Cherry and Almond Burnt-Butter Torte – Recipe
This delicious torte is actually pretty easy to make, and works well with frozen or preserved cherries, but is perhaps best in the middle of cherry season. The fresh local juicey cherries that I buy from the Farmers’ Markets were my inspiration to try this recipe. That and I almost always have all the ingredients I need in my pantry, so it’s easy to whip up, and a good way to use up left over egg whites.
I was handed some egg whites by my neighbour the other day – 2 hours later I handed back one of these.
What I really like about this recipe is that it uses many of the same ingredients as macarons, so when I’ve had a frustrating day baking them badly, I whip this up to build my self confidence again.
Sour cherries like Morellos are particularly good in this torte, which fills the house with beautiful smells of vanilla and butter – I wish someone would make a candle that smells like it.
This recipe originally comes from Karen Martini and was published in the Saturday Age recipe. I’ve made a few minor changses to suit me better.
Ingredients
180 g salted butter
1 vanilla bean
5 egg whites
pinch salt
340 g pure icing sugar, sifted (extra for dusting)
110g plain flour
100g ground almonds
7.5 ml (1.5 teaspoons) almond essence (bitter almond is very good!)
40g flaked almonds
300g cherries, pitted and halved
Preheat oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan-forced). Grease a 24cm x 5cm fluted tart tin with a loose base (or line with silicon paper).
Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape the beans out and place in a small saucepan. Chop the vanilla pod into small pieces and also add to the small saucepan. Melt butter in the saucepan and cook over a medium heat for 4 -5 mins until the mixture turns dark and smells nutty. Be brave. It’s the nuttieness that makes this torte.
Strain the butter into a bowl, discard the solids, and cool to room temperature.
Whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Add half icing sugar and combine, then fold in the remaining sugar, flour and ground almonds. Be gentle, but not wimpy (and don’t bother looking for le macaronnage thankfully that’s not necessary for this recipe).
Stir through the burnt vanilla butter and almond essence. Pour mixture into the tin and place cherries on top, scatter with almond flakes, reserve a few cherries for garnish if you wish. The recipe makes a bit too much to be contained by my tart tin – you can fill to about 2mm from top, so I pop the extra into cupcake tins (makes 2 – 3) with sliced cherries and bake these for 20 mins. Make sure you fill the empty cupcake depressions with water to stop the cakes over cooking.
Bake for 1 hour, or until the tart is puffed and just set. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
Dust with icing sugar and garnish with a few cherries.
