Vegan Plum and Almond Tart

Vegan Plum and Almond Tart

 When L brought home half a dozen plums the other day, we both knew what had to happen - plum and almond tart, or tarte aux prunes à la frangipane (végétalien).  This is one of the many variants on the delicious frangipane tart that we ate again and again in Toulouse, so we knew it would be good.  We just didn't realise quite how incredibly good it was going to be!

Internet searching for recipes is one of my favourite hobbies, but, as per usual, vegan iterations that looked like the delicious tarts in my memory were just not to be found.  I found a recipe at the Little Loaf, which looked very promising, but was chock full of butter and eggs, so I decided to tinker with it, and here is the resulting deliciousness.  This makes for a pretty decent sized tart, but L and I managed to eat it all ourselves, in just two days.  It is rich and sweet, but also nicely tart from all the fruit...and the plums glow like jewels in the sunlight, so it would definitely rise to any special occasion you might throw at it!

This recipe will make quite a thick crust, which I liked, but it does make it look a bit rustic. For a thinner crust, just half it.  

The recipe and cooking time are long, but each step is pretty straightforward...and it is definitely worth it to bite into something this incredible.  Trust me.

Vegan Plum and Almond Tart

Total time: 4 hours, but there's a lot of pastry resting time.  Totally worth it!

Serves: makes 6 - 8 slices, but how many people that serves depends on how much you like your friends and family...you will definitely want seconds!

For the pastry

100g plain white flour

150g semi whole wheat flour

100g icing sugar

1 tsp arrowroot

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

200g coconut cream (about half a can's worth)

Water – 1 or two teaspoons

For the plums and glaze

6 plums, halved and stones removed

30g vegan margarine

1 tbsp caster sugar

1/3 cup elderberry wine

For the frangipane

180g coconut cream, room temp (a bit less than a half of a can, feel free to top up with margarine if necessary)

100g golden caster sugar

80g ground almonds

100 g freshly ground almonds (another ideal use for the leftover almond crumbs from making fresh almond milk.  If, like me, you didn’t plan ahead, just soak some blanched almonds for at least an hour, then pulse until they begin to crumble, but stop before they start to form a nut butter.)

Start with the pastry.  Put the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, and then rub the coconut cream in with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse oatmeal.  Then, add water, half a teaspoon at a time, and knead until a the mixture just begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  As soon as a dough ball begins to form, stop kneading.  Set aside pastry to rest for an hour in a cool place. 

After resting, roll out on a lightly floured surface until the dough is the size and shape of your baking tray (mine was a 10 inch cake pan, actually).  It should fit in the bottom of the tray snugly, with just a small amount of dough going up the sides (about a centimetre), so that when it bakes it will shrink to fit the bottom of the pan.  Let the dough rest again for half an hour before baking in a preheated 200°C, 390°F oven for 20-25 minutes, until the crust is lightly golden.  When the crust is finished, set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes.

While the crust is in the oven, prepare the plums and sauce.  Clean, pit, and halve the plums, then place them in a roasting tray with the cut side up.  Place a small dollop of margarine over each plum, and sprinkle with sugar.  Pour in the elderberry wine, and roast for about 30 minutes (you can do this at the same time as the pastry is cooking), until the plums are softened.  Remove and baste with the wine every ten minutes. 

Set aside the remaining wine to use as a glaze for the tart, if desired.

Finally, prepare the frangipane by creaming the coconut cream with the sugar.  Then, add both the freshly ground and ‘dry’ ground almonds and stir until fully combined.

When all the parts are ready, preheat the oven to 160°C, 325°F.  Spread the frangipane over the crust, making sure to spread all the way to the edges.  Place the plums cut side down on top of the frangipane and bake for 20 – 30 minutes; until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

While the tart is still hot from the oven, drizzle with reserved wine glaze, if using.  This was absolutely incredible warm, but also very nice cold.  If you have any vegan vanilla ice cream around, which I, tragically, didn’t, that would make one heck of a combo!