This vegan mandarin curd tart is like your classic lemon curd tart with a twist of sweet mandarins! It has a classic shortcrust pastry and is filled with a sweet and tangy mandarin curd which is bursting with flavour. I included a gluten-free option as well!
I originally made this vegan mandarin curd tart recipe in 2018. Since then, I’ve written a cookbook and developed a lot as a chef so it only made sense for me to update this recipe!
Let’s chat about all the different components.
Vegan shortcrust pastry with a gluten-free option
I’ve never been a huge fan of vegan butter so created a pastry using a light-tasting liquid oil. I prefer using sunflower oil or refined coconut as they are affordable and don’t have a strong taste. However, you can use regular coconut oil or olive oil if you prefer!
It’s definitely easier to make the pastry with plain or all-purpose flour. It has gluten which allows the ingredients to ‘bind’ more easily. However, I know lots of my readers opt for gluten-free treats so I included a delicious option for you. If you’ve ever made gluten-free pastry, it often tastes horrible and like cardboard. To overcome this, I substituted a lot of the gluten-free flour with delicious almond meal. Ground almonds are high in fat so creates a beautiful crumb when used in pastry!
How do you make vegan mandarin curd?
This mandarin curd has no eggs and butter but is STILL creamy, delicious and melts in your mouth! But how?
- Coconut cream is high in fat and has a lovely mouthfeel. This mimics the creaminess traditionally provided by the fat in eggs and butter.
- Corn starch helps thicken liquids and provides a similar texture to custard made with eggs.
- Agar agar powder to help set the filling, which substitutes eggs which help set curds.
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
This post and recipe was originally published in 2018 on Rainbow Nourishments but was updated in 2019.
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Mandarin Curd Tart
Ingredients
Crust
- 3/4 cup (120g) plain flour, or gluten-free flour blend*
- 1/4 cup (65mL) light-tasting vegetable oil, such as sunflower or rapeseed
- 1/4 cup (60mL) water
- 1/2 cup (50g) blanched almond meal
- 3 tbsp (40g) organic cane sugar, or coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp (24g) ground chia or flax seeds
Mandarin curd
- 1 cup (240mL) mandarin juice and zest of those mandarins, (about 4 small mandarins)
- 1/2 cup (120mL) canned coconut cream**
- 1/2 cup (100g) organic cane sugar
- 2 tbsp (14g) corn flour or corn starch
- 2 tsp (6g) agar agar powder
To decorate
- 1 (125g) medium-size mandarin, peeled and segments sliced in half lengthways
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line the base of a 25cm (10-inch) tart pan and brush the sides with oil.
- To make the crust: Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix until evenly combined. The dough should be soft but pliable and can be pinched between two fingers without breaking. If it is too wet, add more flour and mix until it's pliable. If it is too dry, add more water and mix until it's pliable.
- For the crust with gluten: Dust a clean surface with flour. Use a rolling pin to flatten the pastry to about 3 mm (1/8 inch) thick and a circle slightly bigger than your tart pan. Wrap the pastry around the rolling pin and carefully unwrap the pastry over the tart pan. Press the pastry against the pan to form a crust and cut off any excess.
- For the gluten-free crust: Add the crust ingredients directly into the tart pan. Press the pastry against the pan to form a crust and cut off any excess.
- For both crusts: Bake the crust in the oven for 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Set aside and cool.
- To make the mandarin curd: Add all ingredients to a medium-size saucepan. Use a stick blender to blend the ingredients until they are smooth. Heat and stir the mixture over medium heat until it has thickened.
- When the filling has slightly cooled down, pour the mixture into the pie tin. Set it aside in the fridge to set for about 2 hours.
- To serve: decorate the tart with mandarin segments and enjoy!
Notes
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Made it for a dinner party with friends and it was super well received! Very tasty! I sub date sugar for the cane sugar in the crust, so mine was a little darker in color and not as sweet and for the oil, I used avocado oil as that is what I had on hand. I also added some orange juice to the tangerine juice to get to the right quantity called for in the recipe. Beautiful and so tasty!!!! It was surprisingly fast to make.
Sooooo glad to hear Federica and thanks for your lovely comment! It’s great that you were able to use date sugar and avocado oil instead! Glad you and your guests enjoyed it 🙂
Can I use those little clementines called cuties?
We don’t have cuties in Australia but a very similar clementine/mandarin – I’d say they’d be perfect!
I’m not a big fan of sunflower seeds. Could I sub it with almonds?
Yes absolutely!