How to Make a Traditional Belgian Almond Tart

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

Ingredients

• 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

• Step 1

  Preheat oven to 375ºF.

• Step 2

  Put the flour, icing sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine.

  

• Step 3

  Add the cubes of cold butter into dry mixture and pulse until butter is cut into small pieces.

  

• 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.

  

• Step 5

  Stop pulsing the dough when the pieces start sticking together, and resemble crumb size pieces (a little smaller than pea sized).

  

• Step 6

  Butter 6 small individual individual tart pans (4 3/4 inch X 3/4 inch), or a 9-inch tart pan.

• 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.

  

• 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

Ingredients

• 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

• Step 1

  Using a food processor, combine all of the ingredients until a smooth and creamy paste-like consistency has been formed.

  

• Step 2

  Spread the almond filling in the chilled crust(s).

  

• 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.