A thick crumbling crust with soft, cool, and creamy almond filling in the center. A sprinkle of powdered sugar on top. In one bite, it’s all gone. You stare longingly at your plate, wishing for more. Don’t like almonds? Don’t despair; you wouldn’t even know it’s present in the cake.
And now you, too, can make this Belgian tart in your own kitchen. All the time. It is a common dessert in Belgium and in other parts of Europe, and is locally known as Frangipane. I was first introduced to this almond meal-based cake thanks to my grandfather’s recipe, as he was a pastry chef and chocolatier in Brussels.
This recipe isn’t extremely complicated and doesn’t require a lot of baking or prep time. You can also freeze the tart so it will keep for a long time.
Just be warned: this tart can be extremely addictive.
Making the Crust (Pâte Sablée) for the Frangipane
- Prep Time:10 minutes
- Cook Time:30 minutes
- Total Time:About 40 minutes
- Servings:6-8
- Medium
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 9 tablespoon butter, cold, and cut into small cubes
- 1 egg yolk
Ingredients
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Step 1
Preheat oven to 375ºF.
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Step 2
Put the flour, icing sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine.
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Step 3
Add the cubes of cold butter into dry mixture and pulse until butter is cut into small pieces.
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Step 4
Add the 1 egg yolk to the mixture and pulse again until the mixture starts to become clumpy and more dough-like. Be careful not to overwork and over pulse the pastry.
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Step 5
Stop pulsing the dough when the pieces start sticking together, and resemble crumb size pieces (a little smaller than pea sized).
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Step 6
Butter 6 small individual individual tart pans (4 3/4 inch X 3/4 inch), or a 9-inch tart pan.
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Step 7
Place the dough into the individual tart pans or whole 9-inch tart pan and gently press the dough into the sides and bottom of the pan with your fingers.
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Step 8
Freeze the tart shell(s) for at least 30 minutes.
Preparing the Almond Filling and assembling the Frangipane
- Prep Time:5 minutes
- Cook Time:15 minutes
- Total Time:20 minutes
- Servings:6-8
- Easy
- 1 cup ground almond meal
- 1/2 cup granulated icing sugar
- 2 eggs
- 6 tablespoon butter, softened
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
Ingredients
-
Step 1
Using a food processor, combine all of the ingredients until a smooth and creamy paste-like consistency has been formed.
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Step 2
Spread the almond filling in the chilled crust(s).
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Step 3
Place tart(s) in preheated oven, and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the tart is golden brown. Let cool, then enjoy plain or with powdered sugar on top.