Apple Band Tart

The apple is a special ingredient for French pastry as it is the star of the classic tarte tatin and the recipe for this week, the apple band tart. In the Bouchon Bakery cookbook the tart is made extra decadent with the addition of pastry cream between the flaky crust and fanned apples. No scoop of vanilla ice cream needed here, unless you feel like indulging.

Apricot Flan Tart

Our task this week was a flan parisien. The name of this tart threw our bakers for a loop, since it's not at all like the dessert flan, with its caramel top, that most people think of. This is more of a baked custard in a tart, layered on top of apricots in this case. There are really only three elements to this recipe: pate brisée, custard, and fruit. Simple enough, right? See how our bakers fared!

Caramel Nut Tart

Week two of tarts, and after a rather difficult initiation, this week's recipe offered a bit of a reprieve. The tart is as simple as it sounds, with only three simple parts: pate brisée, caramel, and nuts. Our bakers enjoyed the simplicity of this recipe after last week's challenge. This would be a good tart any time of year for any occasion.

Chocolate, Praline and Cocoa Nib Tart

Incredible job by our bakers this week. We kick off the Tarts section of the book with a more complex recipe, if not the most in the chapter. There are several ingredients not in a typical baker's pantry and with a total of four layers to this creation, it is not one that can be whipped up in a day. Like with all the recipes we've come across, but especially for this recipe, planning is key and making the components over the course of a few days is very helpful. This Chocolate, Praline and Cocoa Nib tart has a buttery crust, praline, ganache and dentelle for the finish on the top. It is an impressive dessert. Read on to see what our bakers think.

Crepe Cake

And so we come to the end of the cakes chapter, with a bit of a misnomer. This crepe cake isn't a cake at all, merely a stack of light fluffy crepes filled with smooth satiny diplomat cream. What is diplomat cream? It's pastry cream, with gelatin and whipped cream added. The gelatin helps it set and keep its shape, while the whipped cream lightens it up and makes it smooth. Our bakers enjoyed making this recipe as much as they enjoyed sharing it with friends and family.