Nothing in the Tarte Tropézienne, other than perhaps its shape, indicates why it is known as a tart and not a cake. In the most traditional recipes found today, the brioche, topped with an egg wash and pearl sugar before baking, remains a constant. Fillings typically include pastry cream, either on its own, mixed with buttercream, or lightened with whipped cream. Chocolate pastry cream is a frequent variation. Orange blossom water and kirsch appear regularly as flavoring agents, even though, as well-known cookbook author Dorie Greenspan notes, kirsch has no terroir ties to the Côte d’Azur. But Alexandre, after all, turned a Polish dessert into a French seaside sensation, so some geographical license should be allowed.
France’s most acclaimed pastry chefs have given their own spin to the Trop’, as it is lovingly known. In his beautiful tart cookbook, Eric Kayser, whose Paris-based Maison Kayser empire has taken over New York City, uses a vanilla-flavored crème mousseline—pastry cream lightened by the incorporation of butter. He adds orange notes by brushing Grand Marnier over the brioche during assembly. Christophe Michalak shapes the brioche like a baguette, brushes it with orange blossom simple syrup, spreads a layer of vanilla-citrus marmalade, and fills it with a kirsch-flavored pastry cream lightened with whipped cream. Pierre Hermé sprinkles a streusel-like mixture of butter, flour, and ground sugar over the top of his brioche, with a vanilla, kirsch, and orange blossom filling.
La Tarte Tropézienne is no longer the only bakery selling its eponymous pastry in Saint-Tropez; countless other shops have capitalized on the fame of the dessert that attracts sweet-seeking tourists from all over. But there’s no need to await a French vacation to sample the original or its equally beguiling cousins. The Trop’ is a treat that’s easy enough to make at home and feel, for a moment, like a sun-kissed movie star.
