As the first cold evening of the year turns our desires toward dessert, our tastes shift. Out go the berries and ice cream. In come the warm desserts, the fruit-and-nut tarts and cakes and anything resting on an apple, a pear, a fig, or a squash.
In this collection of Valrhona's five best fall dessert recipes, along with two extras, you'll find a seasonal ingredient translated into an indulgent Valrhona chocolate and a direct link to the full recipe with precise measurements.
Fall Dessert Recipes at a Glance
Recipe |
Chocolate |
Level |
Makes |
Fall Tart with Caraïbe, Chestnuts & Figs |
Caraïbe 66% |
Intermediate |
One 22 cm tart |
Butternut Fondants with Manjari Centers |
Manjari 64%, Ivoire 35% |
Difficult |
8 fondants |
Raw Apple and Caramélia Chocolate Tart |
Caramélia 36% |
Intermediate |
8 tartlets |
Vanilla Cake with Poached Pears |
Ivoire 35% |
Easy |
One 20 cm cake |
Jivara Caramel Nut Tartlets |
Jivara 40% |
Medium |
12 tartlets |
Whirl Dulcey Tart (Bonus) |
Dulcey 35% |
Difficult |
Four 13 cm tarts |
Carrot Cake with Ivoire 35% (Bonus) |
Ivoire 35%, Azélia 35% |
Intermediate |
15 cakes |
The Top 5 Fall Dessert Recipes
1. Fall Tart with Caraïbe, Chestnuts & Figs
A single slice contains dark chocolate, sweet chestnut and fresh figs.
Fall tart: Shortbread with chestnut flour, 22cm round, filled with a hazelnut & chestnut sponge, fresh fig gel, and a light Caraïbe 66% chocolate cream. When assembled, marble the Caraïbe whipped ganache over piped strips of chestnut cream, finishing with diced fig and boiled chestnuts. Bake at 300F as shell base; make all components the day before.
2. Butternut Fondants with Manjari Centers
These cakes have a soft, luxurious, homey sweetness from the squash - and a molten little centre of warm, gooey chocolate.
Butternut Fondants Manjari centres: Whisk Ivoire 35%, icing sugar, safflower flour, egg and butter until soft; add the roasted butternut. Pipe into rounds; in the centre, place a Frozen Manjari 64%, bake at 355° (180°C) for 8 - 10 min. The centre will still be molten. Whip the ganache and serve with warm fondant, almond-hazelnut praline ganache, cocoa-hazelnut streusel and a chocolate crisp.
3. Raw Apple Caramélia Chocolate Tart
No oven necessary, and it's the entire apple, skin and all.
A crisp tart shell made of oats, roasted hazelnuts, and melted Caramélia 36% is filled with a gingerbread spicy mixture of dried fruit and nuts. The tart is then topped with Caramélia whipped ganache and a frozen dome of Royal Gala apple puree. This recipe yields eight individual tartlets. Refrigerate for three hours before removing from the refrigerator and serving; 2 days max.
4. Vanilla Cake with Poached Pears
This is hands down the simplest recipe to make and is a perfect one to try if you are new to this.
Vanilla cake with poached pears. A butter-based sponge is baked with a touch of melted Ivoire 35% around 4 pears poached in vanilla syrup – it takes about 50 minutes to cook in a 20cm tin. Pears are poached for 15 minutes. The cooled cake is then glazed with a shiny glaze made from Ivoire 35%, cream and vanilla extract. The cake is stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days.
5. Jivara Caramel Nut Tartlets
Caramel, milk chocolate and nuts in a crunchy almond shell by the chef Guillaume Roesz.
An almond shortcrust line pastry is filled with a caramel that's crafted from sugar, cream, butter, and Jivara 40% milk chocolate. You fold in walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, and peanuts, although the chef mentions you can use any nuts - "whatever you prefer." It's poured into 12 baked shells as soon as the caramel cools to roughly 80°F, each of which is completed with a touch of sea salt. Room temperature.
Two Bonus Fall Bakes
Whirl Dulcey Tart
The centrepiece of a dinner-party table featuring Dulcey 35%.
Whirl Dulcey Tart - Hazelnut, Walnut & Candied Orange: Four 13 cm tarts with a walnut & hazelnut shortbread base, topped with a fragrant spiced nut cream, vanilla & Timut oil orange filling, finished with swirls of Dulcey 35% whipped ganache, candied orange slices & chopped hazelnuts. As the ganache needs to be refrigerated for 12 hours ahead of time, give yourself enough time! Serves 12 (although it uses Timut in the filling - which is optional). NDA.
Carrot Cake Ivoire 35%
A zero-waste recipe: uses both the fiber and juice of whole carrots.
Beetroot, Carrot Cake with Ivoire 35%, Vanilla and Carrot Whipped Ganache. 15 pcs Cakes using batter resting overnight. Each cake is dipped into a crunchy coating of Azélia 35% milk chocolate and hazelnuts, then piped with whipped ganache Ivoire 35%, carrot juice and vanilla, and decorated with a carrot wafer. Bake in rings for 35 minutes at 340°F. To make purple, simply replace the beetroot in the ingredients with purple.
Baking Tips
Think ahead: much of the fall tart can be done the day before along with the butternut ganache, streusel, and inserts. Bake the fondants at the last minute.
Respect breaks. Both the Whirl Dulcey and raw apple recipes have an overnight rest.
The Chocolates Used in These Recipes
Caraïbe 66%, Manjari 64%, Ivoire 35%, Caramélia 36%, Jivara 40%, Dulcey 35% and Azélia 35%.
To taste, Valrhona chocolate bars are 10.49-10.99 each, and a Dark Chocolate Discovery Box of six Grand Cru squares is $8.49.
Why Bake Fall Desserts with Valrhona
Valrhona has been making chocolate since 1922. These recipes were developed at its pastry school and by chefs and list quantities and temperatures exactly. As a B Corporation, Valrhona has a long-term partnership with cocoa growers and traces its cocoa all the way to the farm.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Which is the simplest fall dessert recipe?
The vanilla cake with poached pears is rated Easy, with 40 minutes of preparation and 50 minutes of cooking.
2. What dessert recipes don't require an oven?
The Raw Apple and Caramélia Chocolate Tart is just that - a base of oat, hazelnut and Caramélia 36%, a frozen apple dome, and three hours in the fridge.
3. Which of these recipes contain apples or pears?
In the raw apple tart, a whole peeled Royal Gala apple is used, and for the pear cake, four whole vanilla-poached pears are baked into the batter.
4. Can I prepare these fall dessert recipes in advance?
The most I would prepare in advance is the fall tart, but you can prep the butternut ganache, streusel, and insert a day before. The carrot cake batter sits overnight.
5. What chocolate pairs with which recipe?
Caraïbe 66% for the chestnut and fig tart, Manjari 64% for the butternut fondants, Caramélia 36% for the apple tart, Ivoire 35% for the pear cake, Jivara 40% for the caramel nut tartlets, Dulcey 35% for the Whirl tart, and Ivoire 35% with Azélia 35% for the carrot cake.
6. How long can these chocolate fall desserts be stored?
The pear cake can be stored for four to five days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The apple tartlets can be stored for two days. The Jivara tartlets can be stored at room temperature.
7. How do I get the butternut fondants to remain molten in the center?
Place the Manjari inserts back in the freezer until the fondants are ready to go in the oven. Then bake the fondants for 8 to 10 minutes at 355°F.
8. May I substitute ingredients in the recipes?
In some. Pumpkin can be used instead of butternut (less sweet and nutty in flavor), Guanaja 70% or Manjari 64% instead of Caraïbe in the autumn tart, any type of nut in the Jivara tartlets, and beetroot instead of carrot in the carrot cake.
