Like I mentioned in the previous post, I wanted to bake a chocolate tart for a gathering and I chose Anna Olson’s Tarte au Chocolat, but I added a citrus twist to it. It’s apt because it’s the Lunar New Year and oranges are in abundance, though I used the citrus peel version. Here’s the recipe.

(Makes one 9 inch tart)

Ingredients

For the chocolate pastry

  • 120g cake flour
  • 115g unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 25g cocoa powder
  • 60g icing sugar sifted
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp salt

For the orange chocolate filling

  • 250g dark chocolate
  • 60g unsalted butter
  • 60g citrus peel
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 1/2 cup whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup hot espresso
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

  1. Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt and cornstarch in a bowl and set aside.
  2. Cream butter and icing sugar till light and fluffy.
  3. Add the yolks and cream to combine.
  4. Add the sifted flours and mix till just combined.
  5. Shape the dough into a disc and chill in fridge for at least 2 hours or freeze till ready to use. The day before I use the dough, I thaw it in the normal compartment in the fridge and take it out of the fridge 20 minutes before rolling.
  6. Knead the chocolate pastry lightly and roll it out into a round of about 1/4 inches thick.
  7. Line the tart tin with the rolled pastry and trim away the excess. Dork the base of the pastry with a fork and leave to chill in fridge for about 20 minutes.
  8. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and add some baking beans to the chilled dough.
  9. Bake the tart base in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, remove the baking beans and continue to bake for another 5 minutes.
  10. Take the baked crust out to cool and prepare the filling.
  11. Bring the cream and butter to a simmer and pour into the bowl containing the chocolate. Stir to melt the chocolate.
  12. Whisk in the sugar and espresso.
  13. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork and whisk into the chocolate mixture together with the vanilla extract.
  14. Sprinkle the citrus peel onto the cooled tart crust and pour the chocolate filling into the tart crust.
  15. Bake in preheated oven of 180 degrees for about 12 minutes.
  16. Chill in fridge for about 2 hours to set before eating, or overnight.

We ate the tart about 2 days later and it was well set and good. The review was that the tart is not too sweet and the citrus peels is a nice complement for the chocolate.