This summer fruit dessert is a French fruit tart made with a sweet pastry crust filled with lightly sweet almond frangipane. Stone fruit is sliced thin and wrapped into roses. Make this into tartlets to personalize a beautiful bake!
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If you want a showstopper dessert, one that's not too sweet, and is loaded with fresh summer fruit, you are in the right place with this Summer Fruit Tart! This French fruit tart is filled with a variety of stone fruit, nestled into soft frangipane and a sweet tart crust.
It's fabulous, fun, and SO delicious. If you're already asking "do I have to make the roses?" - no, you don't. You can absolutely slice them and lay them in a spiral. However, these roses are easier than you may think, and you'll get the rolling process down surprisingly fast!
Fruit tart ingredients
What is stone fruit? Stone fruit is a type of fruit that contains a stone or pit. We're talking peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, and cherries. The pit is not the seed, but the pit does hold the seed.
What is frangipane? This a French pastry filling, also sometimes known as almond cream. Frangipane is made primarily of butter, almond flour, powdered sugar, and egg. It starts as a soft, spreadable consistency and bakes into a cakey, buttery filling.
Here's what you'll need
- All-purpose flour. For the crust and a skosh for the frangipane.
- Unsalted butter. Softened & used in both the crust and frangipane.
- Large eggs. Room temperature & used in both the crust and frangipane.
- Almond flour. Finely ground. The main textural component of the frangipane.
- Powdered sugar. This is what sweetens the frangipane!
- Almond extract. I like to add this to the frangipane to really bring out the almond flavor.
- Stone fruit. A variety of types and colors. I used white and yellow nectarines, plums, pluots, and apricots.
Fruit Tart Crust Recipe
The Summer Fruit Tart base is made with a sweet crust pastry (aka a Pâté Sucrée). This is SUCH a simple and forgiving dough. Everything gets a quick mix together in the stand mixer (or with hand mixer), chilled for about two hours, then rolled out and placed in a tart pan.
This is the most forgiving dough ever, so you don't need to worry about cracks or holes, because everything can be patched with excess scraps! The dough will get par-baked, so you'll need pie weights or dried rice/beans for this part (along with parchment paper).
For a detailed, step-by-step process, check out my Sweet Tart Crust post.
Fruit tart filling
Frangipane is a super quick fruit tart filling and is not a custard-based filing, as some fruit tarts are. Frangipane not only provides great almond flavor (a natural pairing to stone fruit), but it bakes in and around all of the stone fruit and you can the nestle the roses in so nicely!
It starts a rather wet, spreadable consistency, but bakes into a moist and cakey texture. You know the frangipane is set when the exposed bits get browned and slightly caramelized and it is slightly springy to the touch.
Unsure of how to pronounce frangipane? Listen here.
Frangipane Recipe
- Unsalted butter
- Powdered sugar
- Almond Flour
- All-purpose flour
- Almond extract
- Vanilla paste or extract
- Large egg (room temperature)
To make the frangipane, combine all ingredients with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until the mixture comes together completely.
Making the stone fruit roses
There are multitudes of ways to decorate a fruit tart, and this is a more elaborate one. But don't let it make you shy away! After the first few roses, you'll be rolling these out in no time.
The rose creation process takes me about 45 minutes, but I find it super cathartic and a truly fun little baking project. Just take your time and have fun with it, they're not meant to be perfect!
Best tips before you begin:
- Use freestone peaches or nectarines. This variety (rather than clingstone) allows the pit to be easily removed. These are typically found later in stone fruit season (July-August).
- Choose stone fruit that is just starting to ripen. It will likely feel more firm than you think it should...To make the roses, you need fruit that is firm, yet flexible. So you have to find some middle ground between totally firm and perfectly ripe.
- You MUST have a sharp knife. The slices need to be about 1/16" thin which requires a thin, sharp knife. Dull knives will wreck you and are an accident waiting to happen.
- Use the end pieces of the fruit to fill out the roses. You won't want to use the little nub pieces of the stone fruit in the actual roll. Instead, save them for the very end and slice tiny, thin slices to make a very small loop to place into the center of the roses. They tend to expand slightly and lose the tight middle, so this helps make them look more full.
Stone fruit rose assembly
Begin by cutting each piece of fruit in half and remove the pit. Because the fruit isn't totally ripe, sometimes the pit doesn't come out super easily. Run the tip of a sharp paring knife around the pit, then use the tip of a spoon to pull out the pit from the small pit tip on the bottom.
Slice the fruit (on the stem side) into thin slices, keeping the slices together. Fan out the fruit using your fingers and thumb so only about ¼ of each slice is overlapping.
For larger roses, use all slices of the half. For small roses, use half of the slices, or even a quarter. I always set aside the end pieces (or two) so I can have totally flat slices. You will use the nubs to fill out the center of the roses.
One the slices are fanned out, start on one end and make a tight loop with the first slice, then slowly start turning the fruit inwards with the loop-holding hand and use the other hand to wrap the tail piece around. Keep your hands on the fruit the whole time!
Use both hands to carefully transfer the rose and place it into the frangipane. Nestle it in slightly and gently. Repeat with the remaining fruit.
Bake the tart at 350℉ for 50-60 minutes or until the frangipane is puffy and set. Remember to look for the golden brown exposed bits and the slight spring back when touched. Some areas directly next to fruit may look under set, but that is often just because of the fruit juices releasing.
Adding the glaze
The easiest glaze to put onto this fruit tart is apricot or peach jam. Simply heat two tablespoons of the jam and then brush it all over the top of the tart (except the crust). This adds a lovely sheen and an extra bit of sweetness to the finish.
FAQ
Yes. You can make the dough up to one week in advance and then roll it out when you're ready to use it. Once you decide to bake the crust, however, you need to bake the entire tart that day since the crust only gets par-baked.
Feel free to bake the entire tart the day before you plan to serve it, it will hold up just fine.
This fruit tart can sit out at room temperature for three days. After that, the tart structure starts to deteriorate.
Yes, you can! I like to use a tart pan with a removable bottom so the entire tart can come out of the pan easily and be presented nicely. However, you can definitely make this in a pie tin following the same instructions.
Note that the sides may slouch down slightly, but filling the crust with pie weights the entire way to the top will help with this.
Absolutely. Roll out the dough and place into as many tartlet pans as will fit. Keep in mind you can take the scraps, mash them back together and re-roll them. This way, you can get as many shells as possible.
Evenly distribute the frangipane in the shells (after par-baking), but only halfway filled. Then, add as many roses as you'd like!
Bake time will be slightly less, so start checking around the 35 minute mark, though it may take up to 45-50 minutes.
Want more summer fruit?
Summer Fruit Tart (with frangipane)
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment, or handheld mixer
- 9-inch tart pan
- Rolling Pin
- Very sharp knife
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
Sweet Tart Crust
- 6 T unsalted butter room temperature (85g)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar 67g
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1¼ cup + 2T all-purpose flour 165g
Frangipane
- 6 T unsalted butter room temperature, 85g
- ¾ cup powdered sugar 90g
- ¾ cup almond flour 75g
- 2 T all-purpose flour 15g
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
- 1 large egg room temperature
Stone Fruit Roses
- 6-7 whole stone fruit nectarines, plums, pluots, apricots (a variety of colors)
- 2 tablespoons jam peach or apricot
Instructions
Sweet Tart Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), cream together the butter, sugar and salt until smooth. Add in the egg and mix until incorporated, then scrape down the sides. Add the flour and mix on low until just incorporated.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and flatten into a 1 inch thick disc. Place in the fridge for about two hours.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and plastic wrap and allow it to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll out the dough until it’s ⅛-¼" thick. This dough is very forgiving, so if it cracks, you can patch it later. Roll the dough so it’s about 2 inches wider than the tart pan.
- Transfer the dough to the pan and press it into the bottom, corners, and sides of the tart pan. Roll the rolling pin over the top of the pan to remove the excess dough, then use any of the scraps to patch holes or weak spots.
- Transfer to the freezer for 15 minutes, and preheat the oven to 325℉. Remove the dough from the freezer and dock the bottom of the tart with a fork multiple times. Line the shell with parchment paper and fill completely with pie weights (or dried beans/rice).
- Bake for 15 minutes to par-bake the crust, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before adding the frangipane.
Frangipane
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl with a wooden spoon until completely homogeneous. Add to the cooled crust and spread evenly.
Stone Fruit Roses
- Halve (through the stem area) and pit the stone fruit. Thinly slice each half (slicing on the side where the stem was) into about 1/16” slices, keeping the slices together.
- Fan out the pieces so they overlap about one quarter on each piece. Then, using both hands, make a tight swirl starting on one side and use the other hand to bring the “tail” the whole way around to create the rose.
- Use any scraps to slice off very small, thin pieces and curl to fill in the very middle of the roses.
- Add as many stone fruit roses that can fit (or as many as you want). To make smaller roses, only use half (or even a quarter) of the slices.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes in a preheated 350℉ oven until the frangipane is completely set, slightly puffy and lightly browned in the exposed areas.
- Gently heat the jam (if using) and spread it onto the top of the tart to make the fruit glisten.
Ana
This is certainly a showstopper dessert! Love the flavor of the frangipane with the stone fruit. I made my tart with plums and peaches and it turned out beautifully. Thanks for the recipe!