Tarte au sucre
A tart from northern France and Belgian Wallonia, a bakery favourite from Lille to Liège, eaten with coffee. It has no pastry base but a soft yeast dough much like brioche, topped with brown sugar and butter that caramelise in the dimples in the oven. The point is a moist sugar — traditionally French vergeoise or Belgian cassonade, both moist beet sugars. White sugar makes a sweet tart without the caramel depth.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Dough 20 min
- Rising 80 min
- Sugar and cream 10 min
- Baking 25 min
- Cooling 20 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneKnead a soft yeast dough
Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk with the sugar, add the flour, eggs and salt and knead 8 minutes. Then gradually work in the soft butter and knead 5–7 minutes more, until smooth and elastic. It should be soft and slightly tacky, like brioche.
Ingredients: 280 g plain flour · 80 ml milk · 2 pcs eggs · 15 g fresh yeast · 30 g sugar · ½ tsp salt · 70 g butter
Rise for an hour
Cover and leave an hour somewhere warm, until doubled. Meanwhile get the brown sugar out and cut the cold butter into small pieces — they must be ready the moment the dough has risen.
Ingredients: 280 g plain flour · 80 ml milk · 2 pcs eggs · 15 g fresh yeast · 30 g sugar · ½ tsp salt · 70 g butter
Stretch the dough into a tin with a rim
Stretch the dough by hand into a buttered 28 cm tin, forming a clear 2 cm rim. The rim holds in the liquid cream and melted sugar — without it everything runs onto the tray.
Ingredients: 280 g plain flour · 80 ml milk · 2 pcs eggs · 15 g fresh yeast · 30 g sugar · ½ tsp salt · 70 g butter
A clear rim — it keeps the cream and sugar in.Press in deep dimples
Leave the dough in the tin for 20 minutes while the oven heats to 190°C. Then press your fingers deep into the dough every 3 cm. Sugar and butter gather in the dimples and caramelise into glossy pools — the tart's signature.
Ingredients: 280 g plain flour · 80 ml milk · 2 pcs eggs · 15 g fresh yeast · 30 g sugar · ½ tsp salt · 70 g butter
Scatter the sugar and butter pieces
Scatter the brown sugar in a thick, even layer over the whole surface, then the cold butter pieces, a little extra in the dimples. As the butter melts it mixes with the sugar to form the caramel.
Ingredients: 150 g brown sugar · 50 g butter · 80 ml whipping cream (30%) · 1 pcs egg · 1 pinch cinnamon
A thick layer of sugar, butter in the dimples — the caramel-to-be.Spoon over the cream and egg
Beat the cream with the egg and cinnamon and spoon it gently over the whole surface. The cream partly soaks into the sugar and forms a soft custardy layer beneath the caramel. Do not pour it all at once, or it washes the sugar out of the dimples.
Ingredients: 150 g brown sugar · 50 g butter · 80 ml whipping cream (30%) · 1 pcs egg · 1 pinch cinnamon
Spooned gently — poured at once it flushes the dimples.Bake until the caramel bubbles
Bake 20–25 minutes at 190°C, until the rim is golden and the sugar in the dimples bubbles and darkens. The centre should still tremble slightly — it sets as it cools.
Ingredients: 150 g brown sugar · 50 g butter · 80 ml whipping cream (30%) · 1 pcs egg · 1 pinch cinnamon
Cool to lukewarm
Cool the tart in the tin for 20 minutes. Hot caramel is liquid and runs when cut; lukewarm it sets into a soft, chewy layer. It is best exactly then, lukewarm, with black coffee.
Ingredients: 150 g brown sugar · 50 g butter · 80 ml whipping cream (30%) · 1 pcs egg · 1 pinch cinnamon
Before you start
Cassonade or muscovado
French vergeoise and Belgian cassonade are moist beet sugars with a deep caramel flavour. Dark muscovado comes closest. Light brown sugar works well; white gives a tart that is merely sweet.
The version without cream
Many recipes use no cream or egg at all: just sugar and butter, crisper and more caramelised. The version with a cream-and-egg custard is more custardy. You will find both in bakeries across northern France and Belgium.
Until the next day
Tarte au sucre is best on the day it is baked, but it keeps until the next day under a dome somewhere cool. In the fridge the yeast dough goes stale quickly. Warm a slice for 5 minutes in the oven before serving.
