Sarah Knight, Guest Contributor  

Dreams do come true.  Flour-dusted, chocolate-filled dreams. After 20-plus years as a bankruptcy consultant, Linda Hein was ready to move on. And so she did. Beginning her business by baking wedding cakes, Linda now commands a busy wholesale and to-order business, as well as her new bakery, The Chocolate Tarte, in Somerville.   

Five years after those first wedding cakes, Linda started the journey to open a storefront. Supremely self-sufficient, she is the sole baker, chocolatier, dishwasher, barrista and store clerk at The Chocolate Tarte. Everything is made from scratch, and the only artificial ingredient in the mix is red food dye for the red velvet cake. Why? Linda thinks it makes the food tastes better. In her words, you should “taste what you are eating and it should all taste good.” (Amen).

Not one for trends, Linda prefers classic, subtle flavors, but wants to make sure customers get something at The Chocolate Tarte they can’t find anywhere else. The day I visited, she was offering mini cupcakes in white velvet, red velvet, chocolate and chocolate vegan, fudge brownies and lilac tartes. Linda wants this to be a typical menu, which means rotating flavors and keeping her commitment to baking fresh and outstanding desserts. Her mouth-watering website provides descriptions of all her creations: cakes, tartes, cookies, cupcakes, truffles, homemade marshmallows and dessert catering (currently, she offers vegan cupcakes and cakes and hopes to expand to include gluten-free choices).  

The Chocolate Tarte’s Somerville ‘hood has been nothing but welcoming, Linda says, and while she expected to be able to bake all day and sell a handful of cupcakes, the demand for her delicious wares has been extraordinary, usually selling out by the time the shop closes each evening. After years of her wholesale and by-order business, she enjoys seeing peoples’ faces when they bite into her treats.  

Linda hopes to offer seating soon and Wi-Fi. But these amenities aside, it’s well worth a trip to her shop for some fair-trade organic coffee, tea, mini cupcakes, brownies and tartes. A warning to chocophiles, though: Linda’s fudge brownies will haunt your dreams.