tart Archives - Sugar et al

Grapefruit and Orange Tart

18|09|2021

Do you like the taste of grapefruit? To be honest, I don’t enjoy having it on its own, however, the refreshing citrus flavour with a slightly bitter aftertaste is so perfect in a dessert. This absoloutely divine tasting Grapefruit and Orange tart has a few different elements to it but it is definitely not difficult to make. All of them can be made ahead of time and assembled at the time of serving.

This Grapefruit and Orange Tart has a lovely shortcrust pastry base, a grapefruit custard filling, a layer of orange curd, a white chocolate decoration that complements the citrus duo beautifully and some vanilla chantilly cream to balance the sweetness. It is sure to impress your guests both by it’s apperance and by taste.
If you didn’t want to make all the layers, you could easily leave out the orange curd or white chocolate spiral and it would still be fanatstic.

Want to see more Orange desserts? Try this Carrot and Orange Cake or these Orange KitKat Brownie Cakes

The spiral mold can be found here

Grapefruit and Orange Tart
Makes an 19 cm fluted tart

For the pastry
1 cup 150 g plain flour
1/4 cup, icing sugar mixture
100 g chilled butter, roughly chopped
1 egg yolk

For the grapefruit custard
3 eggs, lightly whisked
150ml single/pure cream
1 tbsp finely grated grapefruit rind
1/3 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1/2 cup caster sugar

Orange Curd
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup castor sugar
80 g unsalted butter, chilled and roughly chopped
zest and juice of a Navel Orange

White Chocolate Decoration
100 g white chocolate, melted
1tsp grapeseed oil/coconut oil
orange/peach gel food colour

Vanilla Chantilly cream
200 ml thickened/double cream
1 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
gel food color, as required

To make the pastry, process the flour, icing sugar and butter in a food processor until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and process until mixture just comes together. Gently knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Shape into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 15 minutes to rest.

Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to a 3 mm-thick disc. Line a 19 cm fluted tart pan with a removable base with the pastry. Trim edges. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest

Meanwhile, to make the grapefruit custard filling, whisk the eggs, cream, sugar, grapefruit rind and juice together in a large bowl. Strain through a fine sieve.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (180 degrees C fan-forced). Place the tart pan on an baking tray. Line with baking paper and fill with pastry weights or dried rice or beans. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove paper and weights and bake for a further 10 minutes or until pastry is light golden. Remove from oven. Reduce oven to 150 degrees C.

Pour the grapefruit mixture into the pastry case. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until custard is almost set. Remove from oven. Set aside for 15 minutes to cool to room temperature. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

Make the Orange Curd :To make the orange curd, place the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a medium saucepan and whisk together until smooth. Add the butter, orange juice and zest and place the pan over low heat, stirring continuously. Cook until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Cool and refrigerate until needed.

Make the white chocolate decoration: Combine melted white chocolate, grapeseed oil and food colour. Mix until smooth. Pour into spiral mold and place in the fridge to set.

Vanilla Chantilly Cream : Combine thickened cream, vanilla extract and caster sugar in the bowl. Use an electric mixer or balloon whisk to whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks. Add the food colour and whisk just a bit more until almost stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until needed.

To assemble : Spread a thin layer of orange curd over the set custard filling. Place the white chocolate decoration in the centre. Pipe vanilla chantilly around the chocolate decoration. Decorate with edible flowers and dehydrated orange slices.

Strawberry and Apple Frangipane Galettes

26|03|2019

When two opposite seasons merge, people benefit greatly from the variety of produce on offer. Over here in Australia, apples are at their best, so are the berries. And we are one month into Autumn! I feel so blessed to be living in a country where we are spoilt for choice and our colourful produce is inspirational.

Remember the raspberry frangipane tarts (my last post) I made recently. I had a bit of leftover frangipane filling. Not enough to make another big dessert or another batch of tarts, but a free form galette was a nice, quick solution. I also had left-over apple pie filling from another recipe I was working on so these galettes seemed like delicious way of killing two birds with one stone. That is the thing I love about galettes. Throw in a mish mash of ripe fruits and nuts and a host of other things and you have a freshly baked treat ready for afternoon tea.

This recipe is more about the idea rather than accurate measurements. I am going to put in the recipes for the individual elements, though I have used leftovers as I mentioned earlier. If you’re short on time, skip the apple pie filling and use thinly sliced apples instead.

Strawberry and Apple Frangipane Galettes
Serves 8

4 sheets ready, rolled shortcrust pastry, slightly thawed
Frangipane filling (recipe below)
Apple pie filling, home made or store bought (recipe below)
Strawberry filling (recipe below)
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

For the frangipane filling
100 unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 egg
1 yolk
1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup plain flour
fresh raspberries
sliced almonds

For the apple pie filling
3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used red delicious apples)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 cups water
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon
20 g unsalted butter

For the strawberry filling
1 punnet (250 g) fresh strawberries, hulled, halved
2 tablespoons castor sugar
1 tbsp cornflour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Cut out eight 14 cm round from pastry and place on the baking tray. (You can store the leftover sheet cutouts in the freezer for making pie designs later).
Spread 2 tablespoons of frangipane paste (recipe below), leaving a 3 cm border. Top with 2 tablespoons each of apple pie filling (recipe below) and strawberry filling (recipe below), leaving the same space for the border. Fold over pastry edge in a pleated pattern to enclose the fillings partially, pressing down lightly with your fingers to seal.

Whisk the egg and water together.
Brush pastry edges with egg wash and sprinkle with extra sugar. bake until 25 minutes or until pastry is golden. Serve warm with ice-cream or custard on the side.

To make the frangipane filling
Using an electric mixer or by hand beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg and egg yolk. Add in the almond meal and flour and mix with a wooden spoon. Wrap in cling film and store in the fridge until needed.

To make the apple filling, coat the apples with lemon juice.
In a medium saucepan, place the apples, water, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Over low heat, bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Continue to cook until apples are soft and sauce has thickened (approx 15 mins). Add more water if needed.
Add the butter, stir, remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cool, store in an air-tight container until needed.

To make the strawberry filling , In a medium sized bowl toss the strawberries, sugar and cornstarch together. Cover and leave in the fridge until needed.

Raspberry Frangipane Tarts

12|03|2019

If you’re a fan of nut based desserts, you may have tried a frangipane filling. It’s an almond paste that is used to fill tarts, galettes or pastries and is particularly delicious when paired with fruit. Raspberries, when cooked in the filling not only look fabulous but also taste lovely in this tart. Short crust pastry, a delicious, sweet, nutty filling and tart, jam-like raspberries. Do I need to even explain how good all that is together?

Though it is Autumn in my part of the world, I am greatly influenced by spring vibes from across the world. When I posted a picture of these tarts on Instagram, quite a few said, they’re reminded of Spring. I wish!
But for now, I am slowly moving towards cosy crumbles, baked breakfasts and apples and pears. Can’t wait to share with you!

Raspberry Frangipane Tartlets
Yields 4 tartlets

For the pastry
1 cup 150 g plain flour
1/4 cup, icing sugar mixture
100 g chilled butter, roughly chopped
1 egg yolk

For the filling
100 unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 egg
1 yolk
1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup plain flour
fresh raspberries
sliced almonds

Divide the dough into 4 parts. With your fingers, press the dough along the bottom and sides of 4, 10 cm loose bottomed pans to form an even crust. Trim edges. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

Meanwhile, make the frangipane filling. Using an electric mixer or by hant beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg and egg yolk. Add in the almond meal and flour and mix with a wooden spoon. Divide and spoon the mixture between the tart pans. Arrange fresh raspberries and sliced almonds over the filling.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until frangipane has set. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.

Passionfruit Curd Tart

28|11|2018

What does an Aussie Christmas look like? So many people ask me this question. It is hard for people to envision Christmas at a beach or drinking wine in the backyard while firing up the barbie (barbecue) as we call it. Food on the table is bright, fresh and extremely colourful. The options are unlimited as summer is at it’s peak during Christmas. So it is not uncommon to choose berry pies, stone fruit trifles and passionfruit tarts over mince pies and panettone.

I’ve made passion fruit curd a number of times but it never occurred to me until now that a tart would be a lovely idea. If you haven’t tried passion fruit before, I would really urge you to. It is something so unique, so intense and absolutely gorgeous to taste. If fresh passion fruit is not available where you are, you could look for the canned purees. Topping it with meringue was a last minute thought, one that I was very glad I did. Passionfruit curd is generally of a thick, silky consistency but not thick enough to set nicely in a tart shell especially when you think of slicing the tart into portions. A little gelatine helps and the result is an oh so flavourful, divine little tart. For this recipe I used a ready crust/base. If you want to make your own, you can check this recipe.

Passionfruit Curd Tart
Makes a 7 inch round tart

1, 7 inch home made or store bought pastry crust
125 g unsalted butter, chilled, roughly chopped
3/4 cup passion fruit puree
3/4 cup castor sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tbsp lime juice
1.5 tbsp water
1.5 tbsp powdered gelatine

Meringue topping
1 egg white
1/4 cup castor sugar

Place butter, passion fruit, sugar and egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Over low heat, cook stirring constantly until mixture thickens (approx 14-15 minutes). Remove from heat. Add the lime juice and stir.
In a small bowl, place boiling water and sprinkle powdered gelatine. Allow to bloom (1-2 mins). Pour the gelatine mixture into the saucepan with passion fruit curd. Mix well till gelatine dissolves.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then pour over the tart base. Refrigerate until set (3-4 hours). Serve as is or top with meringue.

To make the meringue decoration : Beat the eggwhite with electric beaters until soft peaks form.Gradually add the sugar, beating until stiff peaks form, then pipe (using an open star nozzle) or spoon over the filling. Brown meringue with a kitchen blowtorch.