Maggie beer’s coffee vincotto chocolate tart with bitter oranges

By: Lyndey Milan
From: Taste of Australia
Serves: 6-8
Prep: 45 mins
Cooking time: 25 mins
Photographer: Stuart Scott

Maggie Beer is a cook, food author, TV personality, restaurateur, businesswoman, food manufacturer and friend. When I was visiting, I asked her to share a dessert recipe with me. She recommends serving this rich tart with her Bitter Oranges in Spiced Verjuice Syrup or candied cumquats. I have developed my own spiced orange recipe here.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
80g	bitter oranges, in spiced verjuice syrup (or see below to make your own) or candied cumquats
	ice cream, to serve (optional)

Sour cream pastry

Quantity	Ingredient
125g	unsalted butter
160g	plain flour
pinch	salt, (optional)
60g	sour cream

Chocolate filling

Quantity	Ingredient
200g	dark chocolate 70% cocoa, chopped
100ml	thickened cream
15ml	strong coffee
15ml	vincotto

Spiced oranges

Quantity	Ingredient
125g	sugar
125ml	verjuice
125ml	water
1 teaspoon	lemon juice
2	small oranges, very thinly sliced in rounds
1	cinnamon stick
1	bay leaf

Method

To make the pastry, dice the butter then pulse with the flour (I like to add a pinch of salt) in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the sour cream and continue to pulse until the dough starts to incorporate into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20–30 minutes before using.
Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Roll out the pastry on a floured surface or between two sheets of baking paper until thin and large enough to fit into a 36 cm x 13 cm x 2 cm greased baking tin. Place the pastry in the tin, trim the edges, top with baking paper and pastry weights and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the baking paper and weights and return to the oven for 10 minutes. If the centre of the pastry is still pale and the edges are browning too much, protect the edges by wrapping a length of foil over them. Return to the oven for a further 2 minutes or until golden in the centre. Cool the tart case before filling.
For the chocolate filling, place the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over simmering water, ensuring the water does not touch the base of the bowl or get into the chocolate. Stir gently until melted. Meanwhile, place the cream, coffee and vincotto in a microwave-safe pitcher and microwave on Low for 50 seconds or until warm. Add the warm cream mixture to the melted chocolate and mix until smooth. Pour into the cooled tart and allow to cool at room temperature for 2 hours.
If you are making your own spiced oranges, combine the sugar, verjuice, water and lemon juice in a medium saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the oranges, cinnamon stick and bay leaf and bring to a simmer for 15 minutes. Remove and discard the cinnamon and bay leaf. Remove the oranges and set aside. Bring the syrup to a gentle boil for 5 minutes or until the liquid has reduced and is thick and glossy.
Pour the syrup over the oranges and allow to cool until the tart is ready to serve.
When set, arrange the drained spiced oranges on top of the tart. Cut into slices and serve with ice cream, if desired.

Wine

This is an intensely rich hit of chocolate, so a liqueured muscat or topaque works well. But, as a Barossan dish, try a sparkling shiraz.

Lyndey’s note

Blind baking prevents the pastry from shrinking and/or rising too much. Although you can buy fancy pastry weights, I just keep a container of rice or dried beans especially for this purpose, and also freeze my pastry in the tin first. Maggie used a 26 cm x 8 cm x 4 cm tin when she made hers.