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Spiderweb Pumpkin Tart

Spiderweb Pumpkin Tart
This Spiderweb Pumpkin Tart has a spooky look to it that makes it perfect for Halloween. A black spiderweb covers the top of the tart – and the design is surprisingly easy to make for something that delivers such a “wow” factor when you’re ready to serve it.

The tart filling is much like the filling for pumpkin pie, but a little bit denser. A thicker filling allows the design to hold its shape easily here. A small portion of the filling is separated out from the rest of the batch and mixed with some cocoa powder. The cocoa powder is just enough to give it a nearly black color, but it doesn’t give the finished tart much flavor because only a very small amount of filling is colored. The colored batter is piped on to the plain batter in a big spiral, and to make the design all you need to do is slowly run a toothpick from the center of the pan to the sides, straight through the filling and the swirl. I recommend gently tapping the pan on the counter a few times to smooth out any grooves that you might have made with the toothpick before baking.

The tart has a warm, spicy pumpkin flavor. It’s a much thinner layer of filling than you would find in a pumpkin pie, so it is less custardy than a pumpkin pie traditionally is. You also have a nice ratio of crust to filling with this tart. I definitely recommend using a buttery, shortbread tart crust or something like my Maple Sugar Shortbread Tart Crust, which is what I paired with this recipe. A Browned Butter Tart Dough can also be a good option.

I’ve included the instructions for making the spiderweb design in the recipe for the tart. If you don’t want the spiderweb (if you want to make this for Thanksgiving instead of Halloween) design on top, just skip over that part and pour the entire pumpkin batter into the tart shell. You won’t need to change the baking time at all.

Update: Check out my video demo of the spiderweb technique.

Pumpkin Tart Slice

Spiderweb Pumpkin Tart
tart dough for one 9 or 10-inch tart pan
1 1/2 cups (15-oz) pumpkin puree
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350F.
Roll out tart dough and press into 9 or 10-inch tart pan (or simply press dough into the pan if you are using a crust that does not need to be rolled). Chill dough will filling is prepared.
In a large bowl, or a food processor, blend together 1 1/2 cups (15-oz) pumpkin puree, milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice and salt until smooth and well-combined.
Transfer 1/4 cup of batter to a small bowl and whisk it together with the cocoa powder until smooth. Transfer to a small ziploc bag or a piping bag.
Pour the pumpkin batter into the prepared tart shell.
Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag containing the chocolate filling and pipe a large spiral (4-5 rotations) over the top of the plain pumpkin filling.
Take a toothpick and, starting at the center of the tart, drag it gently through the filling towards the outer crust to create the spiderweb. I generally divide the tart in quarters, then divide those again to create a large web. Gently tap the pan on the table to smooth out any grooves in the filling.
Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until the filling has set and the crust is a light golden brown.

Serves 10.

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4 Comments
  • Linda
    October 17, 2012

    That looks amazing. I’m always so intimidated about pies or tarts due to the crust but saw your maple sugar one and wanted to try that and when I saw this one (before reading through it) thought “I’ll bet that maple sugar crust would be great with this pumpkin filling”. Now I have to try both. And that browned butter one. I love browned butter now after using it in a browned butter banana cake that I believe I got here as well. Thanks for a beautiful idea with the spider web design too. I love doing that for the holidays.

  • Katrina
    October 17, 2012

    That looks awesome and delicious, Nicole!

  • Jessica
    October 18, 2012

    Looks like the perfect sophisticated (yet fun!) dessert for Halloween night.

  • Katie
    October 31, 2012

    I made this for my colleagues today and it was a total hit! People love the filling to crust ratio and everyone commented on how pretty the spiderweb design was. I will probably make this in the future for Thanksgiving (minus the spiderweb design) instead of typical pumpkin pie.

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