Recipe for La Tarte Tropézienne

This iconic cake made its debut in 1952 at the Saint-Tropez patisserie of pastry chef Alexandre Mickain. It was propelled to fame when Brigitte Bardot, who was filming “Et Dieu créa la femme” in the area, fell for the cake and told the chef – you should call it ‘La Tarte Tropezienne’. The original recipe is a closely guarded secret – Jennifer Pogmore’s Recipe for La Tarte Tropézienne is a classic take on the utterly scrumptious cake.

This is a recipe to take your time with, and precise measurements are essential (hence the European metric units), but oh so worth it…

Ingredients for La Tropézienne

Brioche Dough

250g strong white bread flour or a 00-pizza flour
5g fine sea salt
30g caster or granulated sugar
150g (3) eggs
12g fresh yeast
(6g dry active yeast or 4g fast-action/instant yeast)
125g unsalted butter, room temperature
5g (1 tsp) vanilla extract
Egg for the egg wash
Nibbed sugar for the top
Icing (powdered) sugar to dust)

Crème Légère

190g whole (full fat) milk
40g (2) egg yolks 20g (½) egg
20g unsalted butter, cold
45g caster or granulated sugar
15g cornstarch (cornflour)
5g (1 tsp) vanilla extract/1 vanilla pod
3g gelatin sheets or powdered gelatin (200 bloom/gold strength)
125g whipping cream (minimum 30% fat), cold

Method

Brioche Dough

In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the eggs. Add the flour over the top, then add the sugar and salt to one side of the bowl and crumble the fresh yeast or place the fast action yeast on the other side (if using dry active yeast, first heat two tablespoons of water until lukewarm and stir in the yeast. Allow 10 minutes to activate before adding to the brioche dough).

With the dough hook attachment, mix the brioche dough on the lowest setting for 2-3 minutes, until the dough begins to come together.

Increase the speed to the second from lowest setting and leave for knead for 5 minutes. Knead on the 3rd lowest setting for 5 minutes or until the dough no longer sticks to the sides. Add in the butter in two goes and knead on the second from lowest setting for a further 5 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat the dough on a medium speed for a minute.

Ideal temperature for the dough after kneading is 25°C-28°C/77°F-82°F.

Remove the dough from the stand mixer, shape into a ball and place in a lightly floured bowl. Cover with clingfilm or a tea towel and leave to rise at room temperature for an hour or until doubled in volume (pointage).

Punch the air out of the dough and wrap the ball in cling film and leave in the fridge for 12 hours (or overnight).

Shaping & Baking

Take the brioche and shape into a ball. Use a minimal amount of flour to dust the table if the brioche sticks. Grease the ring of a 20cm (8 inch) springform tin or use a cake ring and place on a baking tray lined with paper. Place the ball of brioche dough inside the mould and press down the top to flatten and push the brioche to the edges.

Brush the top of the brioche with a beaten egg (egg wash), cover with cling film or a tea towel and leave to rise for two to two and a half hours, or until doubled in volume. Brush the top of the brioche again with egg wash and sprinkle the top generously with nibbed sugar.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/355°F (fan oven) or 200°C/390°F (conventional oven). Place a bowl with half a litre of water in the base of your oven, the humidity will help avoid cracking. Place the brioche in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden all over. Remove from the oven, remove from the tin and leave to cool.

Crème Légère

Soak the gelatin first by sprinkling the gelatin over a small bowl with 6x its weight in water (for powder) or by placing the gelatin in a bowl of ice-cold water (for sheets).

Whisk the yolks and half of the sugar together in a bowl until they start to lighten in colour. Whisk in the cornstarch.

Bring the milk, the second half of sugar and the vanilla to a boil, remove from the heat and pour half over the yolks and sugar, whisking together. Pour everything back into your pan, making sure to scrape the bowl clean. Put on a medium heat and whisk constantly until it thickens, and bubbles appear. Once you see bubbles, whisk on the heat for 30 seconds.

Remove from the heat and stir in the gelatin and butter. Put in a dish and cover with cling film touching the surface of the pastry cream and chill.

Once cooled, place the whipping cream in the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl and whisk until it forms stiff peaks. Remove the pastry cream from the fridge and re-whisk to loosen. Gently fold in the whipped cream and transfer to a piping bag with a 10mm (3/8 inch) round or a star piping tip.

Assembly

Using a serrated knife, slice the brioche in two like you would a burger bun. Dust icing sugar over the domed top. Pipe rounds of crème légère onto the bottom slice, then gently place on the top.

The cake will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Jennifer Pogmore is a classically trained pastry chef and chocolatier (Le Cordon Bleu) who worked in Parisian pastry boutiques before returning to Le Cordon Bleu as a pastry chef instructor.