Gin and Valencian Orange Tonic Chocolate Tart Recipe | AD

Baking cakes isn’t all I do y’know. Occasionally I veer off and bake some other kind of dessert. Mostly chocolate related yes, and mostly I opt for simple but effective recipes. This Gin and Fentimans Valencian Orange Tonic Chocolate tart is one of those desserts that looks like it will take a lot longer than what it really does.

Plus, baking with gin is really fun, you get to test it as you go along… just have some ice on standby 😉

You can make your own pastry if you really want to go ‘all-out’, or you can buy some of lovely pre-made stuff from the supermarket. I won’t lie, I tend to go with the latter.

All this dessert really needs is a little bit of patience. The ganache takes a few hours to set and work it’s magic, but once it does, it’s delicious. My boyfriend can vouch for that… he ate nearly the whole thing in the space of 24 hours!

No soggy bottoms here either!

So, here is the recipe for a sweet shortcrust pastry base tart filled with delicious dark chocolate ganache and flavoured with gin and Valencian orange tonic.

Have a go, it’s easy but dead impressive and your friends and family will love you forever!

Recipe

Pastry Base

– 175g plain Flour, plus extra for dusting
– 100g cold Butter, diced
– 1tbsp Icing Sugar
– 1 Egg Yolk
OR
– 1x pack (350g) sweet shortcrust dessert pastry

Chocolate Filling

– 300 ml double cream 
– 10g caster sugar 
– 50 g unsalted butter, (at room temperature) 
– 250 g dark chocolate, (70%) 
– 2 large oranges (and the rind)
– 20ml of Valencian orange tonic
– 20ml of gin
– 2 pinches of fine sea salt 

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4
2. Roll out the pastry to around the thickness of a £1 coin and use it to line a 24cm greased tart tin. Fix any patches or gaps with excess pastry making sure it’s all smooth and neatly trimmed to the top of the tin.
3. Cover with parchment paper, fill with dried beans and blind bake for 12 to 15 minutes, remove beans carefully and bake again for around 15 minutes, or until golden brown. 
4. Put the cream, sugar and 1 pinch of sea salt into a pan and slowly bring to the boil.
5. As soon as you see bubbles forming and the cream starts to boil, remove off the heat, add the butter and break in the chocolate. Stir until blended and smooth.
6. Leave to cool for around 10 minutes, add the gin and tonic, the juice of the two oranges, and keep stirring till shiny and combined.
7. Pour into the tart shell and leave at room temperature for 4 hours to set. 
8. Sprinkle sea salt flakes and orange rind lightly all over.
9. Chill for 30 minutes before serving with with a scoop of ice-cream or fresh cream.
10. Enjoy!