Passion Fruit And Raspberry Tart
Passion Fruit And Raspberry Tart
When I opened my freezer for the first time after the trip, I knew that I need to make an effort to clean it up. I have frozen berries from red/white currants, black currant, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, yellow raspberries, you name it, it is crazy. I had some white chocolate mousse that I have put in a mold and ready to be used up in a cake, everything is in there. Now that Summer is getting really close, I definitely need to clean that up before stocking up again for the next winter time.
Since I haven't gotten around to download the new cake pictures from the camera yet, I will start by posting the one I made from last year before I left on my trip, in no particular order (I have A LOT).
As you've probably know, I am a big fan of Pierre Herme's lemon cream and I had been thinking of making the passion fruit version of that. Passion fruit is probably my favorite tropical fruit (same level as mango), something about the bright taste just reminds me of sun in tropical paradise. Anyways, so I was trying to use up some of the ingredients in my freezer (which I still need to do) before I left for months, and I found tart dough sitting in the back of my freezer. I thought this was perfect to make the passion fruit tart I've been wanting to make.
Pierre Herme and Laduree have a recipe for their passion fruit and raspberry tart. Pierre's version has a layer of thin genoise and raspberry jam in the bottom, while laduree does not. Instead, Laduree's version has fresh raspberries on top of the tart, which one of my favorite blogger, Evan, tried in her blog and she made it as beautiful as the book does. The recipe for the passion fruit cream is similar, both has huge amount of butter that you blend at the end. It is not really surprising since Pierre used to work at Laduree before opening his own shop, so you would find similar desserts between the two. I decided to go with Pierre's version by adding thin genoise and raspberry jam layer in the middle. I didn't use his genoise recipe though, I used some joconde I had available at that time and I made simple raspberry jelly.
I wanted to make a mini version of the tart, I've always liked mini everything as I think it is prettier. The tart dough I had was from Pierre Herme recipe, same one as I used in this lemon tart. I used the same recipe for the passion fruit cream, just substituted passion fruit for the lemon. As expected, the resulting cream is bursting with passion fruit flavor and as smooth as it can be. I made the leftover joconde and cream and raspberry jelly to make the cake version of it and it is equally good!
Speaking of Pierre Herme and Laduree, look where I went to and what I got on my Japan visit!! I was literally jumping up and down when I was finally there . Too bad the Pierre Herme store I went to, didn't have a complete selection but I was happy enough to try his famous Ispahan among everything else (I had the regular size of Ispahan but can't find the picture). It didn't stop us from coming back the second time though. Laduree however, it didn't look like an ordinary bakery, it is a boutique! It is also the most expensive one among everything else.
Everthing in it, the decor, the place, seemed really Parisian and upscale. We definitely feel like a queen there. I would hope so when I am paying $15 for a small piece of cake, and more than $10 for 2 scoops of ice cream. We were always seated by the window overlooking the famous high-end Ginza shopping district. We also went to Sadaharu Aoki, no less than 3x in a week.I also found Toshi Yoroizuka by surprise. Nonetheless, the week I had in Japan was full of gourmet concoctions. I can't upload all of my food pictures, but there are TONS of these kind of goodies!
It was an amazing week we had in Japan.I finally got to cross off one item in my bucket list, which is visiting Japan during the cherry blossom season, and let me tell you, it was AMAZING! Japan is amazing, from the people, the food (oh the food was definitely memorable), the culture, everything was great, except the fact that it is also expensive. Will definitely go back there one of these days.
In the meantime, I will leave you with the recipe for passion fruit tart. You can omit the joconde and raspberry jelly, and just made a passionfruit tart, maybe with some raspberries on top. Have a happy Summer!
Passion Fruit and Raspberry Tart
adapted from Pierre Herme
Pate Sucree
yield: three 101/2-in crusts or four 8-in crusts
300g unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
190g powdered sugar
60g ground almonds
1 vanilla bean, scrapped
2 eggs, room temperature
500g all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
* Put the butter in a mixer bowl and cream until smooth and creamy using a paddle attachment.
* Add the sugar, ground almonds, and vanilla bean seeds. Mix until combined.
* Add the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating the previous one before adding the next one (the dough might look curdled at this point but don't worry, it'll come together once you add the flour)
* Combine the flour and salt. Add to the dough in about three addition. Mix until just it comes together. Do not overwork! Like Pierre said, "it's better to have lumps of butter rather than to have an overworked dough".
* Divide the dough in the portions you need. Form each one into a ball and flatten it into a disk. Wrap each disk with plastic wrap and store in the fridge overnight (you can also freeze the dough at this point and thaw it in the fridge overnight).
* Remove one disk from the fridge, and roll it either between two sheets of parchment paper, or just well-floured surface. You need to move quickly though. You don't want the dough to be soft and overworked.
* Line your tart pan with the dough and put it back in the fridge for at least 1-2 hrs to rest.
* Preheat the oven to 350 F.
* When you're ready to bake, put a parchment paper on top of the dough and fill the bottom with either rice or beans.
* Bake for 20 minutes. Take the parchment paper and the beans/rice off, then continue to bake for another 5-10 minutes until it's golden brown.
* Let cool in the ring.
Passion Fruit Cream
200g whole eggs
180g granulated sugar
150g passion fruit pulp (no seeds)
15g lemon juice
300g unsalted butter, at room temperature
Mix the eggs, sugar, passion fruit pulp, and lemon juice and cook in a bain-marie, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesnt touch the hot water underneath. Stir/whisk constantly until the mixture thickens and reach 85-86C. Strain the mixture and let cool to about 55-60 C and put it in a blender (if you don't have a hand-held blender). Add the butter a couple of pieces at a time, to make an emulsion. The mixture will lighten in color. Continue running the blender for a few minutes after all of the butter has been added to ensure the airy and light cream. Make sure stop and run the blender a few times to avoid over-heating.
Joconde - or use any thing sponge
Raspberry jelly - you might want to quarter the recipe depending on how many tarts you're making
Passion Fruit Glaze
neutral glaze (see below)
passion fruit juice (with pulp)
Translucent Glaze
250 ml water
Orange zest
Lemon zest
1 used vanilla pods or ½ vanilla bean seeds
100 g sugar
10 g pectin NH (15g for regular pectin)
10 g lemon juice
3-4 chopped mint leaves
Combine the water, zests, and vanilla pod/seeds and heat it to 45 F.
Add the sugar and the pectin. Bring to a boil for about 2 minutes.
Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice and mint leaves.
Leave in infusion for 30 minutes in room temperature, and run through a fine sieve.
Keep in the refrigerator
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