I’m not really the chocolate type. Well, I like chocolate, but I would always give salty things priority. For example, I also prefer salty popcorn to sweet popcorn, for which I really have to listen to something every time, how you can only do something like that. Salty popcorn is awesome, but that’s not the point right now. It’s about this incredibly delicious chocolate tart with cardamom and a cream of cream cheese, pistachios and a touch of rose water.
Chocolate and cardamom: the dream team!
When it comes to chocolate, it’s always the same with me: once I’ve started, no chocolate bar usually survives the next half hour. From therefore I am really glad that I of myself, usually, do not have the desire for it. So I can also safely devote myself to the preparation of this chocolate tart.
I am always very happy when I am asked about the combination of chocolate and cardamom. That fits together just as well as salt and caramel or Bonnie and Clyde. The concise cardamom harmonizes so incredibly well with the dark chocolate that I really wonder why there is still no version of Ritter Sport of it.
Full of chocolate, but completely without flour
A whole 200 grams of dark chocolate goes into this tart. That’s two bars. Instead of flour, there are just 30 grams of ground hazelnuts. Then a good portion of butter, sugar and eggs are added. That was it then also actually already. There the hearts of all, which do not like gluten, beat faster. The eggs are separated, by the way, and the egg whites are whipped until nice and firm. This makes the chocolate tart even fluffier.
Pistachios and cream cheese: A creamy love story
The cream of ground pistachios and cream cheese is really super quick to make. Just mix all the ingredients together and your topping is ready. Pistachios and cream cheese really go perfectly together anyway. By the way, I opted to go sparingly with the sweetness since the tart is such a sweet chocolate bomb in itself. Instead of the sweetness I gave the cream rather a tiny hint of rose water.
Everything together then becomes in the mouth to a flavor spectacle unparalleled. And depending on whether and what kind of fruit you would like to use for garnish, you can give the whole thing a fine acidity. I opted for persimmon, fig and pomegranate. Either way: I’m sure you’ll love the chocolate tart with cardamom.
Recipe for Chocolate tart with cardamom & pistachio cream cheese

Equipment
- 26 cm diameter springform pan
Ingredients
For the chocolate tart
- 200 g Dark chocolate 75%
- 200 g Butter
- 4 Eggs
- 150 g Sugar
- 30 g Ground hazelnuts
- 1,5 tsp Cardamom
- 1 Pinch of Cinnamon
- 1 Pinch of Salt
For the cream
- 250 g Cream cheese
- 20 g Icing sugar
- 1,5 tsp Rose water
- 25 g Pistachios, ground
Garnish (Optional)
- 1 Fig
- 1/2 Persimmon
- Pomegranate seeds
- Mint leaves
- chopped Pistachios
Instructions
Chocolate tart
- Preheat oven to 180 °C / 365 °F.
- Line springform pan bottom with baking paper.
- Over a water bath, melt chocolate with butter and stir together.
- Separate eggs.
- Beat egg whites with pinch of salt until stiff.
- Beat egg yolks with sugar, cardamom and cinnamon until creamy.
- Slowly mix melted chocolate-butter mixture and ground hazelnuts with egg yolks to form a batter.
- Carefully fold stiff egg whites into the batter.
- Pour the dough into the springform pan and bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes.
- Let baked chocolate tart cool on a cooling rack.
For the cream
- Mix cream cheese with rose water, powdered sugar and ground pistachios to a cream. You can grind the pistachios yourself with a blender if you can't find ground pistachios in the supermarket.
- Spread the cream on the tart and garnish with fruit and a little icing sugar if desired.
Also try Basbousa