Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart

I am now a Daring Baker and I have the scars to prove it.  My first challenge was this Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart chosen by  Veronica and Patricia .  The first thing was to make the pastry case. Which I did in my removable base tart pan. All was going smoothly until I removed the pan from the oven. Somewhere between oven and bench my hand ended up in the wrong place and I saw the middle of the pastry case rise up in the air. I could cope with picking up the beans used in the blind baking but there was no way I wanted pastry crumbs all over the kitchen floor. In my attempt to catch the pastry, which I did successfully, the outer ring ended up halfway down my arm between wrist and elbow, leaving a long double lined burn on  my inner arm.

The pastry case was rescued with a couple of cracks in the crust. I knew if I used it for the caramel layer I would end up with most of the caramel on the bottom of my oven. Luckily there was plenty of pastry and certainly enough for a second pastry case, this time in a ceramic dish.

Reading the others comments on the special Daring Bakers website, who had been there ahead of me on the caramel making front, I was a bit nervous about the dry caramel method.  Using a heavy based  saucepan on a heat mat placed over the gas flame I melted the sugar very slowly. I looked away for a moment and it went a little darker than planned.  Not a bad thing though as I liked the end result of the caramel layer.

Then wearing my rubber washing up gloves and a long wooden spoon I added the cream which I had heated first. It didn't spit or hiss but quietly blended itself into the caramel. There were a few lumps but they dissolves as I stirred.

The chocolate mousse layer looks a little dark because although the packet said milk chocolate it was more dark than milk.

Finally the toffee layer on the top. This time I watched it carefully as the sugar melted slowly  and bubbled to hard caramel perfection.

Personally I didn't like the  tart. Far too sweet for me, too many flavours clashing in the pastry, and I didn't like the texture of  the chocolate mousse. The men in the house couldn't get enough of it, the nieghbours enjoyed it and I've been craving savoury ever since I ate my slice.  I did enjoy the left over toffee though.

The Daring Bakers is the brainchild of Ivonne  and Lisa . Thank you  Ivonne for inviting me to join this lovely bunch of baking bloggers. And a big thank you to Veronica and Patricia  for hosting the August challenge.