A basic nut cream to fill the base of various tarts!
ingredients for about 200 g of almond cream (total cost about 2,5 € for the whole preparation with organic ingredients)
- 1 egg
- equal weight of almonds
- equal weight of butter
- equal weight of sugar
- 10% starch
- a little lemon zest to taste
- a pinch of salt
The almond cream is usually spread over tart shells, which have been half-baked and together they are put back in the oven and the baking continues. We use it both to enrich the flavor and complexity of the tarts’ texture, as well as to insulate the tart shell when we want to fill it with fresh fruit and other “runny” ingredients and protect the shell from becoming soggy.
It is made with 4 ingredients in equal ratios: 1 part butter, 1 part sugar, 1 part eggs, 1 part ground almonds. A little cornstarch is also added, mostly to draw the moisture of the nuts. For a variant we can substitute part or all the ground almonds for ground hazelnuts.
So, to make the almond cream, we start by weighing the egg, then we measure the same weight for all the other ingredients. I suggest you to reduce the sugar to 80%, if the other elements of the dessert that you are composing have a lot of sugar, such as jam.
Then we peel, slightly toast and ground the almonds. To easily peel them, we blanch them for a minute in boiling water. We toast them at max 170 C (static function) for about 10 -14 min (time depends on the inside moisture level of the almond), to bring out their oils and aromas and enhance the nutty flavor of the cream. We let them cool, then we ground them in a food processor, until reduced to a fine powder.
With the spatula (not a whisk – we don’t want to incorporate air to the cream, because it will swell too much during baking) we stir the butter, already softened, until creamy, then we add the sugar together with the ground almond flour and stir, until we obtain a smooth mixture. Finally, we beat in the egg (and salt) and continue to stir, until completely incorporated and we obtain a creamy and homogeneous texture. If we use aromatics, such as lemon zest, we incorporate them at this point.
As already said, this type of cream is cooked directly in the oven, after we spread it raw over a tart shell, trying to level it to a uniform thickness. Keep in mind that the cream will spread even more, while baked and it will rise slightly. So you should never fill the tart shell to the top, in order to leave space for the rest of the fillings. The tart shell depending on the recipe can either be half-baked blind, or raw as well. Ideally, we let it rest for 30-60 minutes in the fridge, before baking.
For the baking times and temperature, you can consult our relevant article “lining & baking tart shells” (HERE), unless a particular recipe suggests otherwise. We allow to cool to room temperature and then fill with our stuffing (ganache, cream, jam, fresh, caramelized or candied fruit etc.)
If we add pastry cream to our almond cream, we turn it to frangipane cream, a cream that is classically used at the Bourdaloue Tart and not only. As for the ratio, the classic one constists of 2 parts almond cream + 1 part of pastry cream. Nevertheless, I do exactly the opposite, that is I combine 2 parts of our basic pastry cream and 1 part of our basic almond cream. This ratio in my opinion produces a more silky cream, which I definitely prefer.