Tarte Tropezienne

I had never heard of Tarte Tropezienne, but it sounded fancy and French, so I was in. However, I quickly realized it would be relatively easy to make after learning the art of brioche dough with other recipes such as Brioche Twists and Pigs in a Brioche Blanket.

I used my springform pan for this recipe since I do not have another nine-inch cake pan. I also made brioche dough and pastry cream the day before to ease the process (if you make the pastry cream in advance, make sure to use it soon after).

After buttering my springform pan and adding a lining of parchment paper to the bottom, I spread the brioche dough on my floured counter into a ten-inch round. Then I placed the springform pan in the center and cut around the edges. I placed the now nine-inch round inside the springform pan, covered it with some plastic wrap and let it proof for about an hour.

Once the brioche dough was proofed, I brushed it with egg and sprinkled it with demerara sugar. I baked it for about 22 minutes. After letting it cool on a cooling rack, it did not seem to be as thick in comparison to what I saw in the Dessert Person photo. It was still possible to cut through, but I was not expecting to get the same height. Once I had the brioche sliced in half, I brushed both sides with the honey almond syrup, both of them placed with the outer crust downward. I then cut the top layer into eight slices; I was a little confused why this was being done so soon.

For whatever reason, Claire instructs beating the heavy cream until it has formed firm peaks by hand. My only guesses as to why she tells you to do it this way are that it’s only a cup of heavy cream, and she says she tries not to add more dishes than necessary to recipes. After this small workout, I folded the whipped cream with the pastry cream, making sure it continued to have plenty of air to gain volume.

Since my brioche was not very thick, I was very careful in adding the filling to it at the risk of breaking the brioche. This is where I became grateful I had already sliced the top layer of brioche; it was much easier to strategically place the slices rather than try to slice this thing up later on. The pre-cut slices help in cutting the slices entirely later, acting as a guide.

While this dessert turned out pretty good for the most part, I do wish I could’ve gotten more height with the brioche. Perhaps something in the proofing went wrong? I’ll probably never really know. This dessert is relatively simple in taste; it could use something like a raspberry sauce for a little more pizazz. This is a great example of a dessert that becomes really easy to master once you’ve made other foundational recipes in Dessert Person, as it is mainly comprised of a few key components.

I have not yet seen Claire make this recipe on her YouTube Channel, stay tuned!