St-Tropez famous Tarte Tropézienne recipe
This recipe is courtesy of the site Road to Pastry (http://www.roadtopastry.com). The original tarte was created by Alexandre Micka in the 50's for the cast of a movie, The original recipe remains a secret, this version is different, but delicious none the less; also note that this is not a Tarte, it's a round brioche.
Tarte Tropzienne
Ingredients
Brioche
~400g Brioche dough (risen and refrigerated, but not proofed yet)
Streusel
40g Salted butter
40g Brown sugar
40g Pastry Flour
40g Almond flour (optional)
Mediterranean syrup
160g Water
80g Granulated sugar
1 Orange zest
1 Vanilla bean (split)
20g Orange blossom water
10g Kirsch
Tropézienne cream
280g Whole milk
1 Vanilla bean (split)
50g Brown sugar
20g Cornstarch
80g Egg yolks
3 Gelatin sheets (6 grams)
225g Mascarpone cheese
30g Orange blossom water
20g Kirsch
170ml Heavy cream
Directions
Streusel
1-Place the cold diced butter, flour, brown sugar (and almond flour, if you are using it) in a mixer
2-Mix for a few seconds until you obtain a dough (alternatively, you can mix quickly by hand with the tips of your fingers).
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Shaping the brioche
3-Flatten the brioche dough on your work surface with a sprinkle of flour. Don't knead it, just let all the gases escape.
4-Give it a flat, round shape
5-Optional: if you have a tart ring, you can butter it and place the dough inside it for a perfectly round final shape
6-Brush the dough with the beaten egg yolk. Let the dough proof for at least one hour at room temperature (or until doubled in
size).
Tropézienne cream
7-Soften the gelatin in cold water for 10 minutes then strain it and place it in a clean bowl
8-Heat the milk with half of the sugar and the vanilla bean in a saucepan
9-In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch
10-When the milk is boiling, pour it in three times over the egg mixture through a strainer and mix every time to prevent the
yolks from curdling
11-Put back the liquid mixture into the saucepan and cook on medium heat whisking continuously
12-Allow the pastry cream to boil for 2 minutes whisking continuously then remove from the heat and pour it on the gelatin
13-Incorporate the mascarpone cheese with a whisk
14-Add the orange blossom water and the kirsch
15-Pour the cream on a thin layer in a large pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
16-When the pastry cream is at around 25°, whip the cold heavy cream to soft peaks (preferably in a chilled container)
17-Whisk quickly the pastry cream to soften it, then incorporate one-third of the whipped cream
18-Finally gently add all the remaining whipped cream with an upward movement taking care not to deflate the Tropézienne
cream. Place in a piping bag and refrigerate until ready to use.
Mediterranean syrup
19-In the meantime, prepare the syrup. Heat the water, sugar, orange zest and vanilla and boil for one minute on medium heat.
20-Let the syrup cool down to room temperature, then add the orange blossom water and kirsch
Assembling the cake
21-When the brioche dough is completely proofed, brush its surface again with the egg yolk
22-Cut the streusel into small pieces (suggestion: smaller than mine) or pass the streusel through a sieve (or simply form small
pieces of streusel with your hands)
23-Place the streusel all over the top of the brioche
24-Bake the brioche for around 15 minutes (or until golden brown) in a preheated oven at 170°C
25-Let the brioche cool down on a wire rack, then remove the ring (using the tip of a knife, if necessary) and cut in two
horizontally with a serrated knife. First, mark the edge, then start slicing gradually while rotating the cake.
26-Brush abundantly both the bottom and the top of the cake with the syrup
27-With a piping bag fitted with a plain tip, pipe drops of Tropézienne cream all around the edge of the bottom of the cake. The cream should not be runny, but solid enough to be piped and to support the weight of the top of the cake.
28-Then pipe more drops of cream to fill the rest of the bottom part of the cake
29-Finally, place the top of the cake on the cream and dust with powdered sugar
