Vegan strawberry chocolate tart

If I haven’t been posting as much lately, it is not because I am losing inspiration or my desire to ingest poorly-advised quantities of sugar, but because the end of the school year is a bitch for wee high schoolers like me. There’s studying for finals, on top of the normal homework load we get each night, on top of preparations for commencement and ceremonies and parties and end-of-year projects that I may or may not be saving for the night before they are due, and so on and so forth. In between all of this tomfoolery, it has been difficult to churn out a few dozen sentences about how majestic this particular creation is for the blog.

And if it’s not too weird to mention on this very public space, I’ve been kind of stressed lately...stuff about school, you know? I would call these past few years of my life “tumultuous”, if that is a good way to describe a preppy white chick’s life as a sugar-addicted teenager. Actually, it’s not. But even first world problems are still problems. It hasn’t been helped by reading a certain Teenage Liberation Book. Seriously: fellow high school students, do not read this book if you want to be happy with your life and feel good going to school every day. It’s probably the most depressing fucking thing I’ve ever read, as someone who has had a traditional education and plans on finishing it out in the normal, societally-approved way.

But never mind. Any “problems” I have floating around in my head these days are tantamount to running out of fair-trade hazelnut cream coffee or getting caught out in the rain while on a relaxing stroll.

And much healthier than dwelling on the bad in the past is dwelling on the good (at least, I think). While browsing through my files the other day, I came upon a fun find—a burger cake. 

Yep.

Two years ago for my brother’s birthday as well as Father’s Day, my mom and I collaborated to make the giant cheeseburger cake you see up there (because the men in our family like burgers, as clichéd as it sounds). It came out pretty rad, if I do say so myself. This was probably the first huge cake project we ever underwent, since it involved three layers of cake and lots of frosting and toppings. The card I made explains the reality of the “burger” pretty well.

Excuse my font choice.

It employed plenty of food coloring and fondant but still tasted incredible. I wish I had some photos of a slice taken out of it to show you, because, shockingly, it actually didn’t fall apart upon cutting into it.

Call it a gateway drug, because I haven’t stopped making cakes since.

Anyway. To change the subject entirely, let’s talk about this tart. 

It isn't exactly a huge layer cake, but whatever.

My friend and I collaborated to make this a couple weeks ago and spent an afternoon putting it together while we watched Mockingjay Part I and watched Sesame Street videos like, say, The Hungry Games.

What? Sesame Street is really on point these days. You can’t argue with that.

The recipe is basically improvised, since we originally wanted to make hand pies but decided that a tart would be easier. The addition of chocolate sauce was my idea since, you know, I love chocolate. Chocolate makes everything better.

Indeed.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any whipped cream to top the tart with (which would have been awesome), but it was still delicious. We polished off quite a big chunk of it together.

So while it might take all afternoon if you procrastinate by watching videos and movies and such, this is a pretty easy little dessert to whip up. Definitely something achievable while cooking dinner or whatever. Not that we were cooking dinner. We just ordered pizza, like good little Americans.

Here’s the recipe.

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Vegan strawberry chocolate tart

Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients

Dough

172 grams • all-purpose flour • 2 cups

208 grams • non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening • 1 cup

6 grams • salt • 1 teaspoon

120 grams • cold water • ½ cup

Filling

228 grams • strawberries, chopped • 1 ½ cups

24 grams • granulated sugar • 2 tablespoons

7 grams • cornstarch • 1 tablespoon

1 recipe chocolate syrup

Directions

To make crust, start by placing flour, shortening, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix with your fingers until the mixture is crumbly. Add cold water and mix until smooth, but do not over-mix. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

Combine ingredients under “filling” (except chocolate syrup) and set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch tart pan and set aside.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Roll out pie dough into a large circle about 1/8-inch thick. Carefully transfer dough to the prepared tart pan and tuck dough into the sides. Pour strawberry mixture into tart.

Bake for about 40 to 45 minutes, until the crust is browned. Pour chocolate syrup on the hot tart; let cool completely before serving. Feel free to chill for a more thickened filling.

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It would be a lot prettier with whipped cream, but whatever.

While you’re here, check out these other strawberry treats I’ve made.

Strawberry pudding tart. Super easy and tasty.

Dark chocolate chunk strawberry muffins. Because dark chocolate makes all muffins better.

Strawberry rhubarb custard bars. A true classic.

Strawberry layer cake. Fresh and delicious.

And you’ll not regret taking a listen to this, which I’ve been obsessed with lately. Sometimes even the blues help lift your spirits.