Rose Bouquet apple tart

A charming apple tart that looks like the most beautiful bouquet of roses! You simply can’t take your eyes off it. Rose Bouquet Apple Tart tastes every bit as good as it looks. The best crisp shortcrust pastry, homemade almond crème pâtissière and soft, fragrant apples (more precisely, apple slices) gently cooked in syrup. Despite appearances (and my initial concerns), it slices beautifully. It also looks much more difficult to make than it actually is ;). Perfect for many special occasions: birthdays, Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day… Highly recommended!

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:

• 200 g plain flour
• 90 g butter, cold and cut into cubes
• 30 g lard*, cold and cut into cubes
• 60 g icing sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 2–3 tbsp cold water

Sift the flour, add the butter and lard and quickly chop together with a knife until the mixture resembles crumble topping. Add the sugar, salt and cold water and quickly knead together (you can also mix the ingredients in a food processor). Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30–60 minutes.

Grease a 25 cm tart tin with butter and dust with plain flour, shaking off any excess.

Roll out the chilled pastry to approximately 3 mm thick and use it to line the tin. Chill in the fridge again for 30 minutes. Dust the chilled pastry lightly with flour, cover with baking paper, then fill with ceramic baking beans to weigh it down (you can also use dried beans or rice).

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Reduce the temperature to 200°C, place the pastry in the oven and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the tin from the oven, take out the baking paper and weights, reduce the temperature to 180°C, return the pastry to the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and fully baked. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Ingredients for the vanilla and almond crème pâtissière:

• 600 ml milk
• seeds from 1 vanilla pod
• 6 large egg yolks
• 100 g sugar
• 40 g plain flour
• 40 g potato starch
• 1 tsp almond extract or 25 ml Amaretto almond liqueur

In a large saucepan, bring the milk and vanilla seeds to the boil. As soon as it reaches boiling point, remove from the heat.

Place the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until pale (using the whisk attachment). Add the plain flour and potato starch and continue mixing until you have a smooth paste. Add 100 ml of the hot milk to the paste and mix until combined. Pour the tempered egg mixture into the remaining hot milk and mix thoroughly until combined. Add the almond extract or almond liqueur and mix. Return to the hob over a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring frequently. Once it comes to the boil, cook for approximately 1 minute, stirring, until the custard thickens. Remove from the heat. Immediately pour the finished crème pâtissière over the shortcrust base, smooth the surface and leave to cool.

Ingredients for the rose bouquet:

• approximately 7–8 red-skinned apples, preferably a dessert variety
• 3 cups water
• freshly squeezed juice of 1½ lemons
• 200 g sugar

Place the water, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan. Stir and bring to the boil.

Meanwhile, remove the cores from the apples, cut them into quarters and leave the skins on. Using a knife or, more quickly, a vegetable mandoline, slice the apples into 2 mm slices. Transfer the slices to the hot sugar syrup (if there isn’t enough liquid, you can add a little more water) and cook briefly for 1–2 minutes.

Note: The cooking time depends entirely on the variety of apples – some will take longer, while others will need only a few seconds. The apple slices should be soft and pliable, but must not fall apart. Drain the slices (the syrup can be used to make a delicious fruit drink) and leave them to cool.

Arrange 6 apple slices as shown in the photo, overlapping them slightly. Then roll them up to form a rose. Arrange the finished roses on the cooled crème pâtissière, gently pressing them into the custard. This will help them retain their shape and prevent them from unrolling when the tart is sliced.

Slice and serve. There is no need to store the tart in the fridge, except during hot weather.

* Lard makes the pastry extra crisp, but you can replace it with additional butter.

Enjoy!