Rhubarb Frangipane Tart
This rhubarb frangipane tart has a buttery, flaky, shortcrust pastry shell filled with a chewy, rich, almond frangipane and a colorful, brightly flavored rhubarb topping. It's easy to put together and a wonderful way to showcase the taste and color of rhubarb.
Servings 12 servings - One 9 inch round tart
Ingredients
SHORTCRUST PASTRY
- 113 grams (½ cup, 4 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed
- 50 grams (¼ cup) granulated sugar
- 2 grams (½ teaspoon) kosher salt
- 120 grams (1 cup) all purpose flour
- 1 egg yolk
FRANGIPANE FILLING
- 120 grams (1¼ cups) almond flour
- 30 grams (¼ cup) all purpose flour
- 150 grams (¾ cup) granulated sugar
- 1 gram (¼ teaspoon) Kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 medium lemon)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 45 grams (3 Tablespoons, 1½ ounces) butter, cubed
RHUBARB TOPPING
- 366 grams, (3 cups, 13 ounces) rhubarb, sliced on the bias (I used three large thick stalks)
- 82 grams (¼ cup) strawberry jam (or another fruit jam such as apricot)
- 1 teaspoon water, if needed, to thin jam for brushing
- 30 grams (¼ cup) powdered sugar (optional)
Instructions
SHORTCRUST PASTRY
- Into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, sugar and salt. Mix well to combine, and continue beating on medium high until mixture is pale and fluffy, about two minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the flour and mix until just combined. It will be coarse and grainy.
- Add the egg yolk and mix for about 30 seconds. The dough should start to pull together into a ball.
- Flatten the dough into a disc shape. Roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper to a 10 inch diameter circle. Slide parchment covered dough onto an upside down baking sheet and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Remove dough from fridge and place on a flat work surface. Peel the top layer of parchment off the dough. Replace the parchment, flip the dough over, and peel the second layer off. Discard it.
- Once dough is slightly malleable, carefully center and place rolled out dough on 9 inch tart pan. Gently press the dough down into the pan and up the sides, ensuring that no empty space remains between the dough and the pan. If any cracks or tears occur, patch with extra dough scraps. Trim the excess dough with a knife held parallel to your work surface to ensure the tart shell has a clean edge. Cover tart pan with plastic wrap and return to the refrigerator to chill while oven preheats.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 C, Gas number 6). Remove tart pan from refrigerator and cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper. Fill with pie weights or dried beans (I use and reuse the latter) to keep the dough from bubbling up. Bake for 6 minutes and then carefully lift the weight-filled parchment from the pan. Return to the oven to bake an additional 6 minutes. Place on a baking rack to cool.
FRANGIPANE FILLING
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the almond flour, flour, sugar, salt, lemon zest, vanilla and egg. Scatter the butter over the top.
- Process until well mixed. You may need to stop the processor to scrape down the walls partway through.
- Pour filling into cooled tart shell. Use an offset spatula to smooth the filling evenly around the entire shell.
RHUBARB TOPPING
- Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C, Gas number 4) and place rack in the middle of the oven.
- Cut the rhubarb on the bias into long thin slices. (Instead of simply cutting straight across the stalk at a 90 degree angle, turn your knife 45 degrees so that it makes a diagonal cut.) Continue cutting along same angle with remaining rhubarb. This creates longer, thinner slices.
- Place the rhubarb stalks onto the frangipane filling in a decorative pattern, pressing down gently. For this tart, I used four rhubarb slices for each square to make a square basket parquet pattern, also known as parquet mosaique. If you do a Google image search for visuals of either of these terms and also look at the photos I've included here, you'll get a sense of the pattern.
- As your pattern nears the edges of the tart, trim the rhubarb slices to fit the remaining space on top of the frangipane filling so that the rhubarb stays within the tart border.
- Using a pastry brush, gently brush strawberry jam onto the rhubarb slices. If the jam is too thick to apply easily, add a teaspoon of water and stir well to create a thinner jam.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until tart edge is golden brown and frangipane filling is set and no longer moist and shiny. Set on a baking rack to cool somewhat. Immediately before serving, dust with powdered sugar (optional) by placing the powdered sugar in a small sieve and tapping it (lightly!) with your hand as you move it over the tart.
