Windfall Plum Tart

Now, though there may be a photo of a beautiful plum tart here, this article is really to showcase a trade secret I learnt on the first day of my part-time Patisserie course in Leeds (more posts on that to follow!). And that trade secret is a little thing called almond cream. In my previous ignorance, I’ve called almond cream a frangipane but was pulled up pretty quick on this by my tutor Fabrice, who sighed very loudly when I described the recipe in front of us as such. Apparently, a frangipane has twenty per cent crème patissière stirred into it. This means that every recipe I’ve made in the past that’s called its filling a frangipane has been downright lying to me. The cheek! Once I’d overcome this revelation, in class we set about making the stuff. And boy is it good. Soft, sweet, moist and dense. What’s not to like?
You can use this filling for just about any filled tart out there- I know that in the few weeks since I’ve learnt how to make it, I’ve knocked up a batch of this stuff at least three times. It’s quite a fail-safe recipe, which I like (although someone in class managed to curdle theirs- the tip is not to add the eggs all at once) but the one niggly thing is that the measurements are precise. This is because patisserie is a fine art not to be meddled with, not because I’m trying to be difficult. Mix and match with your fruit; I’ve used plums here because of our recent literal windfall (have them facing up to avoid excess juice clogging up the almond cream), but in the past I’ve used raspberries and made a lattice top but also pears, sliced apples or anything you fancy can work with this. And I know that this is bad, but I’m not including a recipe for sweet pastry. It’s my downfall because I always make everything gluten free so Dad-y can eat it, which means it always comes out too crumbly or too dry. We all fall about in raptures anyway, but the perfectionist in me can’t bring myself to share my recipe.

To make a plum tart: you will need a good tart tin, a handful of plums, one quantity of sweet pastry, one of almond paste and apricot jam for glazing.

Almond Paste Ingredients:

62g soft unsalted butter

62g caster sugar

62g ground almonds

100g eggs (one average egg weighs about 50g)

1tsp rum or sweet sherry

20g plain flour.

Method:

1)      Sieve the ground almonds and sugar together in a bowl. Cream together in a bowl with the softened butter until the mix becomes light in colour and fluffy.

2)      Add the eggs, little by little to avoid curdling, making sure all of the mix is incorporated.

3)      Add the rum or sweet sherry, then the flour.

4)      Refrigerate until needed.

Once the tart case has been lined with pastry, pipe the almond cream in a spiral, making sure it reaches the edges of the pastry case. Decorate with fruit and bake in a reasonably hot oven at 190˚ for 15-20 minutes until the tart is cooked and the almond cream has risen and browned nicely. Glaze the tart with a tablespoon or so of warmed, sieved apricot jam and you’ll feel like you’re back in France in no time.