Prepare the pastry: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and cornstarch. Using clean hands, or a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut or rub in butter until mixture comes together. With floured hands, press dough evenly into the bottom and up the side of a 9-inch round tart pan with removable bottom. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. Make ahead: refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Using a fork, prick bottom of tart shell all over; bake in 350°F oven until starting to turn golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire rack.
If using a mixer, beat together almonds, sugar and butter in a bowl; beat in egg and almond extract. If working with a rubber spatula, smear and press all of the ingredients together in a bowl, adding the flour at the very end. Stir in flour. Spread frangipane over prepared crust.
Halve plums and remove pits. Cut into small wedges. Nestle slices into filling in a single layer of concentric circles, cut-side down.
Bake until firm to the touch and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes away clean, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Brush jam glaze over filling and crust. Remove side of pan. Cool completely. Serve at room temperature.
Plum Frangipane Tart
Ingredients
For the filling:
⅔ cup ground almonds
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg, room temperature
¼ teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 pound prune plums
3 tablespoons apricot jam, melted and strained
For the tart shell:
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
¾ cup cold butter, cubed
Directions
Prepare the pastry: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and cornstarch. Using clean hands, or a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut or rub in butter until mixture comes together. With floured hands, press dough evenly into the bottom and up the side of a 9-inch round tart pan with removable bottom. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. Make ahead: refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Using a fork, prick bottom of tart shell all over; bake in 350°F oven until starting to turn golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire rack.
If using a mixer, beat together almonds, sugar and butter in a bowl; beat in egg and almond extract. If working with a rubber spatula, smear and press all of the ingredients together in a bowl, adding the flour at the very end. Stir in flour. Spread frangipane over prepared crust.
Halve plums and remove pits. Cut into small wedges. Nestle slices into filling in a single layer of concentric circles, cut-side down.
Bake until firm to the touch and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes away clean, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Brush jam glaze over filling and crust. Remove side of pan. Cool completely. Serve at room temperature.
Plum Frangipane Tart
5 / 5. 2
A buttery shortcrust filled with a classic French almond custard, topped with sweet prune plums and an apricot glaze…
This PLUM FRANGIPANE TART is perfect for fall entertaining!
We’re recommending you make this scrumptious, homemade dessert recipe for your next cool-weather get-together. Whether it’s a chill afternoon with friends, a weekend dinner party or a favourite holiday like Thanksgiving, this PLUM FRANGIPANE TART recipe delivers.
Credit for this recipe goes to our friends at CANADIAN LIVING. This recipe first appeared in their wonderful cookbook CANADIAN LIVING COOKS. Prepare to be amazed by the pic-worthy presentation and the memorable flavours of a fragrant almond custard paired with the sweet and tart tanginess of prune plums, all baked in a buttery shortcrust. This dessert idea never disappoints, and we’re sending a big thanks to Canadian Living for yet another keeper of a recipe.
If fall-friendly desserts are what brought you to WATC, you’ve come to the right place. We have everything from a classic CARROT CAKE and crisp BUTTERNUT SQUASH STRUDEL, to a number of superior homemade pies like my MOM’S APPLE PIE RECIPE, this CHOCOLATE WALNUT PIE and the classic SPICED PUMPKIN PIE made with oven-roasted pumpkin and freshly ground spices. Please do me a favour, though, don’t make any of those until you’ve tried this frangipane recipe first.
Here are some additional details on why this PLUM FRANGIPANE TART is so special:
INGREDIENTS
Please note that the above photo contains almost all of the ingredients needed to make this plum tart. What’s missing? The flour, butter, cornstarch and granulated sugar needed to make the dough – we’ll cover that tart dough in a bit. For this photo, it’s everything you’ll need for the filling and fruit topping. Who knew ground almonds, granulated sugar, butter, egg, almond extract, some prune plums, and apricot jam could turn into something so wonderfully tasty? Best of all, everything needed to make this recipe is readily available at your local grocery store if you don’t already have them in your pantry.
SWEET PASTRY DOUGH
This easy-to-make tart dough goes by different names. You’ll sometimes see it referred to as tart pastry, a press-in tart crust or shortcrust dough, although this version is more akin to a classic pâte sucrée or sweet tart dough. Virtually all sweet tart dough contains unsweetened butter, flour (we used unbleached all-purpose flour) and either granulated sugar or icing sugar. This dough also included cornstarch, while others add egg yolk and a tiny bit of water.
We did tweak the technique for preparing this recipe. The original listed instructions to cut the butter into the flour using two knives or a pastry cutter. We found that rubbing the butter into the flour by hand created a more cohesive dough with a smooth texture. This method also made transferring the dough into the 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom much easier too. By all means, if this isn’t your first attempt at making a sweet tart, and if you have a dough recipe and methodology that works for you, stick with it and add the filling and plums as directed. Otherwise, proceed with the directions as listed – you won’t be disappointed.
Once the dough comes together, transfer it to the fluted metal tart pan. The goal is to smooth it out and distribute it evenly across the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Watch this VIDEO to see how we did ours. Once the shell is filled, cover and refrigerate. Then make sure to dock the tart shell by pricking it with a fork, preventing the dough from puffing up when we pre-bake, or blind bake, the tart shell.
TART CRUST
Two tips about blind baking the tart shell. The first: don’t overdo it. The goal is for the crust to be slightly golden to golden brown. The second tip is to be careful moving it to and from the oven. Don’t forget that the bottom of the tart pan is made to pop up, so be careful when transferring it. Using oven mitts, hold the very edge of the tart pan to support it.
FRANGIPANE FILLING
Big question with this dessert recipe: “What is frangipane, anyway?” By definition (thanks, Wikipedia!), “frangipane is a sweet almond-flavoured custard typical in French pastry, used in a variety of ways.” It is sometimes incorporated into cakes or worked into pastry recipes such as Bakewell tarts, a King’s Cake made with brioche, or as the filling for a tart such as this.
For this recipe, six ingredients do the trick: ground almonds (sometimes labelled as almond flour), butter, egg, almond extract, granulated sugar and unbleached all-purpose flour. We elected not to use a hand mixer for this step in the recipe, and creamed the frangipane filling together using a rubber spatula. The only caveat: make sure the butter is softened to room temperature.
BLUE PRUNE PLUMS
We love both the look and flavour of blue prune plums in this recipe. Although we expect other varieties of plums might work, we find the sweet flesh and tart skin of these plums blossom when baked. Having said that, we have noticed a few variations to this tart where bakers prepare a similar recipe using peaches, cherries, raspberries, nectarines, apricots, figs, dried prunes, pears and apples. Hope you all know what that means; we envision making a whole bunch of tarts in the future.
Preparing the blue prune plums for this recipe is easy. Give the plums a rinse under cool water, then pluck away and discard any stems that might still be attached. Then score the plum through the centre, from tip to tip, cutting down until you feel the stone or pit within. Fully ripened plums will open with a simple twist. Then discard the stone and slice each half into smallish wedges.
HOW TO ASSEMBLE A FRANGIPANE TART
We were quite surprised by how easy this tart was to assemble. With the tart shell blind baked and cooled, we simply spread the fragrant almond-scented frangipane filling across the surface. The filling may stick to the shell a bit, so apply it gently, then add the plums. Wait, let me elaborate on the plums; add them individually, beginning on the outside, working concentric circles. Again, watch this VIDEO to see how we did it.
Adding the plums will be your hero moment. The more wedges you add, the more beautiful the PLUM FRANGIPANE TART becomes. At the very end, you’re going to be like us and say, “Wow! This is gorgeous!” Sure is, but wait until you see it after baking.
BAKE
No important tips and tricks on baking this frangipane dessert, except for the business about the removable bottom. Try to grasp the edges firmly without lifting the tart within. My suggestion is to just go slow, don’t rush things, unless you want to end up dumping a tart on the floor before it even makes it to the cooling rack. Wait, what? That’s a story for another time!
GLAZE
Once the plum tart is baked, leave it to cool for 15 minutes before the final step of applying the apricot glaze. The glaze involves melting three tablespoons of apricot jam in a small pan and running it through a fine sieve to extract a smooth, warmed syrupy glaze.
Brush the glaze over the plums and the very edge of the pastry crust, then cool. Don’t have apricot jam handy? Try glazing this dessert with a strained fruit jelly, like currant or strawberry. We also think a strained orange marmalade might be perfect when paired with one of the alternate fruit recommendations, like pears or apples. YUM!
SERVE
To serve, use a sharp knife to cut the tart into wedges, then transfer each to dessert plates. Notice there’s no dusting with icing sugar, nor are we suggesting you do a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream. This plum tart is perfect as is, ready to be enjoyed. Perhaps that’s the testament to how perfect this recipe is!
PIN IT!
This scrumptious recipe is so amazing and beautiful, make it and go viral by posting it on Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag #weekendatthecottage. Also, remember to PIN it to a favourite dessert, baked good or holiday board on PINTEREST or BOOKMARK this tab for easy access. SHARE it with friends so they can make it too. Thanks!
This show-stoppingly beautiful PLUM FRANGIPANE TART is fabulous. Make it soon, s’il vous plait!
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Ingredients
For the filling:
⅔ cup ground almonds
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg, room temperature
¼ teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 pound prune plums
3 tablespoons apricot jam, melted and strained
For the tart shell:
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
¾ cup cold butter, cubed
Directions
Prepare the pastry: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and cornstarch. Using clean hands, or a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut or rub in butter until mixture comes together. With floured hands, press dough evenly into the bottom and up the side of a 9-inch round tart pan with removable bottom. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. Make ahead: refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Using a fork, prick bottom of tart shell all over; bake in 350°F oven until starting to turn golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire rack.
If using a mixer, beat together almonds, sugar and butter in a bowl; beat in egg and almond extract. If working with a rubber spatula, smear and press all of the ingredients together in a bowl, adding the flour at the very end. Stir in flour. Spread frangipane over prepared crust.
Halve plums and remove pits. Cut into small wedges. Nestle slices into filling in a single layer of concentric circles, cut-side down.
Bake until firm to the touch and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes away clean, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Brush jam glaze over filling and crust. Remove side of pan. Cool completely. Serve at room temperature.
Until Cottage Season
