Here’s a dessert that brings a little sunshine and comfort in the middle of winter: an exotic fruit dacquoise tart with a vanilla and rum diplomat cream. A real delight! The first time I made this dessert was at the Soissons food blogging fair, during a workshop led by Chef Régis. A very simple dessert to make, and adaptable to your liking. In fact, during the workshop we’d made a light lemon cream. But not being a big lemon fan, I replaced it with a vanilla diplomat cream combined with a little rum. It works perfectly with the exotic fruit!
Thanks to Chef Régis, I picked up a few tips and tricks. I generally didn’t put any flour in my dacquoise sponge, but in this kind of cake (the dacquoise being the base of the tart), adding flour is recommended. I also used to pipe the batter in a spiral, but as a small variation, Chef Régis showed us that you can pipe a little batter all along the ring, which then easily holds the cream in. Handy! And one last thing: I advise you to dust the dacquoise with icing sugar before baking (like a ladyfinger sponge) — it adds a little crunch and it’s really very pleasant!
Ingredients & method
3 components · Full recipe
Vanilla and Rum Diplomat Cream
Ingredients
- 250 g (8.8 oz) milk
- 1 vanilla pod
- 40 g (1.4 oz) egg yolks
- 60 g (2.1 oz) sugar
- 25 g (0.9 oz) cornflour (Maïzena)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons rum (to taste) — optional
- 3 g (0.1 oz) leaf gelatine
- 100 g (3.5 oz) full-fat whipping cream
Method
1
Soak the gelatine sheets in very cold water.
2
In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until the mixture turns pale and creamy.
3
Add the cornflour and mix well.
4
Bring the milk to the boil with the vanilla seeds and pod in a large saucepan. Pour three-quarters of the hot milk into the bowl in a thin stream, whisking constantly, then pour everything back into the saucepan with the remaining hot milk.
5
Whisk over medium heat until the cream thickens, about 3 minutes.
6
Off the heat, add the squeezed-out gelatine and the rum. Stir to combine.
7
Pour into a dish, press cling film directly onto the surface and leave to cool completely.
8
Once the pastry cream is well chilled, take it out of the refrigerator and work it with a whisk until smooth.
9
Whip the full-fat cream to a chantilly and fold it into the pastry cream in 3 additions.
10
Transfer the cream to a piping bag fitted with a 16 mm plain nozzle. Keep refrigerated.
Dacquoise
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) egg whites
- 100 g (3.5 oz) sugar
- 80 g (2.8 oz) ground almonds
- 100 g (3.5 oz) icing sugar
- 20 g (0.7 oz) plain flour
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 170°C / 340°F.
2
Sift the icing sugar and ground almonds together.
3
Whisk the egg whites with the caster sugar until they reach the consistency of a meringue.
4
Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold in gently with a spatula.
5
Transfer the batter to a piping bag and cut the tip to give an opening of approximately 15 mm.
6
Grease an 18–20 cm (7.9 in) entremet ring and line the inside with a strip of baking paper (it will stick easily as the ring is greased).
7
Place the ring on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Pipe the batter in a snail spiral starting from the centre, then pipe small mounds of batter all the way around the inside of the ring.
8
Dust with a little sifted icing sugar. I always use a tea infuser ball to dust with icing sugar.
9
Bake for approximately 12–15 minutes (the dacquoise should be dry to the touch and lightly golden).
10
Leave the dacquoise to cool on a wire rack.
Assembly
Ingredients
- 1 kiwi
- 1 mango
- 1 pineapple
- 1 clementine
- 1 starfruit (carambola)
- 1 lime
Method
1
Prepare all the fruit. You can vary the size and shape — cubes, slices, whatever you like — let your imagination run wild!
2
Pipe the diplomat cream onto the dacquoise starting from the centre, in a snail spiral just as you piped the dacquoise. You can add a second round of cream on top of the first for extra indulgence.
3
Carefully arrange the fruit on top of the diplomat cream, then grate some lime zest over everything.
4
Dust the entire surface of the tart with sifted icing sugar, using a tea infuser ball.
5
Ultimately, feel free to top the tart with whatever fruit you like!
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