How to Make the Perfect Tarte Tropézienne

Greetings dear readers and friends. I hope you’re doing well in your respective corners of the world. We’re keeping out spirits up and looking forward to the sunny summer months to come. I also hope you’ll get some inspiration from today’s guest post, brought to us by the lovely Agnes of French with Agnes – an online French lesson program based in Paris and Nice, with small group sessions available as well. Today she shares with us a lovely family recipe for making the perfect tarte tropézienne.

Meet Agnes, our Chef for the day!

I recently met Agnes, virtually of course (!), and she is one impressive cookie. Based in Paris since 2014, she has also worked in the West Indies, Ireland and Australia for over 10 years. Passionate about helping individuals achieve their French language goals, she’s worn many hats in her career – including successfully completing a Master’s degree in International Communication in Bordeaux and specializing in Journalism at the Australian Writers’ Centre. She’s also a certified Teacher of French as a Foreign Language with Alliance Française.

A very big merci for the guest post!

Introduction to la belle Tarte Tropézienne

This original tart, well established in the immediate region of Saint-Tropez, is now available in many patisseries in France. A franchise, La Tarte Tropézienne, even opened shops in more than 20 cities in France, with specialties such as baby trop (individual choux with the same ingredients as the traditional tart), donut tropézienne or mille-feuille tropézienne.  Historically, and in Germany, you could find it under the name of nid d’abeille (Bienenstitch in German), meaning honeycomb, with almonds on top.

The creator of the tarte tropézienne is a Polish-born pastry chef, Alexandre Micka. He settled in Saint-Tropez in 1952 and got this recipe from his grandmother. It is said that he introduced the tart to the crew of Roger Vadim’s film ‘And God Created Woman’ (with Brigitte Bardot). Since then, the success has permanently installed this delicious pastry in memories and on tables. 

This cake is a soft and light sugar bun that has been split into two parts. The top is sprinkled at the end of the preparation with pearl sugar. Between the two halves of the brioche/bun, you will find a delicious cream flavoured with orange blossom water. 

Tarte tropézienne (for 6-8 people)

INGREDIENTS

For the brioche:

250g of flour

20g of powdered sugar

1 egg

10g of baker yeast

10cl of milk

50g of softened butter

5g of salt

one tablespoon of orange blossom water

+ one egg for the egg wash

For the tropezienne cream:

40cl milk

40g of corn flour

3 egg yolks

150g of liquid cream

one teaspoon of vanilla powder

80g de powdered sugar

50g of butter

For the decor

Iced Sugar and/or pearl sugar

PREPARATION

A . The day before

In a stand mixer/pastry blender with a hook add 250g of flour, and in the middle 10g of yeast with a bit of milk to dissolve it. Then add 20g of sugar, 1 egg, the rest of milk and knead the dough until the dough unsticks from the sides.

Then add 5g of salt with 50g of softened butter in pieces and the orange blossom water.

Knead the dough a bit more until it becomes homogenous.

Let raise the dough during 30 minutes at room temperature

Put it to the freeze for 30min.

Finally keep it in the fridge one night.

B. On the day

1. Cook the dough

Roll out the dough in a 22-cm diameter disc

Let raise the dough for one to two hours

Preheat the oven to 200° C

Glaze the dough with one egg

Sprinkle with pearl sugar

Cook for 15min at 180 to 200° C

Let it cool on a rack

• Prepare the tropezienne cream

Boil 40cl of milk in a saucepan with the vanilla powder

In a bowl, beat 3 egg yolks with the sugar. Keep stirring while adding the corn flour

Then pour a third of the boiling milk over the mixture, whisking gently.

Add the whole mixture into the saucepan and let it cook until the cream becomes thicker.

Always whisk over low heat

When thick, let it cool at room temperature and film the pastry cream on contact

In the stand mixer / pastry blender, put the softened butter then add little by little the cream

Whisk until your cream has the texture of a mousse. This is what we call a crème mousseline. Film on contact and keep it cool in the fridge.

Once cold, you can whisk 150g of cold liquid cream in the stand mixer / pastry blender.

Once firm, gently mix the whipped cream (crème chantilly) just obtained with your crème mousseline

• Finish the tarte tropezienne 

Cut your brioche in half with a cake knife.

Add your tropezienne cream in the center of the lower part of the brioche.

Put the lid on and sprinkle with pearl sugar

Merci Agnes for this beautiful tarte!

You can find out more about Agnes on her website, French with Agnes, where she hosts her own well-designed (and informative) blog.

bonjour@frenchwithagnes.com

+33 (0)7 64 15 18 09