, warm a large, sharp knife under hot water, dry it, and slice the tart, wiping the blade between cuts. Allow slices to come to room temperature for a softer texture before serving.
Recipe Notes
Use the softest, stickiest dates you can find—Medjool dates are ideal for their texture and sweetness. A high-capacity food processor with a strong motor is necessary to achieve a smooth caramel; small or weak processors may struggle. Letting the tart come to room temperature before serving helps the filling lose some firmness and improves the eating texture.
