Enough for an 8”/20cm tart
Frangipane is a great thing to have in your back pocket for teatime tarts, topping mince pies and making financiers – just add seasonal fruit. This version is made from toasted flaked almonds – or toasted blanched almonds – which gives the frangipane a rich, macaroon flavour and is good if you haven’t got any ground almonds to hand.
130g toasted flaked almonds or toasted blanched almonds
100g light muscovado sugar (or 70g light muscovado/30g caster sugar for a crisper crust)
40g potato starch or cornstarch (cornflour uk)
1 heaped tsp baking powder
2 good pinches salt
2 medium eggs (100g)
1 tsp vanilla extract (or a few drops of almond extract)
60g soft butter (or vegan block)
In a high-speed blender, blitz the almonds, sugar, starch and baking powder, scraping down if there are still some coarse bits. Add the salt and vanilla and crack the eggs into the blender and blitz again until smooth, again scraping down if need be.
Scrape the nut mixture onto the soft butter in a mixing bowl. If it’s hot where you are, don’t have the butter too soft as it will become oily. Using a whisk and some muscle, or an electric whisk – or a stand mixer, beat the mixture until light, fluffy and slightly glossy.
Pour into your fruit compote filled, blind baked tart case – or drop pieces of fruit into the frangipane and bake for around 35 minutes (depending on how deep your tart case is) at 160ºC until risen, light gold and a cake tester comes out clean. I sometimes underbake mine to get a gooey layer underneath the cake, but that is very much personal choice and depends on how much wet fruit is underneath.