Orange, shisho and truffle tart by Carmen Rueda

Ferran Adrià, Olivier Bajard, Janice Wong and Heston Blumenthal are some of the prestigious chefs with whom Carmen Rueda has worked throughout her intense professional career. Born in Salamanca,Spain, she is currently one of the most innovative pastry chefs in the UAE and the executive pastry chef of Brix Desserts in Dubai in 2021.

Rueda acknowledges that she has to explain to customers that “a dessert restaurant is not only sugar or cream. We want them to eat desserts and change their view about heavy desserts. There are plated desserts, shop window cakes, sweets to go, and more. It’s not only based on one kind of pastry, I use my knowledge to create a sweet journey for everyone”. Cakes with aromatic, citric, and intense flavors like the one we share below, decorated with orange segments, mango slices, yuzu pearls, and shisho and basil leaves.

Orange, shisho and truffle tart

Phyllo dough

phyllo dough
butter
icing sugar

Place one layer of phyllo dough on a chopping board. With a brush place butter on it and a very light layer of icing sugar. Place another phyllo layer and repeat the same. Repeat until you get three layers. Cut in a circle shape and place in the mold. Bake at 170ºC for 15 minutes.

Truffle cream

300 g milk
90 g cream
45 g sugar
60 g yolks
25 g corn flour
15 g truffle oil

In a pot, place milk and cream and warm up. In a bowl, place sugar and corn. When the liquids are warm, mix the solids with the yolks and add a bit of the liquid. Mix it well and add the rest of the liquid. Bring to boil and add truffle oil. Cool down. Once it is cool, place in a piping bag and pipe on the tart shells.

Orange jam

100 g orange segments
60 g orange juice
5 g citric acid
20 g sugar
5 g gelatin
8 g orange zest

In a pot, place orange juice and add sugar, citric acid, and gelatin. Add orange segments and orange zest. Cool down and place on top of the pastry cream.

Montage

Place orange segments, shiso leaf, basil leaves, yuzu pearls, and mango slices.