I love making cherry tarts, especially since I watched “The Many Faces of Ito” on Netflix, and seeing one made there, I just had to make my own to satisfy that craving and to utilize the fruit while it was still cherry season. For my rendition, I am making the crust infused with gewurztraminer (a white wine that tastes like lychee), a cherry infused frangipane, a glaze with gewurztraminer, a gelee using cherries and gewurztraminer, and fresh cherries, thankfully pitted, and a vanilla pastry cream to finish.

The reason why I call this one 2.0 is because I did make a cherry tart before (for my parents to bring to their friends’ yacht warming party… yeah, I know, that is a pretentious as it sounds, but that’s what happened). Somehow, I forgot to write an article on it, so I couldn’t just link this one to that one and write recipes to the additional things, which would be a shit load easier than having to rewrite the entire recipe from scratch again, but oh well, that’s life, and you have to suck it up and do whatever it takes to do shit I guess. Now before I get way too off topic, let’s get into the recipe.

For the crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour with more for dusting
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup gewurztraminer
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Blend together ingredients into a dough and chill down. Dust with flour and roll out to 1/8th an inch thick. Dust with more flour, transfer to a tart tin, and poke holes into the dough with a fork. Place parchment over the dough and weigh with either dried beans, pie weights, or rice. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes, then another 10 minutes at 325 degrees F without the weights to ensure that the bottom is baked.

For the frangipane:
1 cup almond flour
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsalted butter; melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 egg whites
1/2 cup chopped up cherries

Combine everything except the cherries, then fold in the cherries to finish. Pour into the baked dough and bake again at 350 degrees F for another 35 minutes.

For pastry cream:
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cups milk
a pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Temper yolks, mixed with sugar, flour, and salt, with milk. Whisk over medium high heat for 5-6 minutes, and then strain out lumps. Mix in vanilla to finish and transfer to a piping bag. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before using.

For the gelee:
1/4 cup gewurztraminer
1/4 cup cherries
2 tablespoons agar agar
a pinch of salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Combine ingredient and simmer. Puree then strain. Allow the mixture to solidify before pureeing again until the mixture is smooth. Transfer to a piping bag and refrigerate.

For the glaze:
1/2 cup gewurztraminer
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Bring to a simmer and reduce by half. Cool to room temperature before using.

To garnish:
Rainier cherries, pitted
Powdered sugar

To assemble:
Toss the cherries in the glaze as soon as you pit them. Take out the completely baked and cooled frangipane tart and pipe on the custard. Garnish the edges of the pastry cream with the cherries, and then dot on the gelee. Dust the edges of the tart with powdered sugar to finish.