Plum Frangipane Tart ~ Chef Gisele Perez ~ A Shared Recipe

Woo-Hoo!(I'm doin' a little happy dance!) My friends, you are in for a real treat! Today Chef Gisele Perez from Small Pleasures Catering and the blog painperdu is sharing her recent prize-winning recipe Plum Frangipane with you! Some of you may recognize Gisele's name from my interview with her a while back. It's so special to be able to share with you another one of Chef Gisele's recipes. Thank you Gisele!

Gisele created her Plum Frangipane Tart for a friendly food-bloggers cooking competition, which was part of a special food-blogging day that I was able to attend last weekend. About 60 food-bloggers had the pleasure of attending Patti Londre's Camp Blogaway Day Camp! And as always Patti, from Worth The Whisk, provided us with a day filled with learning and fun. And while I'm at it, a big bear hug for Bob Woods who hosted us for the day at his Viking Showroom in Baldwin Park, CA. What a treat it was to be able to sit amongst the beautiful Viking kitchen appliances and think about what my dream kitchen might look like some day! Thank you to Bob, and his staff for providing the perfect setting for all of us crazy kitchen fiends. To top it off, Mr. Woods and Viking provided the prizes for the winners of the cooking competition, which means Gisele won a lovely Viking hand blender. Congratulations Gisele!

Personally, I'm very much looking forward to this coming Sunday, Oct. 3rd, because I'll have a chance to try Gisele's tart again, but this time a fig version. Oh YUM! You, too, could taste it....Gisele's Fig Frangipane Tart will be available for tasting at the LA Helps LA event - tickets are still available if you'd like to join the fun. Raffle tickets are available, too, and you don't have to be present to win...come on you know you want to help out a good cause, have a chance to win some great prizes, and taste this wonderful recipe! Contact Gisele for tickets if you've got some time on Oct. 3rd between 3pm and 7pm. Hubby and I will be there. If you can't join us I guess you'll have to go ahead and give Gisele's recipe a try all on your own. It will be worth it. Enjoy!

For a printer-friendly, text-only version of the recipe, click here.

Plum Frangipane Tart by Gisele Perez of painperdu

You’ll need a kitchen digital scale to measure ingredients for the frangipane.

Pâte Sucrée (or Sweet Tart Dough in English) :
Adapted from Nancy Silverton’s Desserts

1/2 lb. unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Add the yolks one at a time, then add the vanilla.
3. Add the flour in 3 additions and blend until thoroughly mixed in.
4. Blend in the cream.
5. Dump the dough out on to a large piece of plastic wrap, and wrap it flattening into a round disk. Then refrigerate it for several hours or overnight.
6. To roll out the dough, remove it from the refrigerator and let it come to cool room temperature.
7. Divide the dough into two equal pieces, and roll to a circle about 2” larger than the diameter of the pan, and between 1/8”-1/4” thickness. Then lift the dough and press it into a removable bottom tart pan. Trim the edges of the dough even with the top of the pan.
8. Refrigerate the dough in the pan again for about an hour before adding filling and baking the tart. This step allows the dough to rest and reduces shrinkage.

This recipe is enough for 2- 9” to 10 “ tart shells

Frangipane* Filling:

1 lb. almond paste (available at Surfas and specialty online vendors)
1.5 oz. granulated sugar
1/2 lb. butter
4 eggs
1.5 oz. flour

1. Combine the almond paste, sugar and butter in the bowl of a mixer and cream until smooth.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, and mix until smooth.
3. Add the flour and blend until thoroughly mixed in.

The frangipane maybe made ahead of time, and refrigerated for several days before
using.

* Frangipane is an Italian almond cream filling

This recipe is enough for 2-9” to 10” tarts

To assemble the tart:

2 tablespoons apricot jam per tart

12-14 French or Italian prune plums, per tart, cut in half and seed removed

1/4 cup Apricot glaze (available from Surfas or specialty online pastry suppliers),
or apricot preserves, strained to remove the solid pieces (this is a bit more than you’ll
need, but I always warm up a little extra.)

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Spread the apricot jam on the tart dough, then spread the frangipane on top of it. Place
the plums in the frangipane in concentric circles. Bake the tart at 375 degrees for about
40 minutes, or until the frangipane begins to brown.

Remove from the oven and let it cool on a wired rack with the sides of the tart pan on
for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the sides of the pan, and let the tart cool
completely. Then remove the bottom by sliding a long flat knife or spatula under the
tart, and slide it onto a flat plate, or cardboard circle.

To glaze and decorate the tart:

1. If you use apricot glaze you’ll have to add water, and simmer until it’s dissolved and thinned to pourable consistency. If using the strained apricot jam just heat it.
2. Using a wide pastry brush, lightly brush the glaze over the entire tart.
3. Holding a plate over the tart as a template (it’s easier if you have a second pair of hands for this), sprinkle the toasted almonds around the edge of the tart, then sift powdered sugar over the almonds.

Gisele also often makes this tart with other fruits like apricots in the spring and figs in the late summer and fall.

Comments

[Patti at Camp Blogaway]

Mac, you are a GREAT camper! Thanks for posting Gisele's spectacular recipe for all your readers to enjoy. Keep up the great work!

[Gisele]

Thanks so much, Mac.

BTW, we'll tasting lots of great food and drink this Sunday, including from our very own Mac, at Dishininthekichen. Sooooo looking forward to it. Won't you join us?

[Jean at The Delightful Repast]

Mac, I'm sure all of us who were at camp really appreciate this wonderful post. A lot of us will be making this tart, I'm sure. I loved the venue--wasn't the Viking showroom a perfect place! Patti did a fantastic job.

[Mac]

Patti - thank you for all your work to get Gisele's recipe out to us to share. It's one of those MUST share recipes! And as always Camp was great!!

Gisele - You are more than welcome. This recipe is inspiring! I'm looking forward to including it in my holiday recipe plan this year, here at home.

Jean - Really Gisele and Patti get all the credit, but I'm glad I was able to get the word out. Enjoy!