Blood Orange Tart with Vanilla Mascarpone

A gorgeous blood orange tart in a rich pie crust with fresh slices of blood orange and a creamy mascarpone and vanilla cream filling.

I’m stepping away from my typical Mexican-inspired posts today and reaching back into my pastry chef past to bring you a blood orange tart that I think would be beautiful for Valentine’s Day.

I made this blood orange tart for an Italian Polenta Party we went to a couple weeks back at Aida’s house. It was so much fun and such a great way to get together with friends to break up the winter monotony. I’ll be bringing you lots more photos and recipes from the party later this week.

Anyhoo, I was asked to bring a dessert and wanted to stick with the Italian theme which is not hard for me since I love Italian food with all my heart and soul. Did I tell you guys we are going to Italy this summer? Specifically Rome, so please send all your recommendations. I’ll be eating everything. Like Hiro says, “Gelato for breakfast!!!”

This tart is really lovely and shows off winter’s beauty, the blood orange. A vixen of a citrus, the blood orange oozes seduction, making this a perfect dessert to make for your sweetie on Valentine’s Day—chocolate, shmocolate.

Blood Orange Tart Tips

The crust is my standard pie dough, but I added an egg yolk to give it richness and an extra crisp snap which is a beautiful contrast to the silky mascarpone filling which, get this, requires no baking of any kind. Just whip the sweet, creamy cheese with a little zest from one of the blood oranges, some sugar, and vanilla and spread it into the tart shell.

The last step is to remove all the peel and white part (pith) from a few blood oranges so they can be sliced into perfect little slices, if you need a visual, watch this video here.

Blood Orange Mascarpone Tart

A gorgeous blood orange tart in a rich pie crust with fresh slices of blood orange and a creamy mascarpone and vanilla cream filling.

• Author: Kate
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 50 mins
• Yield: 12 1x

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

For the Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 5–6 tablespoons ice water

For the Filling:

• 2 cups (1 pound) mascarpone cheese
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• Zest of 1 blood orange
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 5 blood oranges
• rosemary, for garnish (optional)

Equipment:

• 1 (10-inch) tart pan

Instructions

For the crust:

1. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Add butter pieces and toss to coat in flour. Using a pastry cutter, blend the blend the butter into the flour until it is in tiny pebble-like pieces.
2. Add egg and 5 tablespoons of ice water and work the liquid into the flour mixture with your hands, squeezing it into the flour until it is uniformly moist and the dough holds together when you squeeze some in your hand. Add more ice water, a tablespoon at a time if needed.
3. Gather dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Press dough into a disk and refrigerate for at least and hour and up to 2 days.
4. On a lightly-floured surface roll dough into a 1/4-inch thick circle. Gently press dough into a 10-inch tart pan. Trim dough flush with the top edge of pan. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
5. Heat oven to 375°F. Prick bottom of dough all over with a fork. Place on a baking sheet and bake 20 minutes.
6. Halfway through baking, remove from oven and poke any air holes that have formed, pressing gently on the crust with the back of a fork until it is flat. Do it again when the crust comes out of the oven. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Crust can be made up to a day in advance. Cover cooled crust tightly with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature.

For the Filling:

1. Combine mascarpone, sugar, blood orange zest, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until stiff and fluffy.
2. Remove all peel and white pith of the blood oranges with a pairing knife then cut into 1/4-inch thick slices.
3. Spread mascarpone evenly over cooled tart shell then arrange blood orange slices on top. Garnish with rosemary if you’d like. Serve immediately.

Did you love this recipe? I want to know! Leave me a comment and snap a photo for Instagram. Tag @holajalapeno so I can see your beautiful creation! Your feedback is super important to me. If you run into trouble shoot me a message on Instagram and I’ll walk you through it.

Also, don’t forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter, lots of good stuff there too!

A big thanks to Salt+Wind for all the photos and Melissa’s Produce for the beautiful blood oranges.