This fragrant and boozy plum tart with soft frangipane is the ultimate early autumn dessert. The sharpness of the fruits combined with the sweetness of the filling creates the perfect combination. And most importantly, this tart doesn’t just taste good, but also looks amazing.
Plums are the delicious, purple signs of autumn. The moment you see these lovely and juicy drops on the shelves, you now we’re moving into a new season. The season that’s cosier, homier and involves more baking in a warm kitchen. Bliss.
For a long time, I wasn’t a fan of this season. This period just screamed that childish, happy summertime was over and it was time to go back to strict schedules, boring school lessons and long homework hours. However, with time, I liked this season more and more…
I started to appreciate the changes – like everything in life, nothing is stable. It’s the same with the seasons – we can stay in childish summers or embrace autumn seriousness.
To start this new period, I decided to celebrate the most amazing and delicious plums. This wonderful plum tart with frangipane is like a love poem to this fruit. It’s sweet and sharp at the same time. Exactly like these fruits are.
How to Make the Plum Tart Case
Like all tarts, making the crumbly and buttery case is the most important step. Here are some tips and tricks on how to make this tart the most delicious dessert you’ve ever tried:
- Don’t overmix the dough. The case needs to be flaky and melting in your mouth. By overmixing the dough, you’ll lose the texture and also encourage shrinking.
- Chill your dough before rolling. It helps to keep the right shape and stops the butter from melting in the oven.
- Don’t grease the tart tin. Because the case is made from butter you don’t need to use additional grease/oil.
- Prick the dough before baking. This avoids the tart puffing-up in the centre and helps create a perfectly even bake.
Plum Tart: Flavour Variations
This is what I love about baking/cooking. You take an idea and adapt to your flavour palette. Maybe plums are not your thing, so feel free to swap them with other seasonal produce. Here are some suggestions:
- Bakewell Tart with Strawberry Jam – this is one of the most obvious options. Swap the plums with traditional raspberries or go with juicy strawberries. Also, you can skip the icing part and just arrange berries on top.
- Apple and pistachio tart – swap the plums with apples (for your jam and decorations). You can also add ground pistachios to enrich your frangipane (50g ground almonds and 60g ground pistachios).
- Peach tart – follow the same instructions for the plum tart, just swap the fruits with peaches.
If you’re looking for other autumnal recipes, try these bakes:
Cinnamon Rolls with Pistachio and Caramel Sauce
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Babka with Cranberry Filling
Apple Pie with Blueberries
Check out my favourite baking equipment:
Baking Parchment Paper Roll
Ice Cream Scoop
Baking Tray
KitchenAid Hand Mixer
Recipe
Ingredients
Crust:
75g cold butter
150g plain flour
30g caster sugar
1 egg
A pinch of salt
Plum jam:
500g plums
30g caster sugar
20ml water
50ml amaretto
Frangipane:
100g soft butter
50g caster sugar
100g ground almond
30g plain flour
1 egg
30ml amaretto
Topping:
5 plums
Method
Prepare the case:
- Rub the flour and the butter between your fingertips, until the mixture gets like the texture of breadcrumbs.
- Add the caster sugar, egg, and a pinch of salt. Mix everything together until the ingredients come together (don’t overmix it).
- Wrap the dough in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes to cool.
Prepare the jam:
- Destone the plums and cut them into the small pieces.
- Add the plums in a saucepan together with sugar, water and amaretto.
- Heat the mixture until the fruits start breaking and get thicker.
- Take the jam off the heat and let it cool.
Prepare the frangipane:
- Beat the soft butter and caster sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture gets light and fluffy (this might take up to 5 minutes).
- Add the ground almonds, plain flour, egg, and amaretto. Mix everything together.
Finish the tart:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Take the dough out of the fridge. Lightly dust the work surface with some plain flour. Roll out the pastry to a circle of 5mm thickness.
- Put the rolled-out pastry into a tart case. Using your fingers, gently press the dough into the corners of the case. Prick the base of the tart with a fork.
- Blind bake the tart case for 20 minutes. After that remove the beans from the tart and bake the case for extra 10 minutes.
- After the case is baked, using a sharp knife, neatly trim the edges of your tart (follow the tart tin structure and slide your knife along it to give a sharp and neat pastry finish).
- Spread the plum jam over the bottom of the baked pastry (5mm thick).
- Add the frangipane on top of the jam. Smooth the surface evenly.
- Destone and thinly slice the remaining plums.
- Arrange the plum slices on top of the frangipane to cover the surface.
- Bake the tart for 30-35 minutes. After it’s baked, take the tart out of the tin and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.
