Fresh plums, pillowy meringue, and a crisp sweet crust make this plum tart–a variation on Polish plum cake– a stand out dessert for any time of year!
Inspired by Polish Plum Cake
One of my favorite desserts growing up was my mom’s version of ciasto ze śliwkami (Polish plum cake): crisp clouds of meringue covered in a cookie-like crumble piled on top of fresh baked plums. Hers was inspired by my grandma’s version of the cake, which is made with either European gooseberries or sour cherries. Since the latter two fruits were never available in the parts of the US that we lived in, my mom almost always opted for plums. Tart fruits work best in this recipe because they offset the sweetness of the meringue filling.
I’ll certainly post my mom’s recipe in the future, but for now here is the tart version of this cake!
Components: Tart Crust, Fresh Plums, and Meringue
Crust and Topping
This recipe uses a sweet tart crust inspired by pastry chef Cédric Grolet’s pâte sucrée. The dough comes together quickly and produces a crisp and lightly sweet crust. The dough combines the following ingredients:
- Butter
- Powdered Sugar: Pâte sucrée or sweet tart dough uses powdered sugar because it melts right into the mixture, allowing the dough to come together much quicker than with granulated sugar.
- Nut flour: You can use store-bought almond (or any nut) flour or you can toast 1/2 cup of nuts (your choosing) in a 350 degree oven for 7-10 minutes and grind them in a food processor.
- Salt, just a pinch!
- Vanilla extract (optional)
- Egg: This recipe uses one egg, which helps to bind the dough.
- All-purpose flour
Once the dough is refrigerated and rolled out to fit the tart pan, it’s then blind baked in the oven. Blind baking refers to the ‘pre’ baking phase where the crust is baked without any filling to ensure that the dough is fully cooked and not soggy when baked with the filling.
To ensure that the crust doesn’t puff up in the oven during this process, be sure to cover the tart with a piece of parchment paper with some dried beans/lentils or pie weights on top to weigh it down. After the initial 20-25 minutes in the oven, carefully remove the tart from the oven along with the weighted parchment paper. Brushing the crust with an egg wash helps reduce browning of the crust once it goes in the oven again. Once you remove the parchment paper and brush the egg wash on the crust, place the tart into the oven for the final 10 minutes of blind baking.
Be sure to keep the dough scraps left over from fitting the dough into the tart pan as this will serve as the topping. Polish plum cake traditionally has a superb crumble topping (kruszonka) that’s made from leftover dough scraps. Simply form the scraps into a ball and place in the fridge until assembly time. Once you’ve spread the meringue mixture onto the plum tart, then you’ll take the refrigerated scraps and either tear them into tiny pieces by hand and sprinkle on the meringue or use a box grater to grate the dough on the largest setting. I prefer the latter method but if you don’t have a box grater, breaking them up my hand works just as well.
Fresh plums
With plums in season from around July to October, this plum tart with meringue is perfect for that transition from summer to fall. Black plums that are hard to the touch work best in this recipe.
If you’re lucky enough live in an area where you can buy fresh sour cherries or gooseberries, then feel free to swap out the plums (or do a mix of sour cherries and gooseberries!).
Meringue
This is my favorite part of the tart! As a kid, I would always pick at the meringue topping when it was right out of the oven and end up eating the entire cake top, much to my mom’s chagrin! The meringue topping in this tart develops two types of textures: the crunchy exterior and the pillowy interior softened by the fresh plums baked underneath it. To make the meringue, simply whisk egg whites with granulated sugar and then fold it all together with powdered sugar. NOTE: When separating the eggs, make there are no specks of egg yolks in the whites as this will negatively affect the meringue.
When assembling the tart, start by sprinkling a teaspoon of cornmeal or plain bread crumbs over the baked crust. This will help prevent the plums from making the crust too soggy. I usually do this is an extra precaution, but if you don’t have bread crumbs or cornmeal on hand, the tart will come out just as delicious. Next, arrange the plum slices in a circular pattern starting from the outside. Fill the tart with the meringue topping and then sprinkle the meringue with the leftover dough topping and bake.
How to Store this Plum Tart with Meringue
Meringue desserts always taste the best the day they are made. Over time, they lose crispness, however, I’ve found that leaving this baked tart on a plate or dessert platter and covering it up with a large plastic bowl or container works very well and still preserves a lot of the ‘crispness’ of the meringue.
Plum Tart with Meringue
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer or handheld mixer
- 1 9-inch tart pan
- 1 cup of dried beans/lentils/pie weights
- 1 box grater optional
Ingredients
Sweet Cream Pastry Tart Dough
- 11 tbsp butter, cold (150 g)
- ½ cup powdered sugar (75 g)
- ½ cup ground toasted walnuts or any nut (can also sub almond or nut flour), 50 g
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, divided
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
Filling and Topping
- 6-7 plums small to medium sized (560 g)
- 4 egg whites
- ½ cup granulated sugar, 120 g
- 1 cup powdered sugar, 120 g
- ½ cup remaining sweet cream pastry dough (see recipe notes)
- 1 tsp plain bread crumbs or cornmeal
Instructions
Sweet Cream Pastry Tart Dough
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter on medium/medium-high until broken down and smooth. Next, add the powdered sugar, nut flour, salt, and vanilla and mix until just combined. Add in the egg and mix.
- Working in two batches, add the flour. Mix until a dough just begins to form (careful not to overmix).
- Transfer dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a flat disc. Wrap in plastic and store in the fridge for at least one hour (or up to overnight).
- Preheat oven to 320℉.
- Unwrap the refrigerated dough. Dust a pastry board or marble slab with flour (reserving a few tbsp extra of flour in case dough sticks too much) and place dough on top. Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough disc with flour and using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it's about 1/4 inch thick. Gently pick the dough up and place in tart pan. Work gently to press the sides of the dough against the tart pan.
- Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the tart pan and fill it with dry beans or lentils or with baking weights if you have them. Next, place in oven for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, remove the tart pan and remove the parchment paper with weights. Mix the remaining egg with heavy cream and using a pastry brush, paint a thin layer of the egg cream mixture over the entire tart, including the tops of the sides. This will help prevent the tart from turning too brown during the next bakes.
- Place in oven for 10 minutes.
Plum and Meringue Filling
- Lower oven temperature to 300℉.
- Plums: Wash and cut the plums in half. Working around the pit, slice around 8 slices per plum.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer, whip the egg whites until foamy and white (Note: it's imperative that the egg whites contain no yolk specks. If they do, this will affect the quality of the meringue). Gradually add in the granulated sugar and whip together until soft peaks form (2-3 minutes). Remove whisk and using a spatula, fold in the powdered sugar and mix gently until just combined.
Assembly
- Sprinkle some bread crumbs or cornmeal onto the bottom of the baked tart crust to ensure the bottom is crisp after the plums are baked in it. Next, in a circular pattern arrange the plum slices. Spread the meringue mixture on top and make sure there are no 'holes' in between the plums. Using a box grater or your hand, break up the remaining uncooked tart dough and sprinkle on top.
- Bake in oven for 60-65 minutes. After 65 minutes, turn off oven and let it sit in the oven for an additional 10-15 minutes. Remove and let cool.