gluten free coconut caramel tart (ANZAC biscuit tart)

gluten free coconut caramel tart (ANZAC biscuit tart)

2 Jun 2025

Yes, you are correct, you have seen this tart before. I made this tart for ANZAC Day and whilst it tasted delicious it caused me all kind of problems. The biscuit layer was too thick which stopped the coconut cake layer from cooking completely even after 45 minutes. 

I don't like a recipe to defeat me and I thought this tart was so nice it was worth the effort involved in remaking the tart. I did make some changes. Firstly, I made a much thinner ANZAC biscuit - about 2mm thick. I then filled the uncooked pastry shell with the coconut cake batter and baked the tart until the cake layer was fully cooked. Once the cake layer was cooked I topped it with the ANZAC biscuit layer and returned the tart to the oven until the biscuit turned a toasty brown. I also made the tart gluten free so I could share the tart with my neighbour and I have to be honest, the gluten free version was better than the original.

Gluten free pastry is a bit tricky to work with. As it doesn't have any gluten the pastry is inclined to crumble and if you don't refrigerate the tart after it's baked, it will collapse. I warn you - do not attempt to unmould the tart until it has cooled completely and rested in the fridge for an hour or two otherwise will end in tears.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 16cm tart, adapted from a Gareth Whitton recipe from Tarts Anon. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20-ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Coconut Caramel Tart (GF) – 16cm tart 

GF pastry
70g gluten free plain flour, plus more for dusting
30g potato starch 
20g tapioca starch 
pinch sea salt flakes
75g cold unsalted butter, cut into small dice
2 to 3 tbs (30-45g) ice-cold water

Coconut caramel
40g coconut cream
95g caster sugar
5g salt
55g milk
45g unsalted butter
approximately 40g dulce de leche

Anzac biscuit
25g butter
5g water
12g golden syrup
30g gluten free plain flour
17g quick oats
30g soft brown sugar
20g desiccated coconut
pinch salt
⅛ tsp bicarbonate of soda

 
Coconut cake batter
90g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
25g natural almond meal
30g desiccated coconut
40g gluten free plain flour
scant ½ tsp baking powder
pinch salt
80g caster sugar
1 egg

To serve
Icing sugar

Pastry
Combine the plain flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to aerate the flour. Add the diced butter and pulse about ten times or until the butter is the size of peas. Add 2 tbs ice water and pulse until the dough starts to come together. Check the dough by pressing it between your fingers. Depending on humidity, you might not need all the ice water. Add the remaining tablespoon if the dough seems too dry and crumbly-it should stick together without feeling wet.

Transfer the dough onto a work surface, and bring it together without handling it too much. The warmth of your hands can melt the butter, and we want to keep it cold. Cold butter aids in creating a flaky crust. Wrap the pastry in baking paper and flatten slightly. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 

To roll the dough, dust a work surface with flour. Start rolling the dough from the centre outward, turning it 90 degrees every time. Make sure the surface and rolling pin are well floured to avoid sticking. Sometimes, especially if it's too cold, the dough will tend to crack. If this happens, bring the dough back together and knead it a couple of times to give it elasticity and warm it slightly. Roll out the pastry to a 4 mm thickness then use the pastry to line a 16cm tin. Again if the pastry cracks while doing this, just gently press it back together. Place the lined tart shell back in the fridge for an hour.

Coconut caramel
In a saucepan, bring the coconut cream to a simmer and set aside. Add the sugar, salt, milk and butter to another saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat.

Continue to cook while whisking, to ensure it doesn't burn, and reduce the liquid until the mixture becomes thick and caramelised. At this point, remove the caramel from the stove, add the coconut cream and whisk to combine. Give it a quick blitz with a hand-held blender until shiny, then allow to cool. Once set, weigh out 40g of the caramel and mix with an equal weight of dulce de leche and store in a container.

Anzac biscuit
Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional or 150°C, fan forced.

Place the butter, golden syrup and water in a saucepan and warm gently. Mix all of the dry ingredients except the bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and set aside. Once the butter and syrup mixture has fully dissolved, bring to a simmer and whisk in the bicarbonate of soda. As soon as the syrup foams and expands, pour into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well until a dough has formed. You will only use about half the batter to make the Anzac biscuit topping. I made 2 Anzac biscuits with the leftover batter.  

Line a small baking tray with baking paper and trace around the tart tin. Using this as a template, make a thin layer of biscuit the same size as the base of your tart tin.  Bake this mixture for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 140°C conventional/120°C, fan forced and bake for a further 10 minutes. Then, while the biscuit is still hot, place the base of the tart tin on top and cut around it to get a clean circle. Allow this to cool and set aside for later. 

Increase the oven temperature to 200°C conventional or 180°C, fan forced and then place a baking tray on the centre rack. 

Coconut cake batter
Put the chopped butter into a small saucepan. Place over a medium heat and cook until the butter starts to foam, turns brown and smells like toasted hazelnuts. Take the pan off the heat and immediately pour into the bowl of a stand mixer. Refrigerate the bowl for 15 minutes or until the butter is no longer liquid. You will need 75g of the cooled butter.

Weigh the dry ingredients, except the sugar, into a separate bowl and stir them together. 

Add the sugar to the bowl of the stand mixer and using the paddle, mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes until lightened. Add the egg and mix until incorporated. Finally, mix in the dry ingredients, making sure that there are no lumps suspended throughout the batter.

To assemble and bake
To assemble the tart, spread 80g of the coconut caramel over the base of the tart, then pour 300g of the coconut batter on top then use an offset spatula to smooth the filling. Transfer the tart onto the preheated baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 190°C, conventional/170°C fan forced and bake for a further 25 minutes or until the crust is an even colour and the centre of the tart is firm. 

Gently place the biscuit circle on top of the filling, then return the tart to the oven to bake for a further 15 minutes. I used a thin layer of dulce du leche to sandwich the 2 layers together but I don’t think that’s necessary. Remove the tart from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Let the tart cool completely, then once cool, place the whole tart, still in the tin in the refrigerator to firm up the crust. When the crust is firm, you can unmould the tart and place it into an airtight container.

Once cool, remove the tart from the tin and using a serrated knife to cut through the crust, portion into slices. Finish each slice with a dusting of icing sugar.

I can't tell you how good this tart is - very short pastry base; luscious coconut caramel filling and the crunchy biscuit top. I was so impressed with my neatly sliced pieces of tart especially as I used gluten free pastry. I honestly didn't think it was possible.

See you again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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