A French tart that’s a bit on the shy side
Most fruit tarts flaunt their bright fillings.
Whether their fruit is added to pastry before or after baking, they’re vivid confections — conspicuously appealing and hard to resist.
This plum tart is a dessert of a shyer order, less ostentatious than its flashy friends. On the surface, it’s subtle, looking like a giant shortbread cookie. But once it’s cut, the tart reveals a magenta stripe of simmered plums in each slice — fragrant with cinnamon and glistening with honey.
The recipe is based on a gâteau Breton, a traditional flat cake from Brittany consisting of an egg yolkenriched, butter-based dough that sometimes sandwiches jam or dried fruit purée.
Older recipes often call for using all- or part-buckwheat flour, once the region’s principal grain (and used in its famous crêpes). Now, you’re more likely to see gâteaux Breton made with regular wheat flour, which, in combination with the butter, gives it a particularly rich, crumbly texture.
I’ve made the recipe with puréed dried apricots or prunes in the centre, homemade or spooned from jars of lekvar (also known as prune or apricot butter). But when fresh plums are plentiful, it makes sense to use those instead. And, if you find red or purple ones, they’ll make for an extremely pretty slice.
You will need to cook the plums down, but that takes only about 15 minutes. While they simmer, you can add aromatics to the pot. I threw in a cinnamon stick and a rosemary sprig, along with some honey. But feel free to play around with other herbs and spices. A few slices of ginger root and some lemon thyme could also be nice.
You could also skip the compote and substitute jam in a layer as thick or thin as you like. A thin one will be elegant and restrained; a thick spread, sweeter and more extravagantly messy. Just be sure to choose a jam with good acidity, so that it’s tangy next to the buttery dough. Raspberry and orange marmalade fare better than strawberry and peach, but the possibilities for variation are many.