The Linzer Torte (or Tarte de Linz in French) is originally an Austrian cake often prepared for Christmas and a favourite dessert prepared in Alsace.
Its name derived from the town of Linz, in the province of Upper Austria. It is therefore part of Alsace’s range of traditional cakes, alongside the Bredalas, the Basler Leckerlis and the Kugelhopf. Austria is closer to Alsace than Paris, and the southern part of the region, the Sundgau, was one of the birthplaces of the Habsburg dynasty, which may explain why the cake is so popular in this part of France. The cake – or tart – is easily recognisable by a lattice of dough strips covering the filling of jam.
Ingredients
- 250g plain flour
- 100g caster sugar
- 100g unsalted butter (soft, room temperature)
- 1 egg beaten
- 80g ground almonds
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 dessert spoon of ground cinnamon
- 1 dessert spoon of ground cloves
- 1 dessert spoon of nutmeg
- 1 small pot of jam* (300g)
- 1 teaspoon of water
*try apricot, red current, plum or raspberry…
Method
- Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, spices ad almonds.
- Cut softened butter into cubes and rub into the other ingredients until mixture ressembles breadcrumbs
- Add the beaten egg and mix to form a hard dough. Add a teaspoon or so of water if needed to form a ball of dough.
- Wrap the dough in foil and let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface with a rolling pin. Leave over a third of the dough for the lattice strips.
- Lay the pastry in the base of a ceramic tart tin. (Ceramic gives a better end result for this recipe than aluminimum).
- Pour in the jam and spread across the base.
- With the spare dough create lattice strips or cut shapes. If making a lattice: rol the dough out in very thin strips of pastry and arrange to form a criscross design on top of the jam. An easier way is to make shapes of stars, hearts, etc.
- Cook in a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes at 180 degrees. Check it after 20 minutes and monitor carefully. Once it is a crisp and golden brown take it out the oven.
- While cooking, mix a small amount of jam with some water. Warm up the mixture and save till later. Once the tart has cooled spread the glaze on the ‘croute de la’ Linzer tart with a brush. Let it cool before wrapping.
- The tart is best a few days later … store in an airtight tin or wrapped in foil. Do not store in the refrigerator.
