Strawberry Tart (inspired by Maxime Frédéric, Pleincoeur)

Among the desserts I've seen on social media in recent weeks, the strawberry tart by Maxime Frédéric offered at his bakery Pleincoeur made me extremely eager. Not being in Paris (a round trip on the TGV just for a strawberry tart seemed a bit exaggerated), I decided to take the plunge and try to recreate a copy of this tart using the information provided on their website as well as on their Instagram account. Here is the result, an excellent strawberry tart with a lot of flavor and freshness, and I particularly loved the use of the diamond shortbread as the tart base; it's more fragile than a classic sweet pastry but it's truly excellent!

Equipment:

Fluted tart ring De Buyer

Mini angled spatula

Rolling pin

Ingredients:

I used Norohy vanilla from Valrhona: code ILETAITUNGATEAU for 20% off everything on the site (affiliate).

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Preparation time: 1h15 + 25 minutes of baking

For a 20cm diameter tart:

Diamond shortbread (recipe from Pierre Hermé):

225g of softened butter

100g of sugar

1 vanilla pod (or vanilla extract or vanilla powder)

1 pinch of fleur de sel

320g of flour

Butter & sugar for baking

Mix the softened butter with the sugar, vanilla, and salt.

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Then add the flour, frais the dough with the palm of your hand to incorporate it well, then wrap the dough in film and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

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Next, butter your tart ring and sprinkle it with granulated sugar. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2-3mm and place it in the tart ring. Place everything in the refrigerator (or freezer if possible) for at least 2 hours.

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Pre-bake the tart shell for 15 minutes at 170°C. Meanwhile, prepare the almond cream.

Lemon almond cream with strawberries:

30g of softened butter

30g of icing sugar

30g of almond powder

30g of eggs

7g of cornstarch

The zest of 1 lemon

150g of strawberries

Mix the softened butter with the icing sugar, almond powder, cornstarch, and lemon zest. Add the egg and mix well.

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Spread the almond cream on the bottom of the pre-baked pastry and add the strawberries cut into pieces.

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Cook again for 10 to 15 minutes at 170°C. Remove the ring as soon as it comes out of the oven, being careful as the pastry is fragile. Let cool.

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Strawberry compote:

300g of strawberries

40g of sugar

The juice of half a lemon

Hull the strawberries and cut them into pieces. Put them in a saucepan with the sugar and lemon juice, then cook over low heat, stirring regularly until you have a compote texture (about 30 minutes).

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Let cool completely in the refrigerator.

Whipped vanilla cream:

150g of liquid cream at 35% fat

15g of icing sugar

1 vanilla pod or extract or vanilla powder

Whip the liquid cream into whipped cream, then add the icing sugar and vanilla. Proceed to assembly.

Assembly:

400g of strawberries

For Maxime Frédéric / Pleincoeur's recipe, he starts by spreading the vanilla cream before adding the compote; I made a mistake and did the opposite, it's up to you to decide 😉

So spread a thin layer of vanilla cream over the almond cream, smooth it out, then add about 2/3 of the compote.

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Then add the strawberries cut into pieces and press them into the compote. Add the rest of the compote between and on top of the strawberry pieces, smooth with an angled spatula, and finally enjoy!