Apple tart with caramel ice cream

Method

How it goes together

1. 01

   Step 1

   To make the ice cream, heat the sugar slowly in a heavy-based pan, swirling the pan, until it dissolves. Keep bubbling until it caramelises to a dark caramel colour. Add the milk and cream, stir until smooth and bring to the boil.

   Taking the caramel to a genuinely dark colour is what gives the ice cream its flavour; a pale caramel just tastes sweet. Adding the milk and cream stops the cooking before the sugar turns bitter.

2. 02

   Step 2

   Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl. Pour in the caramel mixture, stirring constantly. Return everything to the pan and cook over gentle heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain into a bowl and leave to cool. Churn in an ice-cream maker, then freeze until ready to use. If you don't have a machine, pour into a freezer box, cover and freeze, folding the ice crystals from the edges into the centre every couple of hours.

   Pouring the hot caramel onto the yolks in a stream while stirring brings them up to temperature gradually, so they thicken the custard instead of scrambling. Straining catches any threads of set egg and undissolved caramel.

3. 03

   Step 3

   To make the tart, preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl. Mix in the egg white, then the flour and ground almonds. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 23cm circle, using a large dinner plate as a guide. Place on a baking sheet and spread the almond mixture over it, leaving a 2.5cm border free. Fan the apple slices in overlapping circles on top of the almond mixture. Fold the pastry edge over and crimp. Dust with icing sugar and bake for 30 minutes.

   The almond frangipane soaks up the juice the apples release, so the base stays crisp rather than soggy. Leaving the border bare lets the pastry edge puff and fold cleanly.

4. 04

   Step 4

   Remove from the oven and lay a sheet of nonstick baking paper over the tart, then another baking tray on top. Carefully flip both trays over so the tart is upside-down, then lift off the top tray. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes until the pastry is cooked through. Remove from the oven, flip the tart back over on to a serving plate and serve warm, dusted with icing sugar and with a scoop of the caramel ice cream.

   Flipping the tart puts the pastry base against the hot tray so the underside cooks through and the sugars caramelise, instead of staying pale and doughy under all that fruit.