I no longer watch the television programs dedicated to cooking competitions. I used to love them, but then they started to bore me. One of the programs I liked the most was Australian, perhaps because the dishes were often exotic, and one of the contestants who intrigued me the most was Poh Ling Yeow, who won the show thanks to her amazing cakes. I then bought her book and remade many of her desserts, which are now part of my recipe collection. One of the first cakes I made was this Breton tart, which is very similar to the one I ate in France years ago. Delicious!
Plum Tart Breton: Gâteau Breton
- Preparation time: 30 minutes+baking
- Ingredients for a 20 cm cake pan
- Difficulty: Average difficult recipe
- Ingredients
- For the Breton short crust pastry:
- 225 grams of all-purpose flour
- 110 grams of superfine or powdered sugar
- 125 grams of butter
- 3 egg yolks
- A pinch of salt
- For the filling:
- 300 grams of peeled, pitted plums (about 6 plums)
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 tablespoon Armagnac
- For the glaze:
- 1 egg
- Instructions
- Prepare the short crust pastry. In a bowl, whip the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, and finally the sifted flour. Mix just until it is no longer sticky. Roll the mixture into a ball and cover it with cellophane. Place it to chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Dice the plums. Place them with the orange juice in a nonstick saucepan and cook over high heat until puréed, for about twenty minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool. Add the liqueur.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Roll out between two sheets of baking paper half the dough. Roll out between two more sheets of baking paper the other half of the dough. Leave them in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to chill again.
- In a buttered and floured tart pan, place a well-chilled disk of short crust pastry. Press down gently on the bottom and sides, trim off any excess pastry and stab a few holes in the bottom with a fork. Spread a layer of plum purée on the base and cover with the other layer of pastry.
- Beat the egg and brush the surface of the tart. Use a sharp knife to make swirls.
- Bake in a preheated oven for about fifty minutes to an hour, or until the surface is nicely browned.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- For those short on time, you can replace the puree with plum jam mixed with a little liqueur. It will, however, be much sweeter.
- The pastry should be kneaded only a little, but until it no longer sticks to your hands.
- The timing of the baking is approximate because every oven bakes differently. The tart should not darken too much.
