This is the tart I make when I want to impress people and still have a calm afternoon. It looks like a patisserie window — a burnished honey filling set over a layer of almond frangipane in a crisp pastry shell — but each component is straightforward, and most of the time is chilling and baking rather than working.
The filling is a salted honey caramel loosened with cream and eggs: it bakes to a soft, wobbling set with a bittersweet edge from taking the honey a shade darker than feels comfortable. Flaky salt on top before serving is what makes it more than sweet.
Do make the pastry and frangipane a day ahead if you can — a rested, blind-baked shell is far less likely to shrink or crack, and the whole thing comes together calmly on the day.
For the sweet pastry
For the almond frangipane
For the salted honey filling
Pulse the flour, icing sugar and salt in a food processor. Add the cold butter and pulse to fine crumbs. Add the yolk and water and pulse just until it clumps. Tip out, bring together without kneading, flatten to a disc, wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.
Roll the pastry on a floured surface to about 3mm and line a 23cm loose-bottomed tart tin, pressing well into the corners and leaving a slight overhang. Prick the base, then chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 180°C fan / 200°C / gas 6. Line the shell with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the paper and beans, and bake for a further 8–10 minutes until the base is dry and pale gold. Trim the overhang while warm.
Beat the soft butter and caster sugar until pale. Beat in the ground almonds, then the egg, flour and almond extract. Spread a thin, even layer over the base of the cooled shell and bake for 12–15 minutes until just set and lightly golden. Cool.
Put the honey in a small pan over medium heat and cook for 3–4 minutes until it darkens a shade and smells toasty and slightly bitter. Off the heat, carefully whisk in the cream and butter (it will bubble up). Let it cool for 10 minutes, then whisk in the eggs, extra yolk, vanilla and flaky salt until smooth.
Lower the oven to 150°C fan / 170°C / gas 3½. Set the tart shell on a baking tray, pour in the honey filling, and scatter over the flaked almonds. Bake for 25–30 minutes until the filling is set at the edges but still has a slight wobble in the centre.
Cool completely in the tin — the filling firms as it cools. Just before serving, unmould and scatter with a little more flaky salt. Serve in thin wedges, with crème fraîche if you like.
Blind baking: Chill the lined shell hard (30 minutes in the freezer) before baking, and bake it fully golden before adding the frangipane — a pale shell goes soggy.
Honey: A strong, dark honey (chestnut, buckwheat, heather) gives the best bittersweet depth. Mild blossom honey works but the flavour is gentler.
Darkening the honey: Take it just past the point where it smells toasty and slightly bitter — this is where the 'salted caramel' character comes from. Don't let it actually burn and smoke.
Ahead: Pastry and frangipane can be made a day ahead. The finished tart keeps 2 days, loosely covered, at cool room temperature. Add the flaky salt only just before serving.