Elderflower and Red Berry Tart

Hello food lovers,

You probably all know elderflower syrup, but have you ever tried working with it in a different way? :-)

Here, we are going to make a whipped ganache infused with elderflowers. It will be accompanied by red berries, all arranged on a tart base with almond cream and a red berry compote.

Before you start your recipe, don't forget to go and pick your elderflowers! A great family activity. ;-)

You will find them from May to June in forests or all around the countryside near you.

Let's get started with the recipe!

To make this tart, you will need:

Elderflower whipped ganache

- 400gr of heavy cream

- 5 elderflower umbels

- 90gr of white chocolate

- 2 gelatin leaves

Sweet pastry

- 150gr of tempered butter

- 115gr of icing sugar

- 75gr of eggs (2 eggs)

- 1 tsp of vanilla extract

- 40gr of almond flour

- 300gr of flour

Almond cream

- 80gr of butter

- 80gr of almond flour

- 80gr of sugar

- 2 eggs

Red berry compote

- 300gr of red berry purée

- 40gr of sugar

- 2.5gr of pectin

Decoration

- Red berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and cherries)

- 1 elderflower umbel

Elderflower whipped ganache

First of all, we are going to make the elderflower ganache, as it will need to infuse and then cool for a minimum of 12 hours in the fridge.

Pour 400gr of heavy cream into a saucepan.

Do not wash the elderflowers – they would lose all their flavour. Shake the umbels well to remove any little bugs that might be hiding in them.

Infuse 5 elderflower umbels in the cream.

I recommend using only the flowers and not the stems, as the stems could add bitterness to your preparation.

Then heat the cream and the elderflowers. Heating the cream will help the elderflowers infuse well and give a great flavour to the ganache. ;-P

Cover the saucepan with cling film and place it in the fridge for about 4h.

Leave the elderflowers in the cream so they can infuse and give flavour to our cream.

Once the cream is well infused, strain it through a sieve to remove the elderflowers.

Place 2 gelatin leaves in a jug of cold water.

Bring the previously infused cream to a boil.

Add the squeezed gelatin to the hot cream and mix well.

In a large bowl, pour 90gr of white chocolate.

Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in 3 additions, mixing well with a whisk between each addition.

It is important to pour the cream in 3 additions in order to get a smooth, homogeneous ganache.

There we go, all the cream has been added to the chocolate. Cover your cream with cling film directly on the surface and place it in the fridge for a minimum of 12 hours.

Covering it directly on the surface will prevent a skin from forming on top of the ganache.

Sweet pastry

Our tart base will be a sweet pastry.

In a large bowl, pour 150gr of tempered butter cut into pieces and add 115gr of icing sugar.

Using the "K" beater, mix everything together until the mixture becomes light and homogeneous.

Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Use measuring spoons to be more precise.

Pour in 75gr of eggs. I cracked two eggs into a bowl, mixed them lightly and then weighed them to get the quantity I needed.

Mix again with the "K" beater so that the eggs are well incorporated into the mixture.

Add 40gr of almond flour and 300gr of flour.

Mix lightly with the "K" beater so as not to activate the gluten.

If you overmix your dough, it will puff up during baking.

As you can see in the first photo, the dough is not well mixed yet – this is normal.

Finish by hand to obtain a smooth, even dough.

Place the dough on a sheet of baking paper and cover it with another sheet of baking paper. This will prevent your dough from sticking to your rolling pin. ;-)

Using a large rolling pin and 3 mm rolling guides, roll out your dough evenly.

Slide the dough onto a perforated baking tray and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

It will be easier to work with once it is well chilled.

For this recipe, we used the crown-shaped tart mould from Scrapcooking.

I had been wanting to try it for a while and it is quite impressive. :-P

Unmoulding will be easy thanks to the removable base.

To cut out the tart base, use the removable base as a guide, as shown in the photos below.

Using a knife, cut all around the base.

Put the mould base back and place the pastry crown on it.

Roll out the remaining dough again. Use the 3 mm rolling guides and a large rolling pin.

Place the dough in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Once the dough is well chilled, cut 2 cm strips using the pastry strip cutter.

This little tool is fantastic for tarts. It will allow you to get perfectly even strips and achieve a beautiful edge.

Press the strips against the mould, pushing them firmly against the pastry base all around the mould. Don't forget to do the same with the centre of the mould. :-P

Using a smooth knife, remove the excess dough to get clean edges.

Prick the pastry base with a fork. This will prevent the dough from puffing up during baking.

Place the tart mould in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 180°C fan-assisted.

Bake the tart base for 15 minutes in the middle of the preheated oven.

Almond cream

In the meantime, we are going to make the almond cream that will sit at the bottom of our tart.

In a bowl, pour 80gr of tempered butter cut into pieces and 80gr of almond flour.

Add 80gr of sugar and crack in 2 eggs.

Using the whisk attachment of your mixer, whip the mixture until light and fluffy.

As you can see in the first photo, we have a nicely light and fluffy mixture.

Pour the mixture into a small piping bag.

After 15 minutes of baking, it's time to remove the tart base from the oven. It is not fully baked yet, but that is normal, as it will finish baking with the almond cream. Don't turn off your oven just yet.

Pipe the almond cream into the tart base.

Spread the almond cream using a small offset spatula and bake the tart again for 15 minutes at 180°C fan-assisted.

After 15 minutes, here is the result.

Let the tart cool before unmoulding it, otherwise you risk breaking it, which would be a shame...

Red berry compote

Once our tart has cooled completely, we are going to prepare the red berry compote.

In a saucepan, pour 300gr of red berry purée.

Mix 40gr of sugar and 2.5gr of pectin in a bowl. Mixing the pectin with the sugar will prevent lumps from forming when you add the mixture to the fruit purée.

Use a precision spoon scale to weigh the pectin accurately. It is very important to be precise, as 1gr too much or too little can change the texture of the compote.

Pour the sugar/pectin mixture into the red berry purée and stir everything together until it reaches a boil. Once boiling, keep stirring for 2 minutes.

For the pectin to activate, it must absolutely be brought to a boil.

Place the compote in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

While the fruit compote is cooling, we are going to unmould the tart.

Using a grater, we will smooth out any imperfections.

Be gentle so as not to break it.

Pour the red berry compote into a small piping bag.

Use a jug to fill your piping bag neatly.

Cut the tip of the bag with a pair of scissors.

Pipe the compote onto the tart, then spread it out using a small offset spatula.

Place it in the fridge for about 1 hour so that the compote sets properly.

Decoration

Time for my favourite part of the recipe – the decoration! I love this step! :-)

First of all, we are going to whip the elderflower ganache so we can pipe it.

In a large bowl, pour the well-chilled ganache.

Using the whisk attachment of your mixer, whip the ganache at medium speed – it goes quickly, so keep a close eye on it so it doesn't split.

As shown in the third photo, your ganache should form a nice bird's beak peak.

Be careful not to over-whip it, as it could split.

Prepare a 40 cm piping bag with a 13 mm round tip.

Place the piping bag in a jug and fill it with ganache.

Let's start piping!

Pipe dots of ganache onto your tart. As you can see in the second photo, the idea is not to cover the entire tart. We are going to add lots of red berries where there is no ganache.

To decorate this tart, I chose to use blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and cherries.

If you would like to add other fruits, go ahead and let your imagination run wild. :-)

Arrange the fruits on the tart. We love generously topped tarts, so don't hesitate to fill it up well.

For the final touch, add a few elderflowers as decoration.

And there you have it – a beautiful, ultra fruity and floral tart. :-)

I recommend making this recipe over 2 days, for example:

Day -1: the ganache base, the tart shell and the compote

Day of serving: piping the ganache and the decoration

It will keep for 2 days in the fridge in a well-sealed container.

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Wishing you a wonderful Sunday, food lovers!

Sophie

P.S.: All the equipment used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.