Jamie Oliver’s ‘beautiful’ sour cherry frangipane tart recipe

When it comes to sweet treats do you have a particular favourite? Are you more into cakes, pies or tarts?

Well, chef Jamie Oliver might have a recipe for you with his sour cherry frangipane tart flavoured with bay, orange and vanilla.

Even better the dish is vegetarian, serves 12 people and cooks in two hours.

According to his website, it reads: “Beautiful summer cherries – I absolutely love them! So juicy and refreshing, as well as being the perfect mixture of sweet and sour, and when they’re in season you should definitely get amongst it because they’re just SO good.

“For a delicious dessert worthy of any summer celebration, I’m turning these seasonal favourites into a dark sticky jam, and layering it inside sweet shortcrust pastry, topped with frangipane and more fresh cherries. Lovely! ”

How to make Jamie Oliver’s sour cherry frangipane tart recipe:

Ingredients:

Sweet shortcrust pastry

250 g unsalted butter (cold), plus extra for greasing

500 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

100 g icing sugar

One orange

Two large free-range eggs

Cherry jam

300 g fresh cherries

150 g golden caster sugar

Two bay leaves

Frangipane

250 g blanched almonds

250 g golden caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

250 g unsalted butter (cold)

One vanilla pod

Three large free-range eggs

One tablespoon plain flour

Topping

One handful of cherries

One teaspoon balsamic vinegar

One tablespoon golden caster sugar

Crème fraîche or natural yoghurt, to serve

Method

Firstly, for the pastry, place the butter, flour, icing sugar and a pinch of sea salt in a food processor, then finely grate in the orange zest (you’ll need the juice for the cherry jam).

Then, pop the lid on and blitz, adding the eggs one at a time. Tip into a bowl, then pat and combine it into a dough – try not to overwork it.

Next, halve the dough and place it on pieces of greaseproof paper, then press and flatten slightly with your hand. Pop one in the fridge to chill, then wrap the other and freeze for another day.

Meanwhile, for the jam, destone the cherries and place in a pan on a medium-high heat.

Sprinkle over the sugar and squeeze in the juice from the zested orange. Use a potato masher to crush the cherries, add the bay leaves and leave to blip away until you have a shiny loose jam consistency, then turn off the heat.

You will have to preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and lightly grease a 25cm loose-bottomed tart tin.

Roll the pastry out on a flour-dusted surface until it’s about ¾cm-thick, then unroll it over the tart tin, easing the pastry into the tin as you go. Push it into the sides and trim away any overhanging pastry, then prick the base all over with a fork.

Wet and scrunch up a piece of greaseproof paper, lay it over the pastry and fill with uncooked rice or baking beans, then bake blind for 10 minutes.

Elsewhere for the frangipane, whiz the almonds in a food processor until really fine, then add the sugar, cube up and add the butter.

Next, split the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds, then add to the processor, discarding the pod, then whiz again. Crack in the eggs, blitz, then add the flour and blitz one final time.

When the time’s up, remove the pastry case from the oven and carefully lift out the uncooked rice or baking beans (save for another time), then spoon the jam into the pastry case, discarding the bay leaves and spreading it out into an even layer.

Spoon over the frangipane, then use a spatula to spread and push it out to the edges.

For the topping, destone the cherries and toss them in a bowl with the balsamic vinegar and sugar, then scatter over the tart, pouring over any leftover juices.

Bake this for 50 minutes, or until beautifully golden and set. Leave to cool before serving with dollops of crème fraîche or yoghurt.