French Orange Cream Tart
I didn't really have any expectations for this tart. I kind of dragged myself into the kitchen to make it on Sunday afternoon out of a sense of obligation to the Alpha Bakers. So you don't need to be in a great frame of mind to produce great baking, such is the glory of a Rose recipe. Truly, if for no other reason than to secure this recipe, you should definitely immediately buy the Baking Bible.
The pastry is a Pate Sucree - a sweet cookie pastry. The difference from the average run of the mill pate sucree is the turbinado sugar which gives it a great crunch in the finished product.
The filling is the perfect balance of orange and lemon and given depth from the cream and egg yolks. I didn't opt for the caramalised sugar crust. Even though I have carted a blow torch from country to country for the past 10 years, I am yet to find the right gas to fill it. I am not even sure what to ask for.
The last forkful of this tart was a bit reading the last chapter of a great book. You don't want it to end, but you want to enjoy every last bit of it. Then the sense of bereavement that you will never eat/read anything as good ever again... So whilst you can never eat or read it again with that first sense of wonder, then subsequent times will hopefully bring something new. I think I am going to have a long and meaningful relationship with this recipe.
The photos are lost in that spinning coloured ball between computer and internet and once I work that out I will load them up.
EDITED to add - since this original version, I have made this tart twice more. Do you know how much egg white I have in my freezer? A lot. The last time I made this I was a *little* distracted and unsurprisingly, made a few errors... happy errors as it turned out. I cooked my pastry till quite dark, but not burned - that was the best pastry ever! Second, I forgot to add in the reduced orange juice, until about 10 minutes into the baking. Improvising as ever, I reduced it by about a third again until it was quite dark and viscous, and then swirled this in to the not yet set custard filling. Sweet happy disaster, it was incredible. It was amazing. I can't even describe how good it was - definitely better than the original. Hoping I can replicate those errors again. I see my future will be a freezer full of egg whites!
i think that the picture you load up, pretty sum it up, a great tasting tart you can't put the fork down...:-)
ReplyDeleteI agree this is a great tasting tart. And like you, sometimes I feel like skipping a recipe but end up making it still due to the sense of obligation. Glad I didn't skip this. :)
ReplyDeleteButane is what you fill kitchen torches with here in the US. I know just how you felt when you said you made the recipe out of a sense of obligation to the Alpha Bakers - I felt that way with the panettone, but it's been one of my favorite recipes from the book so far. So glad I made it. Anyway, If you get a chance, I finally posted my tart and would love if you stopped by.
ReplyDeletePatricia @ ButterYum
http://www.butteryum.org/roses-alpha-bakers/2015/6/3/tbb-french-orange-cream-tart
I agree with you about the last bit of this tart being like the last pages of a great book. I'm hoping to find an excuse to make this one again, soon.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed this tart! It was sad to see the last piece depart.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great last paragraph!!! It is a wonderful tart recipe :) Butane is what we fill torches with in Australia too.
ReplyDelete"Then the sense of bereavement that you will never eat/read anything as good ever again... "
ReplyDeleteI'll never forget a meal in Newfoundland with my brother-in-law. He'd ordered a lobster, and as the meal went on, he appeared to get sadder and sadder. Finally, I asked him what was wrong, and he said, almost tearfully "I'll never eat something this good again."