I’ve been baking pretty hard-core for the last two years, and it wasn’t until two weekends ago that I finally made a tart. I don’t know what’s kept me from the little single crust short pies, but I finally broke down and bought a tart pan and decided to do something with it.

A game night was organized in New Jersey, and Rob and I (as well as our friends Rich and Paula) made our way to our other friends’ (Steve and Becky) house and I knew it was the perfect opportunity to put together a nice tart. I settled on chocolate and then went to work finding something to complement it.

The answer was orange. One of my husband’s favorite flavor combinations is chocolate and orange (I spent the better part of a year desperately trying to find a cookbook that contained an orange-chocolate cookie recipe that I once made for him. I finally found it and copied down the recipe like a smart person.) I knew I’d be using actual orange zest, but I wanted something a little more grown-up. Grand Marnier it was!

(By the way: Did you know Grand Marnier is ridiculously expensive? It is!)

The first step to the tart was making the crust. I found many different options, but finally settled on Smitten Kitchen‘s “Great Unshrinkable Sweet Tart Shell”, especially after reading about Danae‘s trials with shrinking tart shells. I’m happy to say that Smitten Kitchen’s recipe and instructions worked just fine, with the only shrinking happening as the crust pulled away from the tin. No short crusts here!

The next step was heating up some heavy cream and pouring it over six ounces of semi sweet chocolate, then whisking the mixture to a smooth texture. At this point, I added two tablespoons of Grand Marnier and two tablespoons of finely grated orange zest. Grand Marnier is strong! I leaned over the bowl after I stirred it in, took a deep whiff and almost got knocked on my butt. Once both the tart shell and the chocolate had cooled, I poured the chocolate into the shell, covered the tart with plastic wrap and threw it in the fridge.

Upon removal from the refrigerator the next afternoon, the tart looked beautiful. We loaded up the car and I held the tart on my lap for the roughly 80 minute drive. Sadly, by the time we got to our friends’ house, the chocolate had started to melt again, and the plastic wrap (which I stupidly had NOT greased), was stuck to the top. When I pulled it off, it left ridges across my once perfectly smooth tart.

No matter. When the time came to dig into the tart, I rubbed a tablespoon of finely grated orange zest into one fourth of a cup of sugar. I whipped a cup of heavy cream to bubbly, foamy-ness and then added the sugar and continued to beat, until I got a nice, lightly sweetened whipped cream. Looking back, I could have added more orange zest, or even some Grand Marnier, because although the whipped cream was very nice, it wasn’t terribly orangey.

The tart seemed to be a big hit with the friends. And now I’ve got most of a bottle of Grand Marnier left with which to experiment. Leave your dessert ideas in the comments!