Fresh Fruit Tart

Today in class we made two tarts and pots de crème au chocolat. We didn't actually get to finish the pots de crème, we will do that Monday. I can't wait until we do, they looked great! In the meantime, we did make and get to take home the two tarts. The first was a fresh fruit tart. We used the pâte sucrée shells we made last class. Then we filled them with freshly made crème d'amandes. We baked them. Unfortunately, the walls of my shell collapsed. Apparently I'd pulled them in a little too far when I trimmed the excess dough. I think I did it because my apple tart's walls had bent over the ring a little, making it difficult to take out of the ring, so I over compensated this time. Ah well, it was still going to taste good, but I was a bit worried about how it would look (and also how I'd "fill" it.) So when we filled them with pastry cream, I had to be careful, since it wasn't so much filling as topping. I managed okay and kind of hid the messy edges. Then  we learnt how to section citrus properly, peel and cut kiwi, and slice strawberries (that, I already knew). We decorated the tarts next. That was fun! I think mine looked quite pretty. I used the orange slices and kiwi around the edge to help cover up the collapsed wall. Then I did some nice stuff with the berries in the center--partly because I love berries, partly to distract from the edge. It really worked. The chef even said mine looked good, and he liked what I did with the berries. Then I just glazed the top with apricot nappage (basically heated apricot jelly). You know, a fresh fruit tart looks like a simple thing. Turns out, it really isn't!

We also made tarte bourdaloue, I'll write about it soon.