Plum & almond tart with star anise & vanilla

Plum & almond tart with star anise & vanilla

Autumn

There’s something really nice about the word ‘plum’. It feels good in the mouth when you say it. Your tongue and lips have to move in a certain way to make the sound... plum. In fact, the feel of it is so nice that, at one point, the word for the sweet, juicy fruit was used to describe literally anything desirable. Here, I’m baking plums in a rather sticky, greedy, almond tart, flavoured with star anise, a spice that has cool, sweet, aromatic undertones and complements the plum beautifully.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons plum jam
  • 6–8 ripe plums, halved and destoned
  • handful of flaked almonds

For the pastry

  • 90g (3¼oz) icing sugar
  • 340g (11¾oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 170g (6oz) butter, cubed and chilled, plus extra for greasing
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons iced water

For the frangipane

  • 110g (3¾oz) unsalted butter
  • 110g (3¾oz) golden caster sugar
  • 1⁄2 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
  • 2 star anise, finely crushed
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 110g (3¾oz) ground almonds

Method

First, make the pastry. Combine the icing sugar and plain flour in a medium bowl. Rub in the chilled butter cubes until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (you can also do this in a food processor). Add in the egg and iced water, and stir through to combine. Tip out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and bring it together with your hands, kneading lightly to achieve a smooth finish. Wrap the pastry tightly in cling film and place it in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry until it is about 2–3mm (1/16–1/8in) thick. Grease and flour a 28cm (11¼in) round, loose-bottomed tart tin, then lay over the pastry, tucking it into the corners of the tin and leaving an overhang. Line the pastry case with baking parchment and baking beans and blind bake the tart case for 25 minutes, then remove the baking beans and parchment, trim the overhang, and return to the oven for 10 minutes, or until the base is just starting to colour. Remove and set aside, but leave the oven on.

For the frangipane, cream the butter, caster sugar, vanilla seeds and star anise until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and ground almonds, and mix until combined. Set aside.

To make the tart, spread the plum jam over the base of the pastry case, then spoon over the frangipane mix. Arrange the plums over the frangipane, cut-side down, pushing them in lightly with your fingers. Finally, scatter over the flaked almonds. Bake the tart in the oven for 25–35 minutes, or until golden and set on the outside and still a little soft in the middle. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Back to Membership