TABELIA

AUTHENTIC RECIPE

Tarte BourdaloueBourdaloue Pear and Almond Tart

Bourdaloue Pear and Almond Tart
Difficulty★★★★☆ Prep55 min Cook50 min Rest1 hr 20 min servings4

A pear tart said to originate from a pastry shop on Paris’s Rue Bourdaloue. Pears poached in vanilla syrup are nestled in a butter-and-ground-almond cream and baked. Judging both the tenderness of the pears and the baking of the almond cream determines the result of this Parisian pâtisserie classic.

Recipe developed and reviewed by the Tabelia Editorial TeamUpdated
100/ 100

AUTHENTICITY SCORE

Authenticity Score

This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.

Ingredients (4 servings)

  • Unsalted butter for the pastryBring to room temperature to soften.90 g
  • Icing sugar for the pastry50 g
  • Egg for the pastryBinds the dough.1 piece
  • Cake flour for the pastry180 g
  • Salt for the pastry1 pinch
  • PearsPeel, halve lengthwise and core.4 pieces
  • Caster sugar for poaching100 g
  • Water for poaching500 ml
  • Vanilla pod for poaching1 pod
  • Unsalted butter for the almond cream, at room temperature100 g
  • Caster sugar for the almond cream100 g
  • Eggs for the almond cream2 pieces
  • Ground almondsThe principal ingredient of crème d’amande.100 g
  • Cake flour for the almond creamA small amount to bind.15 g
  • Rum10 ml
  • Apricot jam for glazing30 g
  • Flaked almonds for topping15 g

Method

110 min

Make the sweet pastry

  • 1 Cream 90 g softened butter with 50 g icing sugar in a bowl.
  • 2 Add 1 egg and mix well.
  • 3 Sift in 180 g flour and 1 pinch of salt and cut through with a spatula until no dry flour remains. Continue once the dough holds together.
230 min

Rest the pastry

  • 1 Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
310 min

Prepare the pears and vanilla

  • 1 MeanwhileWhile the pastry rests, peel 4 pears, halve lengthwise and scoop out the cores.
  • 2 Split the 1/2 vanilla pod for poaching lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.
45 min

Make the poaching syrup

  • 1 Heat 500 ml water, the 100 g sugar for poaching, and the vanilla seeds and pod in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the pears once the sugar dissolves.
515 min

Poach the pears

  • 1 Simmer gently over low heat for 12–15 minutes.
  • 2 Once a skewer slides in easily, turn off the heat and leave the pears to cool in the syrup.
620 min

Cool in the syrup

  • 1 Let the initial heat subside while the pears remain in the syrup.
78 min

Line the tart tin

  • 1 Roll the pastry on a floured surface into a circle about 24 cm across and 3 mm thick, then line the tart tin.
  • 2 Prick the base with a fork.
815 min

Rest the lined pastry

  • 1 Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
93 min

Preheat to 180°C

  • 1 MeanwhileWhile the pastry chills, begin preheating the oven to 180°C.
1010 min

Make the almond cream

  • 1 Beat 100 g room-temperature butter and 100 g caster sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
  • 2 Add 2 eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each.
  • 3 Sift in 100 g ground almonds and 15 g flour, mix, then add 10 ml rum and stir until smooth.
115 min

Arrange the cream and pears

  • 1 Spread the almond cream evenly over the chilled pastry base.
  • 2 Lift the pears from the syrup and pat lightly dry, thinly slice across and fan them slightly as you arrange them radially.
1235 min

Bake the tart

  • 1 Bake at 180°C for 30–35 minutes.
  • 2 It is baked when the almond cream has risen and turned deep golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out without batter.
135 min

Glaze with jam

  • 1 Warm 30 g apricot jam in a small pan to loosen it and brush a thin glossy layer over the entire tart.
  • 2 Scatter 15 g flaked almonds around the edge.
1415 min

Cool slightly and slice

  • 1 Let the initial heat subside before slicing.
A view of Rue Bourdaloue, Paris
Rue Bourdaloue, ParisFrance Photo: CVB · CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized; display cropped)

About this dish

A pastry shop on Rue Bourdaloue, near the Panthéon in Paris’s 5th arrondissement, is said to have been known for its pear tart in the 19th century. The combination of pears and almond cream came to be called tarte Bourdaloue after that shop.

The structure combines two techniques: gently poaching pears in vanilla-scented syrup and baking a crème d’amande made with butter, eggs and ground almonds. It is said to have been established among Parisian pastry cooks in the 19th century.

The tart is a fixture in Parisian pâtisserie windows from autumn into winter, when pears are plentiful. Bistros also include it on dessert menus, serving it warm or chilled after a meal.

Chef Authen

Bring the full course home next weekend.

Bring every dish to the table at its best.

Choose the dishes you want to cook, and Chef Authen handles the shopping list and the day-of schedule. The Tabelia app turns everything from starter to main into one coordinated course in your kitchen.

  • One shopping listBuilt automatically from your menu and any substitutions, ready to check off.
  • One timelineEvery dish’s waiting and cooking time combined into a single schedule.
  • Answers beyond the recipeFrom judging the heat to adapting on the fly, Chef Authen answers with concrete criteria, not guesses.
Download on the App Store