The end of the holidays is approaching… the sun is a little less present, but never mind, it’s a summery recipe full of freshness that I’m giving you tonight. It’s the Lolita tart created by Arnaud Larher and published on the Relais Desserts website. But it was seeing it go by on the Facebook page of Mathilde (Au pays des gourmandises sans gluten) that made me want to make it.
The look is rather nice — simple and elegant at the same time. There are several textures in this dessert, which is what I particularly liked: a pâte sucrée, a ladyfinger sponge, a set coulis with nice big pieces of fruit and a delicate diplomat cream.
Arnaud Larher’s Lolita tart pairs apricot with mango, vanilla but also bitter almond. I admit I had serious doubts about the presence of bitter almond in this dessert (I’m not too keen on it, I must say). But I saw the recipe through, trusting the chef. I only put in 2 drops of bitter almond and you could already taste it very clearly. I imagine it depends on your flavouring, so be careful: go drop by drop and take the time to taste!
There are, admittedly, several steps, but the different recipes that make up this dessert aren’t very complicated. There are several things you can do the day before, so it’s quite practical from an organisational point of view, so as not to spend 3 hours non-stop in the kitchen. It’s a dessert that met with great success — it’s light and very fresh, you can go for it with your eyes closed!
Ingredients & method
6 components · Full recipe
Vanilla sablé pastry (make the day before)
Ingredients
- 130 g (4.6 oz) flour
- 45 g (1.6 oz) icing sugar
- 1/2 vanilla pod
- 15 g (0.5 oz) almond powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 75 g (2.6 oz) cold butter
- 1 egg yolk
- white chocolate (for chablon)
Method
1
Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt. Add the seeds scraped from the vanilla pod and the almond powder. Mix together.
2
Cut the cold butter into small pieces and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until you get a sandy texture.
3
Add the egg yolk and bring the dough together, without overworking it, until it forms a smooth ball.
4
Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap in cling film and refrigerate overnight.
5
The next day, roll the pastry out to 2 mm thickness and line a 22 cm (8.7 in) tart ring. Blind bake at 170°C / 340°F for about 20–25 minutes until golden. Leave to cool. Once cool, brush the base with melted white chocolate (chablon) to waterproof it and prevent it from going soggy. Tip: a Microplane grater is great for smoothing the baked pastry edges.
6
Make sure the tart ring no longer has its ring around it, so the coulis can flow around the base when poured. Place the tart shell on a flat tray lined with baking paper.
7
Once completely cool, brush the inside with melted white chocolate. Leave to set.
Apricot mango coulis
Ingredients
- 400 g (14.1 oz) apricot and mango purée (blend of fresh apricots and mangoes)
- 40 g (1.4 oz) caster sugar
- 6 g (0.2 oz) pectin NH
Method
1
Blend fresh apricots and mangoes together. If you are using fruit purchased frozen from a specialist supplier (such as Capfruit or Boiron), use them directly without blending.
2
In a saucepan, gently warm the fruit purée.
3
Mix the sugar and pectin NH together well, then add to the purée. Bring to the boil and boil for 3 minutes, whisking constantly.
4
Pour the coulis into the tart shell without overflowing. Leave to cool at room temperature, then refrigerate until set.
5
Place in the freezer overnight.
Vanilla diplomat cream
Ingredients
- 3 egg yolks (60 g (2.1 oz))
- 1 egg (50 g (1.8 oz))
- 70 g (2.5 oz) caster sugar
- 25 g (0.9 oz) cornstarch
- 1/2 vanilla pod
- 250 g (8.8 oz) full-fat milk
- 4 g (0.1 oz) gelatine (2 sheets)
- 250 g (8.8 oz) whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon bitter almond extract
Method
1
Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water.
2
In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar and cornstarch together.
3
In a saucepan, heat the milk with the vanilla seeds and pod. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and pour over the egg mixture, whisking vigorously.
4
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it boils and thickens into a pastry cream.
5
Remove from the heat. Add the squeezed-out gelatine and the bitter almond extract. Stir until the gelatine has completely melted.
6
Pass through a sieve into a shallow dish. Cover with cling film pressed directly onto the surface and refrigerate until completely cold.
7
Once the pastry cream is cold, transfer to the mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
8
Whip the cream to stiff peaks, then gently fold it into the pastry cream with a spatula.
9
Transfer the diplomat cream to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip. Refrigerate until assembly.
Ladyfinger sponge
Ingredients
- 200 g (7.1 oz) ladyfinger sponge batter (see the recipe for the ladyfinger sponge disc)
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
2
Prepare the ladyfinger sponge batter according to the standard recipe.
3
Spread the batter to about 1 cm (0.4 in) thickness on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Dust with icing sugar.
4
Bake for 8–10 minutes until the sponge is lightly golden. Keep an eye on it — ladyfinger sponge bakes very quickly.
5
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
6
Place on a wire rack and leave to cool. Then cut out a circle 16 cm (6.3 in) in diameter.
Vanilla syrup
Ingredients
- 50 g (1.8 oz) caster sugar
- 50 g (1.8 oz) water
- 1/2 vanilla pod
Method
1
In a saucepan, bring the sugar, water and vanilla seeds to the boil. Leave to infuse for a few minutes.
2
Remove from the heat, add the vanilla extract and stir. Set aside.
Assembly of the Lolita tart
Ingredients
- apricots (fresh, for decoration)
- neutral glaze
Method
1
Remove the tart from the freezer. Pipe a ring of diplomat cream around the edge of the frozen coulis disc.
2
Brush the ladyfinger sponge disc with the vanilla syrup on both sides, then place it on top of the coulis, inside the ring of diplomat cream.
3
Pipe the remaining diplomat cream in a spiral over the ladyfinger disc, smoothing with a spatula if needed.
4
Halve the apricots, remove the stones and cut into slices or quarters. Arrange them decoratively over the diplomat cream.
5
Brush the apricots with neutral glaze for a glossy finish.
6
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
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