Caramel Tart
The ULTIMATE salted caramel tart made with a brown butter crust, fresh homemade salted caramel sauce and topped with the most luscious toasted brown sugar meringue.

Itโs that time of year again friends. Where family and friends come together to eat as much pie as they possibly could, itโs pie season!
I know you canโt ever replace the classics like apple pie, pumpkin pie and pecan pie but if youโre willing to make room for a new pie at the dinner table this year, Danish Creamery and I believe this caramel tart is perfect.
And if you have extra room for more new pies at the dinner table, youโll want to try my pumpkin cheesecake, my momโs rustic apple pie or this super indulgent chocolate hazelnut tart.
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Why you’ll love this caramel tart recipe
- Thereโs like 7 total ingredients, including the salt.
- The sweetness of all the caramel is balanced with the savory notes from the brown butter crust, and the salt of course.
- The perfect โmake-aheadโ dessert, just top it with meringue the day of serving. Serves well cold or at room temperature.

Ingredients & substitutions
- Butter: Butter is a main flavor in the caramel and the crust so I used my absolute favorite, of course, Danish Creameryโs European Style Butter with Sea Salt. The butterโs 85% butterfat makes the caramel sauce rich and creamy while the salt really helps balance the sweetness.
- Sugar: I used granulated sugar in the crust and in the caramel sauce. I donโt recommend substituting that.
- I used brown sugar in the meringue for a little extra richness but both brown sugar and granulated sugar work for the meringue.
- Heavy Cream: use room temperature heavy cream or whipping cream so the hot sugar doesnโt splatter as much.
- Flour: I used a little bit of all-purpose flour in the crust. I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale to measure all the ingredients, especially flour.
- Eggs: Use large, room temperature egg whites for the meringue. You can also use pasteurized carton egg whites.
- Vanilla: I recommend vanilla bean paste or actual vanilla beans. If youโre in a pinch, pure vanilla extract works well too.

Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Brown the butter by heating a stick of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. It will melt, bubble, foam and then the milk solids will toast and settle on the bottom. Make sure to read my whole post on browning butter if you havenโt done it before.

Step 2: Make the crust by combining the brown butter with the sugar and flour just until it looks like a dough. Spread it into a shallow greased tart pan and freeze until itโs solid.


Step 3: Blind bake the crust halfway with baking beads, then remove the beads and finish baking. Allow the crust to cool to room temperature.


Step 4: Make the caramel sauce by caramelizing sugar until itโs a dark amber color. Then stir in the butter followed by the heavy cream.
Stir in the salt and vanilla and allow it to cool until itโs not piping hot, about an hour. Pour on top of the cooled crust and allow it to cool completely. Refrigerate until the caramel is set.
If youโve never made caramel sauce, make sure to read my whole post on homemade salted caramel sauce.ย The process and rules are the same but I tweaked the ratio to make it more stiff so it doesn’t leak out the crust when sliced.

Step 5: Make the meringue by gently heating egg whites and sugar over a double boiler, just until the sugar is fully dissolved (eggs are considered safe at 160F (71C) if youโre worried about that). Then beat the egg whites and sugar for about 5 minutes until theyโre super fluffy and no longer warm.


Step 6: Spread meringue on top of the caramel and use a culinary torch to toast the top of the meringue. Serve fresh.

Frequently Asked Questions
You donโt have to brown the butter to make this crust, however since browning butter reduces the overall volume, make sure to reduce the butter in the recipe from 113 grams to about 90-95 grams.ย
Yup, you can use dairy free butter and cream to make the crust and the caramel sauce.
I havenโt tested it with this specific recipe but 1:1 gluten-free flours works for all of my recipes that I have tested so it should be fine. I like Bobโs Red Mill and King Arthur Flour.ย
This caramel tart is perfect for making in advance because most ofย it can be stored in the fridge for several days before serving. However, I recommend making the meringue fresh the day of serving.ย

How to store tart
To refrigerate, cover the tart with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 2-4 days. Serve cold or bring to room temperature 1-2 hours before serving.
I donโt recommend freezing because meringues can easily separate and pie/tart crusts get soggy when they defrost.

Thanks so much for reading todayโs post, if you have any questions just comment down below. Make sure to leave it in the comment section because I canโt answer in the rating section.
If you make my gorgeous caramel tart, Iโd love it if you left a star rating for me. If itโs less than five stars, please leave a comment with the rating so I know why! ๐
As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!
Love, B
Caramel tart recipe
Hi Bernice, can I ask, does the caramel in the tart stay set at room temperature, after it has initially set in the fridge? Or will it liquefy again, and run if cut into slices?
Thanks so much for the gorgeous recipe. Xx
Hi Jasmine, the caramel was fairly hard when it was cold from the fridge so when you bring it back to room temperature it definitely got a little softer but didn’t run out of the tart ๐ just make sure to take the sugar to a dark amber color (like a dark maple syrup not golden like honey) before adding the butter and cream. If the sugar hasn’t cooked enough, it will be more runny.