A nutty wholemeal pastry case, filled with delicious almond and amaretto frangipane which is itself topped with juicy plums. This plum almond tart is a classic comfort food dessert which is as good served at a dinner party as it is for afternoon tea. It’s delicious all on its own, but also excellent with clotted cream or crème fraîche.
CT adores fruity frangipane tarts, but he doesn’t get to eat them very often. I like them too, but they’re not something I make on a regular basis as they require a bit more effort than some other desserts. The only other one I have on the blog is for this apricot frangipane tart with a chocolate crust. But whenever I do bake one, I wonder why I don’t make them more often, because they’re irresistible.
When CT came home from work last week with a big bag of plums, I thought he deserved some sort of reward. There were both yellow and purple plums, though we’re not quite sure what either of the varieties are. I made a batch of plum jam with the golden plums and this plum almond frangipane tart with the purple ones. Oh! And a bonus plum galette too.
What is Frangipane?
Frangipane is a pastry cream made with butter, sugar, eggs and most commonly almonds, although you can use pistachios too. There’s usually a small amount of flour included, but not always. I’ve not used it in this rhubarb pasty pie, for example.
Frangipane is a French term, originating in the 17th century, but its derivation is not entirely clear. Although it’s an almond paste, it has a creamy consistency and is something quite different to marzipan. It’s a baker’s classic and is used in all sorts of French pastries such as pithiviers and galette des rois.
For us Brits, Bakewell tart is probably the most famous frangipane tart out there. As the name suggests, this originated in the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire. This has to be a baker’s dream name.
This plum almond tart is not a Bakewell tart, however. Bakewell tarts have a layer of jam between the pastry and the frangipane and that’s where the fruit element starts and finishes.
Plum Almond Tart
The fiddliest part of this plum almond tart recipe is making the pastry. Once you’ve done that, the rest is a breeze. The final result is a thing of glory and well worth the effort.
You can eat it warm, but it’s probably at its best served at room temperature. We like to go for full indulgence and enjoy it with a dollop of clotted cream. But it’s also delicious on its own or with crème fraîche or even ice cream.
Flaky Wholemeal Pastry
I use my ab fab wholemeal yoghurt pastry for this plum almond tart. It always works a treat. It produces delicious flaky pastry with nutty notes and unlike traditional wholemeal pastry, it doesn’t fall apart when you roll it.
My flour of choice is wholemeal spelt flour. It’s my favourite pastry flour and you can find out the reasons why if you click on the link.
Depending on how thinly you roll the pastry, you may have some left over. If you do have any surplus and some additional plums too, you can also make a mini plum galette. I made one which served the two of us from my leftover pastry. There’s more on this further down the post.
Frangipane Filling
Frangipane is really easy to make, as long as your butter is soft. All you need to do is cream butter and sugar together, beat in an egg then add ground almonds and flour. As almonds are key to this recipe and the flavour complements plums rather beautifully, I add some amaretto to the mix. If you don’t have any or would rather not use alcohol, just add a little almond extract instead.
When it comes to the ground almonds, I prefer to grind my own nuts in most instances. The nuts are much fresher if you grind them as and when you need them, but they also have more texture. You can see from the photo that there’s a mix of both fine and also nubbly bits.
There is much controversy around almond skins. Some say they’re really good for you with lots of fibre, vitamins, minerals and polyphenols. They’re also good for the digestion. Others say they’re bad for the digestion. Whilst the jury is still out on this, I prefer to use whole almonds. This gives the frangipane a flecked look, but I quite like that. As with most recipes, there are always choices if you want them.
Plums
You can use whatever plums you like for this tart, but medium sized or small ones are best. If you have really large plums you won’t need as many and it’s best to cut them into quarters rather than halves.
Halve the plums and remove the stones. Place the plum halves, face down, onto the filling in a decorative pattern and so that most of it is covered. Push the plums into the filling a little so that they’re firmly embedded, then sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
The plum almond tart is now ready to go into the oven. Bake it for about thirty minutes, when it should be nicely risen, golden and firm to the touch. Then leave to cool before removing from the tin.
It will keep well at room temperature for twenty four hours. But if you want it to last for another day or so, keep it in the fridge and away from CT.
Plum Galette
As I rolled my pastry quite thinly for the plum almond tart case, I had enough left over to make a plum galette which was just big enough for the two of us.
The plum galette is really simple to make and you only need three ingredients: pastry, plums and sugar. It’s also really delicious and allows the plums to take centre stage and sing out loud.
I cut the plums into quarters for this recipe and crammed as many onto the pastry base as I could. It’s important to leave a border of at least one and a half centimetres, so that you can fold it over the plums to contain them. The final step before popping the galette into the oven is to sprinkle it with demerara sugar. I went with a tablespoonful as my plums were a little on the tart side.
The plums I used were juicer than I expected and a lot of scarlet fluid ran out over the baking tray whilst the galette was in the oven. Remarkably, this didn’t effect the flakiness of the pastry and the bottom wasn’t soggy.
You could, of course, forget the frangipane and just make one large plum galette. It’s nice to have a choice. Both are delicious, although they’re very different.
For more guidance on how to make a fruit galette, take a look at my recipe for rhubarb galette, gooseberry galette or double blackberry galette.
Other Plum Recipes You Might Like
- Chocolate plum cheesecake bake
- Plum jam
- Plum upside-down cake
- Plum walnut pizza
- Roasted plum parfait with lemon curd
- Rose plum yoghurt ice lollies
- Victoria plum cake
- White chocolate, plum & amaretti ice cream
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you bake this plum almond tart or the plum galette, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate it. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more pastry recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.
Choclette x
Plum Almond Tart. PIN IT.
Plum Almond Tart
Plum Almond Tart
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 175 g wholemeal flour I used wholemeal spelt
- 25 g golden caster sugar (1 ½ tbsp)
- 100 g unsalted butter fridge cold
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
- 2 tbsp natural yoghurt
For the filling
- 100 g unsalted butter softened
- 100 g golden caster sugar + 1 tbsp for sprinkling
- 2 large eggs
- 100 g ground almonds I ground whole almonds
- 25 g flour I used white spelt
- 2 tbsp amaretto liqueur can substitute ½ tsp almond extract
- 350 g plums (9-10 medium-sized)
Instructions
Pastry
- Tip the flour, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Cube the butter and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until no large lumps remain.175 g wholemeal flour, 25 g golden caster sugar, 1 pinch fine sea salt, 100 g unsalted butter
- Stir the yoghurt in with a knife and bring the mixture together into a ball with your hands.2 tbsp natural yoghurt
- Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to line a 23cm (9 inch) greased loose bottom fluted tart tin. Leave in the fridge or a cool place to rest whilst you get on with the filling.
Filling
- Using the same bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.100 g unsalted butter, 100 g golden caster sugar
- Beat in the eggs.2 large eggs
- Stir in the almonds, followed by the flour. Finally add the amaretto or almond extract and stir until just combined.100 g ground almonds, 25 g flour, 2 tbsp amaretto liqueur
- Stone the plums and cut into halves.350 g plums
- Spoon the filling into the pastry case and push the plums slightly into the filling.
- Sprinkle the reserved 1 tbsp of sugar over the plums.
- Bake on the middle shelf in a preheated oven at 180℃ (350℉, Gas 4) for 30-35 minutes or until the tart is risen, golden and set. If the pastry looks as though it might be burning, place a piece of foil loosely over the top for the last five minutes or so.
- Leave to cool before removing from the tart case.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
I’m sharing this recipe for plum almond tart with Lost in Food for #CookBlogShare.
Lena Pennacchia says
I tried this recipe, which is better than a similar one I had been using for years, but could not find. Good thickness of base and balance of ingredients. Not crazy sweet and visually looks great. I turned the temperature down to make sure it was cooked through without burning on top. Definitely will be using again and even using it as a base for other fruits.
Choclette says
You’re making me wish it was plum season now Lena. Glad you like the recipe and thanks for letting us know. It works well with other fruit too, but is particularly good with apricots, nectarines and peaches.
Nic | Nic's Adventures & Bakes says
Thanks for sharing, this looks amazing, perfect use of the plums 🙂
Nic
Choclette says
Thanks Nic. The plums had such a good colour, almost anything made with them is going to look good.
Michelle Rolfe says
I think I might be addicted to this flavour combination just now. Its a match made in heaven. I’ve just managed to find some more plums on my tree as well! Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare. Michelle x
Choclette says
Oh brilliant. How exciting. What are you going to make with them? Plums and almonds are indeed a fabulous combination.
Sisley White says
What a beautiful sweet treat! I absolutely want to dive back in, Made and absolutely delicious #cookblogshare
Choclette says
So glad you liked it Sisley, it really is a rather splendid Autumn treat.
Beth Sachs says
Delicious with a big dollop of clotted cream on top!
Choclette says
Definitely clotted cream. The tart is delicious, but the cream is a perfect pairing.
Joanna says
Plums and almonds are such a great combination. I make Bakewell Tart occasionally but have never thought about making a plum tart with frangipane. I have a lot of plums at the moment as our plum tree as been very productive this year so I am always on the look out for new recipes!
Choclette says
Oh, I’m so envious of your plum tree. Although I was lucky enough to get hold of some, it feels good to have your own. Yay for your bumper crop and I’m sure you’re going to do something lovely with them all.
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
Wow, plum heaven!
Choclette says
I’m totally in love with plums this year and this is one delicious way to show then in their glory.
Corina Blum says
I love frangipane but haven’t made it for years! It looks delicious in this tart with the plums. We had plum trees in our garden when I was growing up so we always had loads of plum desserts at this time of year and I really miss them!
Choclette says
Oh but how lovely to have had plum trees. You must have heaps of plum recipes on your blog. I’m coming over for some inspiration.
angiesrecipes says
I love anything with sweet nutty Frangipane 🙂 Both pastries look sensational and they are a perfect autumn desserts.
Choclette says
Yes just right indeed Angie. The colours are autumnal through and through.