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Frangipan French fruit tart recipe with nectarines and raspberries

Frangipan French fruit tart recipe with nectarines and raspberries

This is one of the simplest fruit tarts to make. Juicy fruits are embedded in a rich almond frangipane, making it easy to slice, and it keeps well, too. So now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about nectarines.

Frangipan French fruit tart recipe with nectarines and raspberries

Peaches get a lot of press. Yes, they’re juicy and yes they’re sweet. But honestly, I prefer the more assertive flavor of nectarines, with their slightly tooth-resistant skin, just enough to provide contrast to the juicy flesh, but not enough to make them necessary to peel. Yay for that as well.

Frangipan French fruit tart recipe with nectarines and raspberriesFrangipan French fruit tart recipe with nectarines and raspberries

But that’s about all I’m going to add because one of my fingers is in a splint for a while, which makes typing a bit of a challenge. Actually, it’s fine…unless I have to type something on the left side of my keyboard. Then everything looks like the cat walked across my keyboard, which I could blame if I had a cat.

I guess I was lucky that it happened in the doctor’s office, which surprised both her and me. (I think I’m probably the only person in French medical history to have injured himself stepping out of his trousers.) I’m also surprised how important my middle finger is, although usually it’s the one on my right hand that gets more use. So am happy that one still works just fine.

Frangipan French fruit tart recipe with nectarines and raspberries

Fortunately this tart requires little explanation. A crisp, buttery crust spread with flavorful almond cream then topped with summer fruits. In this case, the sweet tanginess of nectarines pairs well with plump raspberries, which bake up into the perfect wedge. But you’re welcome to use another favorite fruit. I’m made some suggestions before the recipe, which luckily I typed before my left finger went out of commission, because I didn’t want you to have to wait a few weeks until its straightened back out, literally.

Frangipan French fruit tart recipe with nectarines and raspberries

Summer Fruit Tart with Frangipane (Almond Cream)

You can use another stone fruit. Peaches should be peeled but don’t peel nectarines, plums, or apricots. In the winter, it can be made with poached pears. In place of the raspberries, blueberries, cherries, another bushberry can be used. It’s classic to use blanched almond flour for frangipane, but feel free to use unblanched almond flour. Hazelnut, walnut, or even pistachio flour are fine to use as well, if those are available.
Servings 8 servings
  • 4 ounces (115g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup (130g) almond flour
  • 2 teaspoons dark rum or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
  • big pinch of salt
  • 3 nectarines (about 12 ounces, 370g), or another stone fruit, such as plums, peaches (peeled), or apricots
  • 4 ounces raspberries
  • One prebaked 9- 10-inch (23cm), tart shell, cooled
  • Strained , apricot jam for glazing, if desired
  • Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
  • Make the frangipane by beating the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until fluffy – about 1 minute on high speed. Add the eggs one by one, stopping the mixer and scraping down the sides of the bowl after adding each. (You can also make it by hand, beating the butter and adding the other ingredients, in a medium bowl, using a spatula.)
  • Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the almond flour, then the rum or vanilla extract, almond extract, and salt. Spread the frangipane in the cooled tart dough. Halve the nectarines and slice them into eighths. (The slices should be about 2 1/2-inch, 6cm thick.) Press the slices into the frangipane, in concentric circles, and press the raspberries into the frangipane, in between the nectarine slices.
  • Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the tart is golden brown across the top. Let cool, then brush lightly with apricot jam, if desired. If it’s not liquid enough to brush on, warm the jam gently in a small saucepan.

Notes

Serving: Serve warm or at room temperature by itself, with whipped cream, or a favorite ice cream, such as vanilla ice cream.
Storage: Once baked, the tart will keep for 2-3 days at room temperature.

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58 comments

    • Taste of France

    How convenient to get hurt while already at the doctor!
    I’m a fan of crunchy nectarines. Do I need to use the softer ones for this? Maybe I’ll just use apricots. Our tree is loaded.

    • Angela – Patisserie Makes Perfect

    This tart looks amazing. I really don’t like peaches because of the furry skin! So it’s nice to see someone using nectarines for a change.

    I love frangipane, it’s one of my absolute favourites.

    Hope the finger heals quickly.

    • Nadia@maisontravers

    Hope your finger heals quickly. No cooking or typing for a few days.
    Just made a very similar tart using apricots and raspberries and it was delicious. Next time will try nectarines.

    • Jen

    This recipe looks great! I’ve been really interested in making a Frangipan tart and I love nectarines, so this is almost too perfect. I’m not sure if I’m missing something– trying to figure out where to incorporate the sugar. Is it in the beginning when initially beating the butter?

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Thanks, yes it is. I’ll put it in there : )

        • Cynthia

        Totally OT, David, but I’m wondering now that our tomatoes are local coming into the markets, do the French have aversion of BLTs? They have all the ingredients, in fact a BLT seems like a French invention when you think about it. I hope your finger gets better soon and glad the important middle finger still functions!

    • Michael

    Looks very tasty. The sugar is not used in the instructions. Beat butter and sugar together?

    • Bebe

    Sugar is beaten with the softened butter.

    That finger has to be giving David fits. I ran my middle finger into a stand mixer’s blades one time – the kind of beaters that are joined with a yoke, so it had to go with me to the ER). (Don’t ever operate machinery when on antihistamines!) Amazing how one inconveniently splinted and bandaged finger can mess up the works!

    This recipe sounds delicious. I use blueberries with nectarines in cobblers. Could work here as well, although the raspberries look a bit prettier.

    • Lorraine

    Hello David,

    So sorry about your injury, but your explanation of how you did it was the best laugh I have had today. So thank you! But I really am sorry.

    L

    • Paul Allen

    Maybe it’s sacrilege to ask, but are there any decent options for a gluten free tart shell? I’m wondering about almond, oat or even coconut flour. Or am I better off waiting for when I have no GF eaters around?

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Check out Nick Malgieri’s book Pastry – which has two gluten-free tart dough recipes in it that look great.

    • Kirsty

    We want more details. No, not the recipe. How you managed to sprain/break one of your fingers stepping out of your trousers! That takes verve and originality..

    • Katie in San Francisco

    This looks like a great potential summer use for an impulse buy–I saw a bag of hazelnut meal on a steep discount and grabbed it. Thanks and feel better, David.

    • Vadalia

    Get well soon!

    • LauraB

    Almond flour. Is that something I buy at the store, like Bob’s Red Mill Almond Meal?
    Or do put raw almonds in the food processor.
    Please share the specifics, I’m a newbie & don’t want to mess this up!
    Amazing, mouth watering photos.
    Can’t wait to make this.

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      In the post, I’ve provided several links (one before the recipe, in the headnote, and one after) that explains what it is and where to obtain it in detail. Hope that helps!

    • italian girl cooks

    Beautiful tart! Wish our fruit would come in…still waiting, where is it?

    • Joan B

    Mmm. Frangipani tart. This will be the next dessert I make.
    I got quite a chuckle out of the finger story. And then I felt a little guilty laughing at David’s misfortune until I remembered someone laughing when I told him about breaking my foot playing racketball. Turns out he wasn’t laughing so much at my boring story as the fact he’d recently broken his foot doing the tango. So I figure if the story is funny enough it’s OK to laugh. But I’m glad you didn’t break a leg. I would have been more conflicted about laughing then.

    • Laurie

    Frangipani is an oil made from the flower of the Plumaria tree-the flower often used in lei making. A most exquisite scent!
    I am wondering what sorbet or ice cream I could make that would compliment this tart.
    Peace.

    • Cassandra

    This is one of my favorite tarts, classical and always delicious. Another great choice to showcase. I would love this with honey vanilla ice-cream and a macchiato. Heaven!!!!! simple pleasures.
    This tart is so versatile, allowing you to substitute the nut flour and fruits used.

    • Kiki

    dear David; not only are you a gifted cook and wonderful photographer, but you are an equally entertaining story teller…. you had me in stitches with your pants story! Hopefully you’ll heal quickly (although I fear it may take a while from own experience)

    If you have a moment (and feel like it), do tell me something. Yesterday I felt like ‘a tart’, so made one very quickly with frozen plums from last year, the ‘holes’ filled with frozen raspberries (after mine grew only in the grass, the ones in their proper place don’t have any berries, they’ll go out later in the year…), on a light spread of ground hazelnuts and then I forgot to add some maizena in the ‘sauce’ … I feared the worst and served the tart with fork, knife and spoon. Amazingly it held together just fine and even today, when we ate the rest it was still reasonably crisp. How come? Did I use Maizena (not much anyway) in vain for the past ….. hmmm, 150 years? Or was the goblet of fromage blanc enough ‘binding’?
    I won’t mind if you can’t find the time to reply; I know you have other stuff on your mind.
    I too use frequently nectarines (I do like them better than peaches, p always seem such a princess fruit to me – non mi toglere or I’m going to be bruised and spoilt!) – in fact, my tarts often are a ‘collection’ of whatever fruits and leftovers (or empty spaces on my baking sheet) I have – tarts never disappoint!

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      I’m not sure but if it worked without the starch, then perhaps you don’t need to use it in the future? Some recipes may have it as “insurance” for juicy fruits. But this time, I didn’t add any flour or starch.

        • Kiki

        thank you very much; you’re very kind and helpful – I shall try to use even less starch in the future…. or none at all – it’s funny how we never cease to learn : )

    • Ina

    Hi David, I hope your finger feels better soon. If he (the finger) allows you typing, could you please pass a suggestion of a good tart pan? I have never made a tart before. Thanks for sharing your recipes. They are amazing!

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      I use a tart ring like this. They do need to be dried after washing so they don’t rust. Most good cookware stores sell them.

    • Audrey

    Lovely looking tart! But you must have giant nectarines to be able to slice them into eight and get such thick slices!

    • Susan

    If one doesn’t have a paddle attachment, what speed and how long should it be mixed?

    • witloof

    Just to say that I found myself buying almonds and apricot jam today. That tart is a beautiful thing. Maybe it will be my birthday cake!

    • A Fellow Ex-Pat

    “I guess I was lucky that it happened in the doctor’s office, which surprised both her and I.”

    Hi David,

    I suspect you are a perfectionist in all aspects of life- the written word especially- so I bring to your attention the grammatical error in the sentence above.

    The last phrase should read: “which surprised both her and me”. Objective case at play, as in “which surprised me” (not “which surprised I”).

    Love your newsletters, recipes and droll observations of life in Paris. Keep on keepin’ on.

    • oliver

    You call your filling “frangipan”. In French (THE language of la pâtisserie) “une crème frangipane” is not just an almond cream but a “crème d’amandes” mixed with a “crème pâtissière.” Is this different in English?

    • David
    David Lebovitz

    olivier: Yes. In English, an almond cream is referred to as frangipane. (Wikipedia explains it in English, and it’s used in recipes in publications such as BBC, Epicurious, and NYT.)

    • Oliver

    One of the best – and certainly most extraordinary – peach tarts I know is Pierre Hermé’s «Tarte pêche, rose et cumin» (peach, rose and cumin). It’s inspired by Rochas’ famous perfume «Femme» and can be found in Hermé’s book «Au cœur du goût» which he wrote together with famous French parfumier Jean-Michel Duriez. Very delicious!

    • Kanak Hagjer

    This is such a beautiful tart. I’d love to make it one of these days.

    • Gerlinde @ Sunnycovechef

    Such a classic wonderful and versatile tart. I will make it soon.

    • Bridgit

    Thanks for the recipe David! Your tastes and mine run so similarly (probably not that different than much of the world, but they don’t all have lovely blogs I get to read). I hope your finger hearts quickly. I made a raspberry pie earlier today, otherwise I’d already be in the kitchen making this, having just bought a huge bag of almond flour and having 2-3 quarts (!!!) of raspberries coming off the bushes every day. Any guesses as to whether this would freeze and or travel well? Not sure how the almond effects that, since I’ve never made frangipane before.

    • Jess

    I hope that your finger heals quickly.

    Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I made this yesterday with fresh peaches and blueberries from the farmers’ market. Fantastic!

    • Rafter B Ranch

    Beautiful. I have often made your fruit tart recipes as published in your books. Heaven! Must say how much I like the round cooling rack, which I have often seen in your posts. Btw, looking forward to your next book!

    • Katja T

    This is super yummy and it turned out great!

    • Sabrina

    Made it yesterday, so good, thank you, David! Also enjoyed trying the French tart dough à la Paule. Strong willpower required every time I pass by this beauty… most of the time she wins : ) Get well soon. All best, S

    • Sabrina

    Obviously, I mean the tart, not Paule : ) But I am sure lovely Madame P is irresistible, too. All best, S

    • Rima

    Since the day I saw this post I have been dying to make the tart. I had never made a tart before but your pictures and story telling made me crave it.
    It was amazing! The shell, the cream and the tart bits of fruits in it. Unfortunately we finished half of the tart in one sitting between the two of us.
    Thank you for sharing this gem of a recipe.

    • Susan

    David you are a freaking genius. I have always steered away from recipes for tarts like this because they seem far too complicated and time consuming. I made this with my 6 year old son and not only was it one of the most delicious desserts I’ve made, it was super easy as well. That crust is a game changer. So easy and no rolling, love it! Going to try it with some savory options. We made the tart for my rather exacting French mother in law’s bday party and everyone loved it! We had some Meert almond jam left from a recent trip to Paris and it was lovely as a glaze. Thanks!

    • Jennifer

    Hi David,

    I’m a longtime reader of your blog, and I just have to say I really love what you’re doing with Snapchat. I only recently discovered you had one, and I find it so fun to see your daily life, market trips, your interesting random facts about living in France, and of course, what you’re cooking. Plus your snaps are actually informative and useful too! So please keep up the good work snapping! :)

    • Dulce Lomeli

    David,
    Just made the tart, and the shell is out of this world! Absolutely amazing! Thanks a lot for always sharing great recipes with many details that are very helpful. Greetings form Mexico!

    • Susan Jensen

    are you ok?
    Horrible horrible tragedy in Paris

    • Stephanie Miskew

    So sorry to hear about your finger – OUCH! Hopefully it will be healed soon – hang in there:( I can’t wait to make this gorgeous tart – we’ve got nectarines G A L O R E at the market these days! I like them so much more than peaches – thanks for sharing:) xo

    • Andrew

    Quick question – I see a lot of frangipane tarts that either call for a blind baked tart shell and ones that call for pouring the frangipane straight into the unbaked crust. Any thoughts?

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Prebaking the crust makes it crisper so I usually do it, although I know not all bakers do. If you try this recipe without prebaking the crust, let me know how it turns out. (Although with the tart dough recipe that I linked to and used, I think it’s necessary to prebake it.)

    • Elissa

    Enjoyed the tart shell but my filling stayed loose even after baking for 45 minutes. Do you think it was because I used European butter? Still tasted good though.

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      These are pretty standard proportions for frangipane/almond cream. My guess is that perhaps you mismeasured something. I use European butter, and mine came out fine. So I would double-check your quantities.

    • Karl

    Hi David. Love your recipes. I am head chef at La Muse Gueule, a French bistro in Berlin, and your tarte dough has become my standard….Delicious.

    • Francesca

    This is beautiful! Adding this to my “Summer 2016 Recipe” list right away :) I don’t know very much about French cooking/dishes, but I’ve been looking through your site and think that may have to change soon!

    • Farmer Susan

    Taking tart to work tomorrow – minus slice for neighbor and moi. This is so good, and easy! Nick Malgieri’s butter crust perfect. Many thanks. Be well.

    • Amy P

    Until a couple days ago I always assumed frangipane was a a weird exotic fruit and so had never attempted a recipe with it mentioned. I can’t believe it took me this many years to find out it’s almond cream…and I love almond pastries! I’m going to have to give this a try, especially since I just bought almond flour the other day.

    • CitrisLover

    This tasted like we just picked it up from a French patisserie. Even though I didn’t think a lot of butter was used to make it, it tasted buttery and the crust was nice and crisp (even though I made it the day before use); it held up well. I will definitely make this again. The crust is very thin…and don’t forget to keep a little extra dough for the cracks in the crust. I didn’t and just poured the frangipane over the cracked crust – it was not noticeable. I think the more evenly you pat out the crust dough in the pan before baking the less crackage.

    • Olivia

    This sounds amazing and fun to make! Are the nectarine slices really supposed to be 2 ½ inches or 6 cm. thick??

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      If the nectarines are medium to small, you can just cut them into 6ths. If they are larger, you can cut them into 8ths.

        • Olivia Rasmussen

        Perfect! Thanks so much.

A

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