Chocolate Orange Tarts

Heya guys, this recipe is a bit more involved that some of my previous ones but the end product looks amazing and tastes out of this world. Overall this tart consists of a chocolate sweet shortcrust pastry, filled with a baked chocolate orange ganache filling, leveled off with a milk chocolate ganache and topped with a stabilised whipped white chocolate mascarpone ganache (In a two tone colour).

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% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Make pastry by; beating icing sugar, butter and salt together until it forms a nice smooth paste.

Step 2

Then add the egg yolks (3) and mix until combined (may look a bit curdled)

Step 3

Then add the plain flour and cocoa powder and incorporate it to form a crumbly chunky dough that sticks together.

Step 4

Form a disk with the dough. Then place dough between two pieces of parchment/baking paper floured and roll it out nice and thin. Refrigerate the thinned pastry till hardened (around 20-30 minutes).

Step 5

Remove from the fridge and cut the desired shapes from the pastry, place these into the tart pan (or pans) and freeze for 20-30 minutes until solid.

Step 6

Preheat oven to 175 °C, then line tart with parchment/baking paper and add pie weights or dried beans and blind bake for 12 minutes. After the time, remove baking paper and weights, add an egg wash and then return to oven and bake for a further 8 minutes (should be light in colour not too golden brown as its going to cook again)

Step 7

Remove from the oven and leave to cool before using

Step 8

Make baked ganache filling: Bring the 150 ml cream to a simmer, remove from heat and pour over the 170 g chocolate, mix using a spatula until the mixture is smooth (make sure to do this slowly to avoid incorporating air bubbles into the mix). Then add the orange zest, juice and salt and mix together until combined. Then add the beaten eggs to the filling and mix until smooth and combined.

Step 9

Remove air bubbles by tapping bowl before sieving into tart case. (If available use a blowtorch to remove surface bubbles before putting it into the oven)

Step 10

Bake at 160 °C for 10-16 minutes until the filling is set (should be some bubbles at the sides, the middle is still slightly wobbly and the surface is glossy) (if any large bubbles/cracks are forming on the surface take the tart out straight away as it indicates it’s becoming overbaked) cool tart completely to room temp before refrigerating for 2-3 hours to completely set

Step 11

Make ganache: Put 100 ml cream into a pan and heat it up until it starts to simmer

Step 12

Chop the 150 g chocolate into small fine pieces and place into a bowl with butter and salt, add the cream and let it sit for 1-2 minutes before slowly mixing to fully combine the ingredients (optionally emulsify using an immersion blender after letting it sit)

Step 13

Pour through a sieve onto the baked tarts, level off with a palette knife and clean the edges. Then leave to chill in the fridge 2-3 hours.

Step 14

Make stabilised whipped ganache: Put 300 ml cream into a pan and heat it up until it starts to simmer

Step 15

Chop the 100 g chocolate into small fine pieces and place into a bowl with butter, salt, mascarpone and set gelatine. Add the cream and let it sit for 1-2 minutes before slowly mixing to fully combine the ingredients (optionally emulsify using an immersion blender after letting it sit)

Step 16

Cover the ganache with clingfilm, making sure it touches the skin and leave to fully cool overnight. Then whip to soft/firm peaks before piping onto the tart case (I coloured some of my ganache for a two tone colour effect).

Step 17

Top and decorate the tarts with blobs of milk chocolate and some orange peel.