Mid of June. I cannot believe it’s been so long since I wrote the last article. I think that soon, in less than two months, Little Miss Foodie celebrates her first year. Oh, happy days! It’s been such a great year, full of emotions and new experiences for both of us. The beginning of a great adventure.
Now, that you’ve forgiven me for my absence, which is justified, by the way considering the circumstances I am going to talk about one of my favorite tarts. You can now find pears almost everywhere so you must give it a try and I promise you won’t be sorry about it. It’s such a delicate dessert, extremely flavored and quite good looking, I’d say.
I must confess that I’m in love with frangipane cream, hence with all the desserts that contain it. The origin of frangipane cream are not very clear as there are few stories about it. The fact is that this delicate cream used in France for the well known Galette des Rois gets a dessert to a higher level of elegance. This is what happens with my pear tart – a delicious tart that made our day lovelier and sweeter.
- 125 g butter
- 225 g all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 30 g ground almonds
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch of salt
- 100 g soft butter
- 100 g brown sugar
- 100 g ground almonds (almond flour)
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 1 tbs amaretto
- 3 pears ( peeled, halved and decored)
- fresh lemon juice
- honey
- powdered sugar to dust
- Preheat oven to 180°C
- In a large bowl mix together the flour with salt, sugar and ground almonds.
- Add the cold butter cut into pieces and incorporate it with your fingertips to the flour mixture.
- When the mixture turns into crumbs add the egg and mix until you get a soft dough.
- Give it a ball shape, wrap it with cling film and let it rest in the fridge 30' or so.
- Mix the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy, add the egg, amaretto, ground almonds and flour. Beat it hard so everything is combined.
- Roll the dough out on the tin, add the almond filling, spreading it out evenly.
- Drizzle the pears with lemon juice and arrange them,cored side down, in the almond filling. Brush them with some honey.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40' until the frangipane is golden and nicely puffed up.
- When cooked remove from the oven and let it cool in the tin for a while before carefully removing it.
- Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
It can be served with a mascarpone cream or some ice cream but I preferred it just the way it was.
Normally I do not publish too many behind the scenes shots but I think this is worth it to testify how tempting this tart can be. While I was shooting the slice at a certain point I couldn’t resist so I started eating it. 
This is one of the great moments of shooting food photography.
Apart from an empty plate in this photo if you are interested in some technical detail I can tell you that the photos for this recipe where shot with natural light. As you can see in the picture above the set was prepared near a window and the cake was positioned with the light on the left. I also used a white piece of foamcore on the right to fill in the shadows ( it bounces the light back on the darker side of the cake). I shot the pictures from a higher angle instead of right at table height to catch more light. Pictures where shot with ISO 200 using a 50 mm f/1.4 and a 105 mm f/2.8. I played a bit with the shutter to obtain the bokeh you can see in some of the pictures. Of course the tripod and the remote control where a must and that’s kind of all.
I will stop talking about all these technical stuff and I will let you go buy all you need for this delicious tart hoping that it will make a greater day for most of you.
Hugs from Milan,
Diana
What a beautiful tart! I don’t think you can ever go wrong with a classic French frangipane and pear tart so I can imagine this tasted divine.
Thank you, Thalia. You are right, you can’t go wrong with frangipane and as I say in my post, frangipane and pear make a winner match
This tart looks amazing, Diana — I love the almond pear combination!
It’s a great combination, indeed, Marcie
Totul arata minunat – si tarta si fotografiile! Nu am avut ocazia sa testez crema frangipane, o pun pe lista
Multumiri pentru detaliile tehnice (si text si foto) <3 <3
Iti multumesc pentru cuvintele frumoase, Simona! <3 <3 Crema frangipane ti-o recomand. E divina
Buna,Diana! Am facut de 3 ori tarta si a fost un succes de fiecare data. Am hotarat azi sa o notez si am o intrebare legata de crema. In ingrediente scrie migdale macinate (faina de migdale), iar in modul de preparare scrie ca se adauga migdalele si faina. Mie nu mi-a iesit cum arata in fotografia ta. Ai folosit faina de migdale?
Buna, Alina! Ma bucur tare mult ca va place tarta. Crema prevede atat faina ( faina de grau) cat si migdale macinate (faina de migdale): 3 linguri de faina si 100 g de migdale macinate( faina de migdale). Banuiesc ca daca ai pus doar migdale macinate, crema era oarecum moale. Eu am facut-o cu faina de migdale. Daca le macini tu ai grija sa fie macinate fin, ca o faina :). Sper ca sfatul meu sa iti fie de ajutor si data viitoare sa iti iasa tarta asa cum vrei tu .
Hello, there !
I have discovered you by chance, after years and years of wondering about on internet. Reading your funny ” CV” , I guess you are a deliciously disturbing person, and a highly trained -skilled cook . Nothing to say about your recipes. Congrats !
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