Tarte tropézienne

Also known as Saintes-Tropez cake, tarte tropezienne is a French dessert made of brioche bread and a rich cream.

French cuisine is certainly not new to these simple desserts but capable of surprising anyone. The tarte tropézienne, born as the tart de Saintes-Tropez, is a typical dessert of the city of the same name, created in the early 1950s by a Polish pastry chef. Since then the recipe has been secret but we, like many others, have set to work to recreate it.

You will not find anyone on the web or outside who agrees with this recipe. The reason is easy to say: there are only 3 people in the world who are lucky enough to know the original . So we tasted it (several times to tell the truth) and by experimenting we arrived at this version. Let's see together all the steps to make it happen!

How to prepare the tarte tropézienne recipe

1. Combine the flour, yeast and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer . Separately, mix the milk with a whole egg and the orange blossom essence with a fork.
2. Turn on the machine and slowly pour in the milk with the eggs, leaving it to work until it is blended.
3. At this point, add the soft butter (keep it at room temperature for at least 20 minutes), one piece at a time so that it is gradually absorbed. Finally add the salt.
4. Finish working the dough on the pastry board, shaping it into a ball. Leave it to rise in a buttered bowl for 3 hours, covered with cling film, in the oven with the light on and off.
5. Once the leavening time has passed, transfer the dough onto a sheet of baking paper and flatten it slightly with a rolling pin to obtain a 22 cm disc . If you want, to make sure it keeps its shape, you can place a disc of the same diameter suitable for cooking in the oven (for example the ring of the springform pan).
6. Leave to rise in the oven with the light on for an hour .
7. Brush the surface with the beaten egg yolk, decorate with granulated sugar and cook at 170°C for 20 minutes .
8. In the meantime, prepare the custard . Beat the egg yolks, sugar, corn starch, orange blossom essence and vanilla in a bowl.
9. Separately, heat the milk in a saucepan. Once hot, pour it over the eggs, mixing with a whisk to obtain a homogeneous mixture.
10. Put the cream back on the heat and let it cook for about ten minutes, just long enough for it to thicken, then transfer it to a bowl and let it cool .
11. Beat the cream with an electric whisk until it regains its creaminess, then add the butter at room temperature.
12. Again using an electric whisk, whip the cream, very cold from the fridge. Add it to the freshly prepared cream , mixing delicately with a spatula from bottom to top. Transfer the cream into a pastry bag (you can also make it at home ) with a star nozzle.
13. Now that all the preparations are ready, all that remains is to divide the brioche into two discs and fill it with a generous layer of cream. Let it rest for a few hours before serving.

Keep in mind that if everyone more or less agrees on the brioche base , since it is a recipe typical of different areas of France, on the creme tropézienne it is difficult to find a common line. There are those who prepare a custard and combine mascarpone and cream, those who use chiboust cream , those who use diplomata (custard plus cream) and those who use mousseline (custard with butter).

We also leave you a video , shot at the traditional pastry shop, where you can see all the steps to make it (but the recipe remains very secret!).

If you love French desserts then try Paris-Brest : the choux pastry is truly delicious!

Conservation

You can keep the Saint-Tropez tarte for a maximum of two days in the fridge, well covered with cling film.

Origin and history

Although tarte trapézienne is a typical dessert from Provence, the hands that gave it life come from Poland. We are talking about the Polish pastry chef Alexandre Micka , who arrived in Provence between the 40s and 50s. In Saint-Tropez he opened his own pastry shop and began producing a dessert made up of two discs of brioche dough filled with a sumptuous cream flavored with orange blossoms, inspired by his grandmother's recipe.

In 1955 they filmed the film "And God Created Woman" in the French town and the pastry chef was asked by the director himself to take care of the crew's meals. For dessert he proposed "grandmother's" cake, arousing the interest of the then unknown leading actress, Brigitte Bardot . Apparently it was she who suggested the name, Tarte de Saint-Tropez which became Tarte Tropézienne when a few years later the pastry chef decided to register the trademark and patent the recipe.

The context in which the dessert spread remained limited to the French coast until, in 1975, an advertising campaign launched the frozen version. A few years later, in 1985, Micka handed over the business to Albert Dufrêne , handing him the recipe in a locked tin box.

More than 50 years have passed since the first tropeziénne but the dessert remains a symbol , as does the La tarte de Saint-Tropez pastry shop, of the carefree life of this city.

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