Stella Parks' Classic Cherry Tart

[Becky]

I made Stella Parks' Classic Cherry Tart recently, and boy was it tasty!!

The recipe is in her 'Bravetart' book, and it is also on Serious Eats. I didn't have time to make the pastry, I cheated and used shop bought. I used frozen cherries for the filling.

Unfortunately I left it in the oven slightly too long and it started to overflow slightly. Oops!

It was still a bit warm when I sliced it, but it held together really well once it was cool. It was absolutely delicious and I'll definitely be making it again!

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Oh I love her recipe. I’ve used it the four or five cherry pies. On the east coast there is a variety of sour cherry that makes a pie to die for. Hey sour cherry only comes into season for a couple of weeks each year. Bakers start stalking the farmers market and high end grocery stores for the sour cherries in late May and early June. They will buy up every sour cherry within a week.

Where I live in California cherries are a huge annual crop. But they only cultivate the sweet Bing cherries;(. They are good eating cherries but I don’t like them for a pie. But using Stellas recipe with a blend of sweet Bing and Rainier cherries makes a delicious pie. It’s not the same as the sour cherry but then again nothing can compare to that sour cherry.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

PS—don’t you just love Stella’s sugar, tapioca, and fruit ratio to ensure proper thickening of the fruit. I bake a lot of blueberry pies and I use her ratios—it works every time for fruit that contains a lot of water!

 

[Becky]

She is just so awesome, her recipes just work. I love her methodology, I'm so glad you introduced me to her!

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I’m glad you’re enjoying her work as well. I love that she’s all about explaining the science behind the recipes. She really is an exceptionally talented pastry chef.

 

[Becky]

Made another cherry pie for Easter Sunday, and this time I actually allowed time for it to cool down! Definitely made slicing a lot easier

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Made another cherry pie for Easter Sunday, and this time I actually allowed time for it to cool down! Definitely made slicing a lot easier

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Wow, that’s a gorgeous pie! It really sliced beautifully. Her pie filling thickening trick works. Your lattice top is very nice. Did you brush it with an egg wash? It has such a lovely color.

I’m going to make the Devil’s food cake from her book this weekend. Since it’s for my 6 yr old nieces birthday party, I have to omit the coffee. The recipe suggests using cherry juice as an alternative liquid since cherry and chocolate make a nice combination. So I’m going to give that try.

 

[Becky]

Wow, that’s a gorgeous pie! It really sliced beautifully. Her pie filling thickening trick works. Your lattice top is very nice. Did you brush it with an egg wash? It has such a lovely color.

Thank you, I think I'm getting better at the lattices! Yep I brushed it with egg wash (which I forgot to do with the first one). Making another tomorrow, it's a surprisingly easy dessert to make.

I’m going to make the Devil’s food cake from her book this weekend. Since it’s for my 6 yr old nieces birthday party, I have to omit the coffee. The recipe suggests using cherry juice as an alternative liquid since cherry and chocolate make a nice combination. So I’m going to give that try.

I was impressed when I made the Devils Food Cake, it was really delicious! Don't think I took any photos of it, annoyingly.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Thank you, I think I'm getting better at the lattices! Yep I brushed it with egg wash (which I forgot to do with the first one). Making another tomorrow, it's a surprisingly easy dessert to make.



I was impressed when I made the Devils Food Cake, it was really delicious! Don't think I took any photos of it, annoyingly.

Lol, pie is very addictive. I will take pie over cake any day.

Yes I remember when you made it. After you posted about it I made for a holiday gathering. Everyone really liked the cake.

Every year my niece asks me to bake her birthday cake. She usually puts in her “order” 6 months in advance. She’s very specific about what she wants. This year chocolate cake. Unicorn cake. But not a cake with just a unicorn horn on top. It must have a unicorn picture on the side of the cake.

It never fails we have a heat wave the week of her party. It’s like 32°C in here because I don’t have air conditioning. I’ve been trying to make a 2D gum paste/fondant unicorn head, but it the gumpaste is drying up so fast it’s near impossible to work with.

 

[Becky]

Every year my niece asks me to bake her birthday cake. She usually puts in her “order” 6 months in advance. She’s very specific about what she wants. This year chocolate cake. Unicorn cake. But not a cake with just a unicorn horn on top. It must have a unicorn picture on the side of the cake.

It never fails we have a heat wave the week of her party. It’s like 32°C in here because I don’t have air conditioning. I’ve been trying to make a 2D gum paste/fondant unicorn head, but it the gumpaste is drying up so fast it’s near impossible to work with.

Unicorns certainly seem to be very popular at the moment! My niece turned 10 yesterday and I got her a few unicorn-related presents. Sorry to hear about the heatwave scuppering your sugar work, those sound like tricky conditions! I'd love to see a photo of the finished cake though

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Unicorns certainly seem to be very popular at the moment! My niece turned 10 yesterday and I got her a few unicorn-related presents. Sorry to hear about the heatwave scuppering your sugar work, those sound like tricky conditions! I'd love to see a photo of the finished cake though

Yes it seems to be all about unicorns. Initially she asked for mermaid cake, then she changed it to unicorn.

So I baked the Devils food cake with the juice as a substitution and it didn’t bake right. It came out of the oven fine and at the right temperature if 210°F. But as it cools it started to dip in the center. So I’m wondering if the natural sugar in the cherry juice resulted in too much sugar. So I ended up having to bake a second cake. I went to my go to chocolate cake recipe, which is a recipe that is very similar to Stellas. Could have been the inspiration for hers because they are very similar.

I’m going to make two different cakes since not everyone wants to eat rich chocolate after a full meal. But the chocolate one will be decorated with her little unicorn.

The unicorn has a tiny crack where one of the mane strands was too dry when I attached it. But it should hold together. I’ll attach it just before serving.

This is a recipe from Gourmet magazine circa 1999. It set the standard for chocolate cake in the US.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Both the cakes turned out delicious. The party had about 30 guests. I made enough cake for 60. After everyone was served the first group served came back for seconds. Almost everyone there had seconds and thirds. Japanese don’t eat a lot of sweets. They’ll usually have one small slice of cake and that’s it. So I was really surprised that everyone was coming back for seconds.

One of my friends said, “i want to get married again just so you can bake my wedding cake.”

For the chocolate cake I used Callebaut chocolate cocoa powder and Callebaut dark chocolate 54%. I used decaffeinated coffee as the liquid. The filling was milk chocolate SMBC was also made with Callebaut.

The icing was Valrhona Ivorie 35% white chocolate SMBC. I made vertical stripes in the colors that I used on the 2D unicorn. I also added some gumpaste butterflies and cherry blossoms.

That second cake was my signature cake elderflower chiffon cake. Filling was Meyers lemon curd, fresh strawberries, blackberries, and raspberry, topped with a lightly sweetened vanilla and almond mascarpone chantilly cream. I know it sounds like a lot in that cake but it eats very light. I got a lot of compliments on it being light and delicate.

I stabilized the mascarpone chantilly cream with gelatin, so it held up beautifully. Although I need to re-think how I assemble the cake because the chiffon is very delicate and the berries heavy. It was difficult to slice. I’m glad I only used three layers of cake, normally I use for layers of cake per tier. I Sliced the strawberries in half, but I think I should use thin center slices so they lay flat. And finally make it a square cake for easier slicing.

This morning I ate the leftover mascarpone chantilly cream and berries. It was delicious, so I can imagine how good it tastes with the cake. I’m going to make a gluten-free version of this cake so I can eat it

I didn’t get pictures of the cakes. I was so busy trying to keep the kids back from the table since I had my super long Granton knife. Fortunately no kids got cut with that knife. My sister and I—not so lucky, we both cut ourselves on my Granton! That is one heck of a sharp knife

 

[Becky]

Wow, that unicorn cake is superb!! Glad to hear the cakes were so popular, the chiffon cake sounds incredible. Did you use an extruder for the unicorn hair?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Wow, that unicorn cake is superb!! Glad to hear the cakes were so popular, the chiffon cake sounds incredible. Did you use an extruder for the unicorn hair?

Yes, I used an extruder for the unicorn mane. I like things to look uniform—a bit OCD that way.

 

[Lee_C]

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The unicorn has a tiny crack where one of the mane strands was too dry when I attached it. But it should hold together. I’ll attach it just before serving.
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That looks incredible. Very fine work.