Apple Frangipane Tart with a Cider and Elderflower Syrup - Great Bloggers Bake Off

Last week the bakers in the Bake Off tent faced the pastry challenges. I have to admit I do like making pastry, I love getting my hands in a feeling the ingredients come together. So when I was not feeling up to making pastry, thanks to a bad back, for my bake off tart I was disappointed. But I knew I had to still take part. So I did use shop bought pastry for this bake *sorry*.

This is the first time that I have made frangipane! I know I could not believe that I had never made it either! So this was totally new bake for me and one that I was delighted with! This tart was so delicious and the creme patissiere base worked so well with the almond frangipane and the apples. The flavour combinations in this tart simply go hand in hand with each other.

For the basic frangipane and creme patissiere recipes I used Paul Hollywood's How To Bake.

This is what I did...

Apple Frangipane Tart with Cider and Elderflower Syrup

Ingredients

300g sweet shortcrust pastry

Frangipane

100g unsalted butter

45g caster sugar

75g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

125g ground almonds

Creme Patissiere

100g caster sugar

4 med egg yolks

40g cornflour

500 mls semi skimmed milk

1 tsp vanilla paste

Topping

2 apples, I used Braeburns

200mls cider infused with elderflower

2 tsp caster sugar

Method

1 - Heat the oven to 180C fan

2 - Line a flan tin with the pastry and prick all over using a fork

3 - Line the base with baking paper and baking beans and place in the centre of the pre heated oven for 15 minutes

4 - After 15 minutes remove the baking paper and baking beans and return to the oven for 5 minutes to brown the pastry a little then remove from the oven

5 - To make the creme patissiere whisk the eggs, sugar and cornflour together until you have a light creamy consistency

6 - Place the milk and vanilla paste in a pan and bring to the boil then remove from the heat

7 - Stir in about a quarter of the warm milk into the egg mixture and whisk

8 - Pour the egg mixture into the pan of milk and stir, return to a gentle heat and stir continuously until the mixture thickens then remove from the heat, cover with clingfilm and allow to cool

9 - To make the frangipane mix together the butter and sugar until light and creamy

10 - Add the eggs along with half of the flour to prevent curdling

11 - Add the remaining flour, baking powder and the ground almonds and mix thoroughly

12 - Once the creme patissiere is cool pour onto the pastry base, this is the tarts first layer

13 - Evenly pipe on the frangipane, this is the second layer

14 - Finally top with the apple slices and place in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the frangipane is starting to brown

15 - To make the syrup place the cider in a pan along with the caster sugar and bring to the boil then simmer until the liquid has reduced down and has thickened then brush on the top of the hot flan and leave to cool.

The cider infused with elderflower gives this tart a lovely sweet finish. Before making this tart I always imagined that they were harder than they actually are to make. Yes there are more processes in creating this tart, but each one is worth the effort. This really is one of my favourite bakes and I received a lot of compliments on how tasty it was.

Enjoy x

As always I am joining in with Mummy Mishaps - Great Bloggers Bake Off this week it is hosted by Nobody Said It Was Easy.