Vegan Apple Tart Recipe | Frangipane Almond Cake

This French Apple Frangipane Tart is a simple vegan recipe with a soft and moist almond cake filling, delicious crisp apples on top, all baked in a crisp pastry pie crust. A perfect way to enjoy beautiful Fall apples as a delicious dessert!

Vegan French Apple Frangipane Tart Recipe

I love enjoying a moist apple cake but also making a beautiful tart so today I’m sharing this delightfully vegan apple almond frangipane tart. It’s the kind of treat that is elegant but easy to make and delicious – all in one!

This, to me, is a perfect dessert because it combines everything I love! A cookie-like pie crust, soft almond cake, moist apple fruit topping, finished with crunchy sliced almonds!

What is Frangipane?

Frangipane, also known as frangipani in Italian and crème frangipane in French, is as rich and delicious as it sounds. It is actually a sweet almond cream filling that can be used for baked pastries or cakes such as the popular English Bakewell tart.

What is Bakewell?

Since the traditional Bakewell is also made of a pie crust with frangipane filling, it is pretty similar to this Apple Almond Tart. But while the Bakewell Tart contains often a raspberry or strawberry jam layer between the pastry and almond filling, this recipe calls for optional apricot or apple jam.

Ingredients for Frangipane Filling

Traditional frangipane filling is normally made of butter, sugar, eggs, ground almonds, and flour but I made this recipe vegan. For the eggs, I substitute a mixture of unsweetened apple sauce, almond milk, cornstarch and baking powder which makes the frangipane cake-like.

What I also love about this recipe is that you can also bake just the vegan frangipane (without the pastry) in an 8-inch springform pan to make a simple apple almond cake if you prefer. Furthermore, it can be easily made gluten-free, too! Just substitute the flour in the filling with gluten-free flour as mentioned in the recipe notes.

How to make French Apple Tart

Step 1: Prepare the Tart Crust

I have already shared a recipe to show you how to make a perfect tart shell with homemade shortcrust pastry in this blog post. Of course, you can buy a pie crust or vegan puff pastry or make this simple cookie crust. Anyway, the homemade pastry recipe is uncomplicated, cheaper, egg-less, dairy-free and definitely delicious!

As with most pie crust and tart shell recipes, if you want to add a filling, then you will need to blind bake the crust. Please don’t be afraid of that – it’s pretty effortless but it ensures a perfectly crunchy frangipane tart crust.

Step 2: Make the Frangipane Filling

The vegan frangipane almond cake recipe is simple and can be made either in the food processor, or standing mixer or by hand. But basically, you just need to mix all of the ingredients together in one bowl. Then spread the thick batter into the prepared tart shell, top with apples and almonds. Sprinkle with brown sugar as desired and bake!

This Franch Apple Tart Recipe is

• Vegan (Dairy-free, Egg-less)
• Can be made gluten-free
• Perfect to make ahead
• with a flaky pastry crust,
• soft & moist almond filling,
• sliced red and green apples,
• & crunchy almonds on top!
• The perfect treat for any occasions,
• or for a special dessert to your Christmas & Thanksgiving menu!

Which almonds can I use?

For a light color I used blanched ground almonds but you can also use regular ground almonds with skin on. However, just take note that this will change the color of the frangipane cake filling.

If you can’t find ground almonds in a store you can easily process whole almonds until finely ground using a food processor. I recommend using the pulsing method for processing the almonds to avoid over-blending them into almond butter.

Can I make this recipe ahead?

Yes, this Vegan Apple Frangipane Tart is a great make-ahead recipe! The pastry can be made even up to 5 days in advance as mentioned in this homemade pie crust recipe. And the frangipane filling can be made the day before but please don’t add it to the tart shell until ready to cook. I suggest cutting the apples only when you are ready to bake the tart.

How to store and freeze Apple Frangipane Tart?

This Tart is best served fresh, however, you can also store the baked and cooled tart in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Alternatively, you can freeze the tart for up to 3 months. Just make sure to wrap it well in plastic wrap before freezing. To serve, thaw in the refrigerator overnight or leave it at room temperature for 2-3 hours.

More Vegan Apple Pie, Tart or Almond Cake Recipes to try

• Vegan Apple Pie
• Mini Apple Pies
• Apple Pie Roll-Ups
• Apple Hand Pies
• Moist Apple Blondies
• Raspberry Almond Orange Cake
• Blueberry Cheesecake with Almonds
• Almond Pancakes

If you try this Vegan French Apple Frangipane Tart Recipe be sure to leave a comment and rating letting me know how it turns out! Your feedback is always super helpful for me and other readers who are planning to try the recipe. And if you take a photo of your dessert, please make sure to tag me on Instagram @biancazapatka #biancazapatka because I love seeing your remakes! Enjoy!

Vegan Apple Frangipane Tart

Author: Bianca Zapatka

This French Apple Frangipane Tart is a simple vegan recipe with a soft and moist almond cake filling, delicious crisp apples on top, all baked in a crisp pastry pie crust. A perfect way to enjoy beautiful Fall apples as a delicious dessert!

4.74 von 15 Bewertungen

Print Pin Review

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Cake, Dessert, Snack, Snacks, Tart, Torte

Servings 1 10-inch Tart

You do not have a fitting cake pan at hand right now? Try my Cake Pan Conversion Calculator!

Ingredients

Tart Crust

• 1 Tart Crust Recipe *see notes for options
• 1-2 tbsp Apple or Apricot jam optional

Vegan Frangipane

• 1 1/4 cups ground blanched almonds 125g (*see notes)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 60g, or sub gluten-free flour (*see notes)
• 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot/tapioca starch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 6 tbsp vegan butter 85g (softened), or sub coconut oil
• 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp caster sugar 85g
• 1/3 cup apple sauce 85g, unsweetened
• 3 tbsp almond milk 45ml, or other non-dairy milk
• 1/2 tsp almond extract optional
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract optional
• 3-4 small apples thinly sliced

Topping

• 1 handful of sliced almonds
• 2 tbsp brown sugar to sprinkle

Instructions 

Tart Crust

• Prepare the pastry dough according to this recipe and place it in a 10-inch (25,5cm) tart pan (or 9-inch pie dish). Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
• Line the prepared tart shell with parchment paper and pie weights. Bake for 10 minutes. Then remove the paper and weights and bake for a further 10 minutes to dry out the bottom. Set aside to cool slightly. (The tart crust should be just pre-baked and not fully baked).
• Optional: Once the tart crust has cooled slightly, spread the bottom with a thin layer of apple or apricot jam as desired.

Vegan Frangipane

• Reduce oven temperature to 355°C (180°C).
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, flour, cornstarch, and baking powder. Set aside.
• In a separate mixing bowl, beat the vegan butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer until creamy. Next, mix in the apple sauce, almond milk, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Then add the flour mixture and stir until just combined. (The batter will be thick).
• Spoon the batter into the prepared tart crust, smoothing out evenly. Arrange the apples on top, then sprinkle with sliced almonds, and brown sugar (*see photos in the blog post above).
• Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the Frangipane comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely in the pan.
• Once cooled, remove the Apple tart from the pan by gently pressing against the removable bottom.
• Serve with a scoop of vegan ice cream, pecans, a drizzle of maple syrup or enjoy as it is!

Notes

• Pastry: If you don’t want to make the homemade pastry, feel free to use store-bought pie dough or make this simple cookie crust. You can also use vegan puff pastry as a base that doesn’t need to be pre-baked. Just place in the pan, prick the pastry a few times with a fork, add the filling, top with apples, almonds and bake as instructed.
• Almond Cake: Alternatively, you can also bake only the Frangipane Filling (without the pastry base) in an 8-inch springform pan to make a simple Apple almond cake. Baking time will be the same as for the Frangipane (about 45-50 minutes).
• Almonds: Regular almonds can be used instead of blanched, but this will affect the color. Please read my blog post how to make blanched ground almonds at home in less than 3-minutes!
• Gluten-free Frangipane: You can substitute the regular flour with rice flour or try a gluten-free flour blend 1:1.
• The preparation time does not include the time to make the pastry.
• Please read my blog post for storage, freezing, make-ahead tips and further helpful information about this recipe.

Nutrition is calculated automatically and should be used as estimate.

Did you make this recipe?Mention @biancazapatka or tag #biancazapatka!

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