Strawberry Frangipane Tart, heart felt baking.

Strawberry Frangipane Tart is a real treat when you have an abundance of Strawberries. This has a classic almond meal filling thats light and unfussy. Make it ahead of when you need it for a relaxed spin on dessert. If there are no strawberries try other fruits such as nectarines, peaches or poached pears, quinces or apples. There are no excuses not to make it!

After this tart was made and photographed I loved the red dabs throughout and decided I’d make it every spring when strawberries are extra cheap but not quite as sweet as summer ones. Once roasted they are such a lovely flavour you must try this.

I normally make frangipane tarts with winter fruits such as quinces and pears but I found that these strawberries were perfect, red  inviting pockets of sweet and sour.

What is Frangipane?

It’s a kind of pastry cream made with ground almonds. It’s a French classic used in many tarts and cakes.  It is basically a creamed mix of butter, sugar and almonds. It is the perfect bed for fruit. The recipe I am sharing with you here is light and airy.

Be sure to jump straight to the recipe using the button at the top if you want to skip straight in.

I started wondering wierd baking things. Red can signify so many things, most often it is associated with love, Valentines Day, lust, passion …..

Would people take offence if I baked to the occasion?

Could you bake someone with a broken heart a Strawberry Frangipane tart? It’s red and sort of bleeding.

Perhaps you could take cupcakes with black icing and RIP written in white to a funeral ? Eaton mess to dinner at the house of a friend who has recently divorced/ separated/been dumped  (so obviously smashed and mixed up….)?

Baking can  follow a colour code. Christmas cakes are often white…….little girls have pink cakes and little boys have black and red spider-man cakes……my son wanted a rainbow birthday cake when he was 4, which only shows he was sitting on the fence

Given the colour and the timing near Fathers day, now finished I am dedicating this tart to the memory of my Dad.

It’s a little bit sentimental, a little bit not, because my Dad was a real pain in the butt. He was loud and embarrassing and silly beyond belief. He was either annoyed with you for being stupid or tickling you and talking over you. He was not a good listener although he was a professional questioner. He got away with  his many faults because he was always enthusiastic about helping anybody . This attracted attention and he was then able to bask in the limelight, and be a clown while satisfying his inner need to volunteer and feel that he was giving something back.  He was available, trailer attached, at a moments notice to help me move ( which I have managed to do on a monumental scale). He could fix something around the house …….for example; refrigerator, TV, washing machine, car, broken cupboard in fact he could fix anything- not always with guarantee attached. He would arrive when called, enormous toolbox in tow.  He particularly loved to organise a party. Our family house may have been full of visitors had my Mother not hated visitors as much as he loved them.

If you’d like to make your own Strawberry or fruit tart. Here’s a picture guide to making perfect frangipane.

1. Start the frangipane by creaming together softened butter and icing sugar. Make it nice and light and creamy. Don’t be impatient it will take a good 5-10 minutes.
2. Add eggs and beat again. The mixture may look a little curdled at this point, but that is ok.
3. Add the flour mixed well with the baking powder then
4. Throw the almond meal on top of that. Mix it up well. If the mixture is light and airy here it will bake up beautifully light and fluffy.

So now you have a lovely frangipane mix. What now?

1. The picture below shows the nice creamy light frangipane mix once it is all finished
2.  Now grab your fully baked tart case and add 150 gm jam. Spread it with jam.
3. The best way to spread jam into your tart case is to heat it first. This makes it nice and liquid. Once the jam is in place refrigerate the tart for 10 minutes. This will make spreading the frangipane on top of the jam a little less slippery
4. Spoon the frangipane onto the tart in 3 or 4 big spoonfuls so it’s easy to spread. Spread out to the edges of the tart case.

Hey why not check out my how to make pastry. Watch the video here.

Strawberry Frangipane Tart

A most delicious tart for using with any fruit.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Course Dessert, Pie, tart

Cuisine dessert

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

Pastry

• 80 gm icing sugar sifted, pure or mixture
• 150 gm butter unsalted softened
• 100 gm egg 2 x Large 70 gm
• 50 gm almond meal
• 250 gm plain flour

Frangipane filling

• 125 gm pure icing sugar sifted
• 175 gm almond meal
• 125 gm unsalted butter
• 2 whole eggs
• 50 gm plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 250 gm strawberries 1 punnet
• 150 gm jam strawberry or berry
• 2 Tablsepoons jam extra

Instructions

 

• You will need a tart case with a removable bottom. 24 cm/ 10 inches
• The pastry for this tart is very crunchy and biscuit-like when cooked. It is a little hard to handle but, keep it well chilled and if you can't roll it press it into the tart case. The joins can be pushed together quite successfully .
• Set the oven to 170 C / 340 F
• Beat the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy, using the paddle attachment of your mixer
• Add the eggs and mix them in. The mixture will look a little curdled, scrape down the sides. Add the almond meal and flour and mix till just combined. It will be a nice soft dough
• Pour the mixture onto a lightly floured bench and gently push the dough together and shape it into a disc with your hands. The pastry is quite sticky, remove excess by rubbing your hands in some extra flour and adding back into the pastry mix . Wrap and put into the fridge, at least 30 minutes, but 2 -3 hours is best.
• The tart above was made using a 10 in or 23 cm tart case with a removable bottom, however, you can use a smaller one, individual or the next size up
  When you are ready, take the pastry from the fridge, it will be quite firm, leave it out of the fridge for 5- 10 minutes before rolling. Roll between two pieces of baking paper. (I like a very thin crust.) Lift into the tin. I like to leave pastry over hanging the sides with this one as the dough is soft and the sides may colapse when baking. This can be trimmed when baked. Once rolled put the lined case back into the fridge or freezer, till firm ( 15- 20 minutes).
• Take the pastry out of the fridge and bake this blind weighing down with paper and beans or baking weights. Bake in your pre-heated oven 170 C / 340 F till firm or 15 minutes approximately, removing the paper and cooking a further 10 minutes or till lightly golden and cooked through. Cool on a rack and carefully trim the edges with a sharp paring knife.

Frangipane mix

• Beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs flour, baking powder and almond meal, and beat till combined 1-2 minutes.
• Once the tart case is cooled spread with the jam. The jam will be easier to spread if heated first just microwave for 1 minute till starting to become runny. Once spread pop the case in the fridge to cool the jam.
• Spread the frangipane into the case.
• Push cut strawberries into the mixture at intervals around the tart, cut side upwards for a better look
• Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the centre springs back when touched. The tart should be just colouring.
• When cool brush with warmed (extra) jam.

Keyword baking, dessert, frangipane

Sometimes the ones we miss are the ones that were omnipresent in our lives…. and not always in a pleasant way. Dad you naughty, silly, annoying, wonderfully handy, kind hearted man ……. This glistening Strawberry Frangipane tart is for you

This post has been updated with new pictures and info. first posted 2011