Baked Sunday Mornings: Orange Creamsicle Tart

I probably never would have tried the Orange Creamsicle Tart recipe from Baked Explorations if it wasn't on the Baked Sunday Mornings schedule; I really do not like orange cream soda (or cream soda or any variety, for that matter), which is a major ingredient.  But, happy to expand my horizons for the bakealong, I picked up a four-pack of Virgil's orange cream soda and decided to make this tart for a friend's Memorial Day barbeque.

This tart requires some of advance planning, because there is a lot of chilling and waiting time.  The way the filling came out took me totally by surprise.  I was expecting that it would essentially be orange curd.  I was wrong, because the finished filling has a completely different consistency than fruit curd.  I should have realized that the use of gelatin and the procedure for making the filling (cooking, chilling, whipping, and chilling again) was going to produce something different than a curd.

While I stirred the filling on the stove and waited for it to thicken and reach 180 degrees, I became a little concerned.  The mixture did thicken, but it wasn't creamy and translucent the way I was expecting it to look.  Also, the mixture began to boil when it reached 165 degrees, so I took it off the stove before it reached 180.  After I took the filling off the heat, incorporated the gelatin and lemon juice, and pressed the mixture through a sieve onto a stick of butter, it looked like a opaque pale yellow pudding.  I whisked the filling furiously as directed for several minutes, but saw no discernible increase in volume.

The tart dough was quick to mix together and easy to roll out and press into the pan, despite the recipe's warning that it would be sticky.  Before rolling, I chilled the dough for about 90 minutes, instead of just the 30 minutes specified in the recipe, but I'm not sure if that's the reason my dough wasn't difficult to handle.  The tart shell baked up beautifully, although it did shrink a little.

After the filling had chilled for four hours, I took it out of the fridge and it was gelled into a solid block.  After five minutes of whipping in the stand mixer with the whisk attachment, it significantly increased in volume and became creamy and smooth.  There was the perfect amount of filling to fill the baked and cooled tart shell.

After the filled tart had chilled for about an hour, I made the orange whipped topping, which is just whipping cream, sugar, and orange cream soda.  I was unable to taste any orange flavor in the finished topping.  I used a pastry bag with a closed star tip to pipe the whipped cream onto the tart.  I hadn't really planned to make any particular pattern, but in the end, the mound of overlapping rosettes and stars reminded me of swirling ocean foam.

The filling set firm and the tart was easy to cut cleanly.  D.C. was experiencing a major heat wave on Memorial Day, and the temperature was in the 90s when this tart was served.  The creamsicle tart was the perfect dessert for a hot and muggy day -- even though the filling was set, it was extremely light and airy, like a mousse.  The citrus flavor of the tart was very refreshing and the whipped cream went beautifully with it.  The crust stayed crisp and was not soggy at all (and I did not brush on any melted white chocolate as was suggested in the recipe).  This tart does in fact taste just like a light and airy citrus cream soda.  Everyone really liked it.  And I have to admit: while I can't stomach orange cream soda in liquid form, in this tart, it's refreshingly delicious!

Recipe: "Orange Creamsicle Tart," from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at BAKED Sunday Mornings.