July 13, 2014
Rob
10

Recipe: Tarte Tropézienne

Two years ago I went to Saint Tropez, the famous chic town on the French Riviera where all the hip people go to spend their summer (and a lot of money). 🙂

Recipe-Tarte-Tropezienne-13

In my trip, I couldn’t help but trying the famous Tarte Tropézienne, the town’s specialty. Alexandre Micka, a Polish pastry chef in St Tropez invented this cake for the cast and staff of a movie production in St. Tropez in the 50’s.

Recipe-Tarte-Tropezienne-17

The main actor, Brigitte Bardot, loved the cake and suggested the name, not caring at all about the fact that this is not a tart! 😛

Recipe-Tarte-Tropezienne-10

The Tarte Tropézienne is in fact a round brioche with pearl sugar and a sort of pastry cream and buttercream filling, with a delicate flavour of orange blossom water.

Recipe-Tarte-Tropezienne-06 

The original recipe is apparently unchanged since the 50’s, and it remains a secret. It is a very interesting cake because despite the big quantity of filling (and probably butter!), it is very light and refreshing.

Since I did not have access to the original recipe, I chose to play it safe with a modernized version of the Tarte Tropézienne by pastry world champion Christophe Michalak. This recipe is indeed different from the original: the filling does not contain any butter and it is basically an orange-blossom water diplomat cream with the addition of mascarpone cheese.

Recipe-Tarte-Tropezienne-Step18

 

Moreover, the pearl sugar on the top of the cake was replaced by a fantastic streusel (i.e. what you use to make a “crumble”). From Michalak’s version, then I removed the tangerine jam because 1) I didn’t have it, 2) the cake is absolutely delicious even without it! 🙂

 

Tarte Tropzienne

Print recipe
Tarte Tropzienne

Ingredients

Brioche

~400gBrioche dough (risen and refrigerated, but not proofed yet)

Streusel

40gSalted butter
40gBrown sugar
40gPastry flour
40gAlmond flour (optional)

Mediterranean syrup

160gWater
80gGranulated sugar
1Orange zest
1Vanilla bean (split)
20gOrange blossom water
10gKirsch

Tropézienne cream

280gWhole milk
1Vanilla bean (split)
50gBrown sugar
20gCornstarch
80gEgg yolks
3Gelatin sheets (6 grams)
225gMascarpone cheese
30gOrange blossom water
20gKirsch
170mlHeavy 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 corn starch
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 in 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 weigh 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

More Posts Like This One