I love eating cherries directly out from the tree. It really is one of the few fruits that I’ve never liked being processed into something else. I always disliked as a kid cherry candies, cherry yogurt etc.
The only exception was the Cherry Clafouti (see recipe here).
That’s why I decided to make a Cherry Tart with fresh fruits to really keep the taste of the fruit as much as possible.
I love Raspberry and Strawberry Tart. They consist of a pate sucrée (sweet dough) , almond cream, and pastry cream. I inspired myself of this but replace the pastry cream with a homemade cherry marmalade.
For the visual, I really got inspired by French Chef Cedric Grolet who always make the most beautiful fruit tarts.
What is Pate sucrée ?
I often use Pate sucrée for my tarts. It is one of the basics of French Pastry with the Pate sablée and Pate brisée. The dough is prepared by creaming the beurre and not by sanding it as with the two others. We first work the butter until it is soft before adding all other ingredients.
Tips for the perfect dough
Do not overmix your dough. It goes for every dough you will prepare. Overmixing your dough will make it elastic and it will shrink while baking.
Give your dough a couple of hours rest in the fridge before using it. The temperature is important: if too warm, the dough will be too sticky and hard to rolled out; if too cold however, it will break and will be almost impossible to shape. Take your dough 15 minutes out of the fridge before using it.
For this particular dough, we need to use room temperature butter. We will first “cream” it with the paddle attachment of our mixer. That is to say we will work the butter until it gets soft and almost creamy. We then add the sugar, salt and egg, and we will add the flour and almond powder at the end. Add the mix of flour and almond powder in 3 times. Once you add the last portion of it, stop almost right away and finish mixing by hand on your counter. Form a ball with your dough, slightly flatten it, wrap it and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Make your own marmalade for your Cherry Tart
The store bought one is full of sugar, among other things, and you can’t control the ingredients. It will take you only 10 to 15 minutes to do your own yummy marmalade.
Make sure to mix the pectine with some sugar before adding it to your preparation. It is very important to avoid having lumps of pectine in your preparation. Add it slowly to your fruits while cooking. Make sure to stir all the time to incorporate it well.
Make it pretty!
Cut the cherries in half and arrange them nicely on top of the tart. You can arrange them the same way I did, or get creative to get the most beautiful Cherry tart.
Cherry Tart
Ingredients
Pâte Sucrée
- 100 g butter room temperature
- 70 g powdered sugar
- 1 g salt
- 35 g eggs
- 175 g flour
- 28 g almond powder
Almond Cream
- 65 g butter
- 35 g sugar
- 50 g eggs
- 65 g almond powder
- 5 g flour
- 5 g kirsch
Cherry Marmelade
- 300 g cherry
- 60 g sugar
- 30 g lemon juice
- 6 g pectine
Instructions
Pâte sucrée
- Sift almond powder and flour.
- Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, cream the butter. Add the sugar and salt. Mix. Add the egg and mix again. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a dough scraper.
- Add the flour and almond powder in three times. Mix just enough to incorporate the ingredients. Stop right away as not to overmix the dough. Put your dough on a lightly floured work surface. Push out the dough with the palm of your hand and smear it over your work surface (it is called “fraiser” the dough).
- Form a ball with the dough, slightly flatten it. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for a minimum of an hour.
Almond Cream
- Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, cream the butter. Add the sugar and mix well until the mix becomes fluffy (at this stage, it is better to mix more than not enough). Add the eggs, mix. Add the flour and almond powder. Mix to incorporate.
- Add the kirsch at the end
Cherry Marmelade
- Remove cherry pits and cut them in 8 pieces. Combine in a saucepan with lemon juice and 40g sugar. Cook for about 10 minutes. Mix the remaining sugar with pectine and slowly add to the cherry while stirring. Bring to a boil, cook for one minute.
Assembly
- Roll your dough and line a 20cm (8”) ring tart. Spread almond cream on top of it (do not add all the cream, it should be only at one third of the top of the dough as it will expand while baking). Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
- Bake the tart for 20 minutes at 180C (356F) or until golden.
- Remove from the ring and spread cherry jam on top of it.
- Cut the cherries in half and remove the pits. Arrange them nicely on the tart. Enjoy!
