Pomegranate Cake Tarts

Intro: Pomegranate Cake Tarts

I was skimming through all my dessert cookbooks one day. I desperately needed a good party dessert. I stopped to look at a delicious lemon pound cake, some chocolate chip cookies, and a very good-looking pear pie. I was thinking to myself, “Someone should combine all the best parts of those desserts into one!” so then I wouldn't have to make mini pies, cake, and cookies for all my guests.

After some experiments I discovered the perfect combination. I present you with my very own creation to hit taste buds everywhere: Pomegranate Cake Tarts. These delicious tarts combine all the best parts of cakes, cookies, and pies. The merging of all these classic desserts makes this dessert special. The “filling” of the tart is a moist red-velvet-esque pomegranate cake. The crust of the pie is a classic cookie with little hints of white chocolate (if you choose) . And I have the perfect frosting to go along with this too: White Cream Cheese frosting.

I’m proud to say I created this recipe and I’m glad to share it with all of you so party it up with Pomegranate Cake Tarts.

Don’ they look delicious? Well I love all my photos that I took of my final product this time but I want to know what you guys think. Leave a comment saying which one you like best!

Please vote for this instructable in the Sodastream Party Food Contest!

STEP 1: Ingredients

Well I know you’re anxious to get started ;) , so here’s what you need to make these yummy tarts:

For the cake:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup of pomegranate juice
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the cookie:

• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 5 tablespoons of finely chopped white chocolate

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar
• 1 package (or 8 oz) of softened cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

STEP 2: Creaming the Butter

Gather all the ingredients for the cookie part of the dessert. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large mixing bowl, add the 1/2 cup of butter (or 1 stick) with the brown and regular sugar. Make sure the butter is softened a bit. You can leave it out at room temperature for about 10 minutes or heat it up for 20 seconds in the microwave.

STEP 3: Adding the Other Ingredients

After the mixture looks like a crumble, add the 2 cups of all-purpose flour, along with the salt and baking powder. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes pr just until the mixture starts clumping up a bit. Add the egg, vanilla, and chocolate to the mixture as well.

STEP 4: Rolling and Baking

Roll out the dough on a floured surface and make sure your rolling pin is floured as well. The dough shouldn’t be too thick (just thick enough to prevent ripping). Use a bowl that has around a 4 inch diameter to cut circles in the dough. Grease a cupcake tin with melted butter. This step is very important; you don’t want those gorgeous cake tarts to stick to the pan! Put each of the circles in its own cupcake spot and even out the sides (like you would do when making mini pies or tarts). Make sure the cookie goes all the way up the sides. Place the cookies in the oven for 10 minutes. Don’t worry if they’re not done because they are going in the oven again after adding the cake mixture.

STEP 5: Making the Cake

Now for the cake part. Gather all the ingredients for the cake (use the measurements for the cake part ). Add all three eggs and the cup of sugar and blend until creamy. Sift your flour and add it to the mixture. Add the vanilla too. Beat until well combined.

STEP 6: Adding the Juice

Add the cup of pomegranate juice to the mixture and beat on high for 30 more seconds. Add the baking powder and the melted butter and mix until well combined.

STEP 7: Baking the Cake

Take the cookies out of the oven after the 1o minutes. If they have risen up use a fork to flatten them out a bit. Pour the cake batter into each of the cookie crusts. It’s okay to overfill the crust a little (as long as you greased the pan well). Put the tarts into the oven for about 5 minutes or just until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cake. Let cool.

STEP 8: Making the Frosting

Gather the ingredients for the frosting while waiting for the tarts to cool. Cream the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a mixer until smooth and insert into a plastic bag or piping bag.

STEP 9: Finish!

You’re done! Whew what a journey. :) I had so much fun coming up with this recipe and in the end it paid off! You should have seen my beaming face when I took these cake tarts out of the oven. They are so cute and when you bite into them its a mixture of crunchiness and moistness. I love the contrast of it and the two layers are appealing visibly too! Pomegranate Cake Tarts are the epitome of desserts: A combination of the best desserts that everyone loves definitely did not disappoint. Try making these sometime and with that cream cheese frosting, these are sure to please anyone who has any inkling of a sweet tooth.

Make these at your next party and I'm sure your guests will love it. Perfect finger food!

Enjoy!

Comments

[susanchen2011]

look delicious!

[jen7714]

Thank you!

[smilyme3]

hi

i was just wondering how many cupcakes will this recipe make?

[jen7714]

When I made the recipe, it made 12 cupcakes, but it will vary.

[Jareth247]

Pomegranate FTW!!!!!

[jen7714]

Yes definitely!

[conversegirl]

WOW! that picture looks amazing! it looks like a picture even my mom would love! and she's a pro photographer! she also has a few pictures of food. You can find her work at:

http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/gallery.asp?memberID=47447&pageID=1&rows=30&style=

good work!

[jen7714]

WOW! :) Thank you for such the nice comment! It took a while but I guess the effort in the picture paid off :) And your mom's work is great! I'm no professional but I definitely love her pics.

Thanks again! (Will I get a vote for the SodaStream Contest? :)

[Beauty Queen]

definately!!!! lol i know its spelled wrong!

[jen7714]

Thank you! :) Hoping for a vote?

[soulexposed]

I tried this and it turned out fairly well, but there are a few things I'd suggest:

- It looks like you haven't finished this instructable... steps 7 & 8 don't have any instructions in them. You also don't specify how long to cook the tarts once the cake mix is added.

- I followed this recipe to the letter and ended up having to change it a bit because the cookie dough was too crumbly/dry (add less flour or add another egg to compensate). You didn't mention where to add the white chocolate in the instructions... so I just added it with the cookie dough since that's where it was listed in the ingredients.

- I was a bit confused at the way you added ingredients together; typically in baking all the wet ingredients are mixed first, the dry ingredients are mixed separately and then both are combined together. Is there a reason you added things together in the order you specified? It made it a bit difficult to mix.

Nevertheless these are very tasty. :9

[jen7714]

First of all thank you for the comment :)

-I definitely remember writing steps 7 and 8 so the explanation for that is a bug (most likely). I will definitely fix it (thank you for pointing it out) and hope it doesn't happen again. Also in the instructable it says, "Put the tarts into the oven for about 5 minutes or just until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cake. Let cool." I think that got deleted with the rest of the instructions for the two deleted steps.

-I fixed the white-chocolate-in-cookie-dough issue and when I made the recipe, the dough was actually a bit on the soft side. The recipe you see here is after I added the flour. Maybe the climate? :) I hope it worked out!

-Was that referring to the cookie part or the cake part? For the cake, I generally like giving the eggs a whirl first (I feel it adds a bit more "air” to the cake). The cookie part, I used a technique loosely based on the "cutting in" technique for pie crusts.

Thanks! I hope you have some pictures to show me :) Will I get your vote for the SodaStream Contest?

[bigmama1079]

I love being a critic, but I honestly can't find anything bad to say about this. Everything looks absolutely amazing, and I desperately want to make a batch of these. It's just starting to get warm where I live, so local pomegranate supplies are dwindling, and I may have to go and buy (gasp!) imported produce just so I can make these. Maybe I'll even fold some of the arils into the frosting, like little explosive jewels...

I want.

[jen7714]

Thank you for such the nice comment! And you should definitely make a batch (and post some pictures so I can see them :) ! I love fresh pomegranate so local or imported, I always grab a bunch. I was thinking of adding the arils to the frosting but I had this perfect white frosting picture in my head, so that didn't happen. :) You should definitely go for it though. Thanks again for the great comment :)

(P.S - I would give you some virtual ones...but they're all gone :P)

[Kiteman]

Wow - that first photo actually made my mouth water!

If you have any special techniques for photographing food, you ought to share those in another Instructable.

[jen7714]

Aww thanks Kiteman :D You should try your hand at making them sometime.

And I actually never thought of that before...Hmm I'm no expert but maybe I can put one together sometime. Have to take some more picture first :) Thanks for the great idea!

[ChrysN]

Looks delicious!

[jen7714]

It definitely was :) Yum!

[Carleyy]

Wow great picture! Totally caught my attention!

[jen7714]

Thank you so much! That really means a lot :)