Today’s recipe: Peach or apricot tart

Our little village in France made a decision for the environment rather than for a million dollars and this cake helped in making this decision. So now I suppose you want more details? Well, the cake is deliciously moist, looks gorgeous…oh, you meant about the environment!

I’ll keep it short as the story can go on and on, but essentially a corporation was trying to build a solar park – I’ll interrupt myself here to say that I am all for solar power and we have solar panels on our roof – around our house. This was not to be done out of love for the environment but for money and would have involved chopping down a centuries old alley of trees and part of a forest. The land in question is also a protected nature area, partly due to a huge occurrence of orchids.

But is this reason enough to say no to a million dollars?? YES IT IS!! And they did. The town council came round one Sunday morning to view the area under discussion and I baked this cake (and a couple of quiches, opened a few bottles of whiskey and Floc*…) and the rest is history! Our orchids will continue to bloom untouched by electric cables. So this cake changed the world as I know it…or didn’t change the world as I know it…whatever, we’re happy!
(*Floc de Gascogne is normally drunk as an aperitif and is a mix of Armagnac and fresh grape juice. It is produced locally in our area of France and is deelicious. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floc_de_Gascogne )

This is once again a German recipe and I do intend to put up the German version too, so don’t be surprised if you find a post you don’t quite understand. It comes from a cookbook for children, so the recipes are easy to follow, although I’m not so sure a child could do this alone. Hell, I know a few adults who couldn’t do this alone!! The book is called the “Zwergenstuebchen Backbuch” or “The Dwarf house cookbook” and if you understand German, it’s well worth having. On the other hand, I will be posting recipes from it throughout the year, so you may not have to!

PEACH OR APRICOT TART

PASTRY:
250g flour
125g sugar
1 egg
150g butter

TOPPING:
1 tin of peaches or apricots, drain but keep the juice
1 pkt / 38g custard powder (NOTE: use a quantity for 500ml of liquid)

FROSTING:
3 eggs, separated
90g sugar
1 tub / 200ml cream or crème fraiche

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F. Knead all the pastry ingredients together and press into a greased 26cm spring form cake tin. Put the fruit on top of the pastry (see photo below). You will need 500ml liquid to mix with the custard powder, so add milk to the fruit juice to make up this amount.

2. Heat the liquid adding the custard powder as per the instructions on your container, stirring till it has a pudding consistency. Pour over the fruit (see photo below) and bake for 35-40 minutes.

3. FROSTING: Beat the yolks with the sugar till frothy, then fold in the cream. Beat the whites till stiff peaks form and then fold them into the mix. Remove the cake from the oven, spread the frosting on top and then return to the oven for 15 minutes more. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the cake tin.
NOTE: The frosting does appear a bit wobbly when you take it out of the oven, but it firms up once cooled.

Enjoy this deelicious million dollar cake!