Chocolate Truffle Tart with Grand Marnier

If you're going to make something with this much chocolate, it better be good.

This recipe requires 18 ounces of chocolate, so it's really important to use good quality chocolate. In general, the quality of the ingredients you use is going to make an impact, for better or for worse, on the final product of whatever you're cooking or baking. I feel that this is especially true for chocolate desserts, because in most chocolate desserts, chocolate is the entire point.

Let's take chocolate chip cookies, for example. The cookie part is important mostly because it's a carrier for warm, melty, chocolate. The same is true for fudge brownies and devil's food cake. Most of the other ingredients - butter, eggs, flour, sugar, etc. - are only there to turn really good chocolate into gooey brownies or moist chocolate cake.

There are some desserts in which the quality of the chocolate isn't as important. For example, I almost always reach for the generic store brand of chocolate chips for pumpkin chocolate chip bread or when I want to make a giant chocolate chip oatmeal skillet cookie.

But, don't even bother making a chocolate soufflé  or THIS TART if you're not willing to use the good stuff. 

What Kind of Chocolate Should You Use?

I almost always use Lindt chocolate bars. I buy them in bulk, ordering them from Amazon, and keep a few bars of these three varieties in my freezer at all times:

• Lindt Classic Recipe Milk Chocolate
• Lindt 70% Dark Chocolate
• Lindt 85% Dark Chocolate

I find that with those three varieties on hand, I can achieve whatever level of dark chocolate I desire in a recipe. For this Chocolate Orange Tart, I always use 70% Dark Chocolate because I want the tart to be as deeply chocolate as possible without loosing all of the sweetness. If you want something slightly less dark chocolatey and slightly more sweet, mix in a couple ounces of milk chocolate. For example, you might use 14 ounces of 70% dark and 4 ounces of milk chocolate. 

One word of caution - Don't add more than 4 ounces of milk chocolate to the filling for this tart or the filling won't set. Dark chocolate contains more cocoa butter and cocoa solids than milk chocolate, and you need those things to obtain a thick, sliceable filling for this chocolate tart. If you use too much milk chocolate, the filling will be runny and impossible to slice.

About Grand Marnier and Candied Orange Peel

The orange flavor in this Chocolate and Orange Truffle Tart comes from a few tablespoons of Grand Marnier. If you're not familiar with Grand Marnier, it's a French liquor made from a blend of Cognac brandy, bitter orange, and sugar. It's slightly sweet, with vanilla undertones that smooth out the bitter edges without detracting from the orange flavor. 

My favorite way to use Grand Marnier, besides using it to make a kick-ass Margarita, is to pair it with chocolate. There's just something about the contrast of chocolate and orange, how the fresh, sour, sweetness of orange balances the intensely rich and slightly bitter chocolate, that is so satisfying. (Ok. Addicting might be a more accurate word here. But, we'll stick with satisfying.)

Candied orange peel is one of my favorite things in the world and it's TO DIE FOR on this chocolate truffle tart. It's like a grown-up version of fruit flavored gummy candies. The process for making this tangy, sweet and sour treat is simple - I follow this recipe from Alton Brown. You basically dunk strips of orange peel in boiling sugar syrup and then let them dry. 

But, you can also skip the whole process of making candied orange peel and just order some. I like these from Olive Nation. You can also use these sweetened, dried orange slices from Trader Joes. 

More Recipes for Chocolate Lovers:

• Extra Creamy Chocolate Cream Pie
• Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie
• Sinfully Rich Chocolate Devil's Food Cake
• Chocolate Soufflés with Custard Sauce 
• Gooey Brownie Pie
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake
• Chocolate Blackout Cake
• German Chocolate Cake
• Black Forest Cake

If you give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, or take a picture and tag it #ofbatteranddough on Instagram.

Happy baking!