Gluten-free chocolate tart with orange cream. Versione italiana. Thanks to the presence of butter and egg in the dough, in these cases it is easy to obtain a good result even without adding thickeners, because the dough will still tend to be compact and easily workable, just like a pastry prepared with traditional flour.
In this case, I used Mulino Marello’s mix of gluten-free flours for pies and biscuits, perfect for this type of preparation. I then added bitter cocoa to obtain a chocolate shortcrust pastry. Cocoa in nature is obviously gluten-free, but in processing it may have come into contact with some substance that instead contains it. Therefore it is always good to check that it is certified gluten-free.
The pastry is cooked without filling, so it is good to make holes with the tines of a fork, before cooking it and then fill it, once cold, with the orange cream and the chocolate ganache. If you want you can then decorate with orange peel or candied orange slices, to obtain a result that is also beautiful to the eye.
Gluten-free chocolate tart with orange cream
Ingredients: (chocolate shortcrust pastry – round tart 24-26cm)
- 240g Blend of gluten-free flours for pies and biscuits
- 20g unsweetened cocoa powder (gluten-free)
- 120g butter
- 100g powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch of salt
Ingredients: (orange cream)
- 4 egg yolks
- 140g sugar
- 45g corn starch (gluten free)
- 500ml milk
- 70ml orange juice
- Grated zest of one orange
Ingredients: (chocolate ganache)
- 200g dark chocolate
- 200ml fresh liquid cream
- 1 knob of butter
Directions: (chocolate shortcrust)
- Let’s start by preparing the chocolate shortcrust pastry, placing the mixture of gluten-free flours, icing sugar, bitter cocoa and a pinch of salt in a bowl.
- Then mix everything with a fork, before adding the cold butter cut into small pieces. At this point, with your fingertips, start rubbing flour and pieces of butter, trying not to hold the dough too much in your hands, so that it does not heat up. You will need to get a sandy compound.
- Add a lightly beaten egg and continue to knead. The egg should make the dough easy to knead and allow it to form a loaf.
- Then roll out the pastry with the help of a rolling pin so as to obtain a disc with a diameter of about 6-8 cm larger than that of your pan.
- Arrange the disc over the pan, make the edge adhere well to the side walls and then remove the excess dough, with which you can make some biscuits, so as not to waste it. As a pan it is good if you have a non-stick pan with a removable bottom, suitable for tarts, otherwise you can lightly grease it or cover it with baking paper, to facilitate extraction after cooking.
- Then make small holes in the base of the dough with the tines of a fork. This will ensure that the dough does not swell once it is put to bake in the oven.
- Then cook in a static oven, preheated to 180° C for about 15 minutes. Then remove from the oven and allow to cool well before removing from the mold and start stuffing.
Directions: (orange cream)
- While the pastry is cooking and cooling, prepare the orange cream. In a saucepan pour the milk, the orange juice and bring everything to just touch the boil.
- Separately, in a larger pan, quickly beat the egg yolks with the sugar with a hand whisk and sift the cornstarch directly into the bowl. Stir to incorporate the starch well.
- Then pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, slightly cultured and stirring with a whisk to dilute it.
- Put the saucepan on the stove and let it thicken over low heat, stirring constantly with the whisk.
- When the cream has thickened, let it cool completely before using it for the filling. Since we used cornstarch, it shouldn’t take long for it to thicken (e.g. 10-12 minutes). I recommend, however, not to try to speed up the times by raising the fire, otherwise you could ruin everything.
Directions: (chocolate ganache)
- To prepare the chocolate ganache, melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave, together with the cream and butter.
- Mix well as the chocolate melts, to obtain a nice shiny ganache without lumps.
- Allow to cool almost completely before using for filling. Keep stirring from time to time, to avoid a hard film forming on top of the chocolate, which could ruin the final effect.
Directions: (Gluten-free chocolate tart with orange cream composition)
- The time has come to compose the tart. Start by pouring the orange cream into the cooked tart. Depending on how high the edge of the tart is and the diameter of the pan, you may not have to use all of it. In general, at least 4-5mm of edge should remain, beyond the level of the cream.
- Then switch to the chocolate ganache, pouring it over the orange cream and leveling it well with the help of a spoon or pastry spatula. The ganache should come flush with the edge of your tart.
- Garnish with some orange peel or a few candied orange slices, to make your tart even more beautiful and fragrant.
