So chocolate and orange has been on my mind for quite literally months. Pretty much ever since trying a gluten free chocolate orange and hazelnut tart at work; yum! It made me remember how much I love chocolate and orange, especially the ones that come in a tin of Quality Streets. I wasn’t quite sure what form my desired flavour should be expressed in, and therein lies the reason its taken me so long to create this. I kind of wanted to do a cake, but I do sooo many cakes- no seriously, ask everyone I know. But a couple of weekends ago, i was home alone, with nothing much to do, and my parents were hosting a lunch the following day so I decided to make a dessert for them. Something sophisticated, decadent and seasonal (chocolate and orange seems so autumn, its probably the colours).
There was chocolate, duh we’ve just had Easter, a single orange, marmalade and sweet shortcrust pastry. Despite the lack of hazelnuts, I forged on and created this: shortcrust pastry sh
ell filled with marmalade infused chocolate ganache and topped with almonds and candied orange, brushed with orange syrup. My dad swears its the best thing he ever tasted… And yeah I think its pretty good too. If I made it again, I’d up the marmalade in the ganache as most of the orange flavour seemed to come from the candied oranges. And maybe a nice twist would be an addition of Grand Mariner or Cointreau.
Pastry Shell
1 sheet sweet (or standard) shortcrust pastry*, rolled out to fit your tart dish
Prick all over with a fork
Place baking paper onto of the pastry and fill with ceramic pie weights, uncooked rice/beans.
Bake at 180˚C for 25 minutes. After 10 mins remove the weights and baking paper. Your shell should be just browned and crispy.
*Make your own pâte sucre if you want, I normally would but I was feeling lazy
Filling
1/2c marmalade, heated, and strained
200g dark chocolate finely chopped
250 ml heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g white sugar
25g butter
Heat cream, vanilla, sugar and 1/4c marmalade until just boiling and the sugar has dissolved
Pour this over the chocolate, stand for 1 minute, then gently stir until a homogenous mixture is formed
Add the butter and stir until combined
Add the remaining marmalade
Leave to cool until just warm, then pour into the cooled pastry shell
Candied orange
1 orange, sliced
1 1/2c water
1/2 c sugar
Heat the sugar and the water in a large pan until boiling
Add the slices and cook over a moderate heat for 20 minutes.
Cook for a further 15 minutes or until the syrup has reduced to a thick syrup and the oranges are tender.
Cool slices on a plate
Arrange them on the tart as desired, with almonds
Brush the top of the tart with the orange syrup
Baking and Design 