Piece of Cake!

This past summer while watching a Master Chef's episode I became inspired to bake a pie [a slighly different one, because I had to manage with the fruit I had at hand then]. Since ever I've never been an excellent cook in general terms, let alone in what concerns pastry, mostly because I'm a bit clumsy and anxious about getting results fast in everything in life - the waiting kills me - and frankly because I prefer experimenting with other kinds of food other than sweets, mainly because I think that making them take the kind of effort and patience I'm never going to be able to have. Nevertheless I enjoy cooking for friends and family and if for years I couldn't have cared less about food, in the past few years I've developed a sudden and inexplicable devotion to eating to my misfortune - you can´t imagine how many weight I gained in about 2 years - but with a lot of effort I managed to send those extra kilos back to hell without giving up on being a sweet tooth alright that just couldn´t let this one pass. So this was my first attempt and I must say it didn´t look as bad as I expected... and in fact, it tasted even better. Wanna grab a bite?

Ingredients for the pastry:
375 gr cake flour
50 gr refined sugar
200 gr butter
1 egg

Ingredients for the filling:
125 gr butter
125 gr icing sugar
3 eggs
125 gr almonds
25 ml dark rum ( I used Frangelico)
cinammon
homemade peach jam
yellow and red plums

Preparation:

1. For the pastry mix the ingredients until they look like breadcrumbs. Add an egg and mix again all the ingredients with a spatula. Using your own hands then (don't forget to have your hands squeeky clean!) you put the blended ingredients on a cutting board and crimp them. Mix just until all ingredients are combined. Wrap and allow dough to rest in the refrigerator for about 2 hs - or less, I was too eager to wait!

2. For the filling you cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs an egg yolk, one at a time until incorporated in the mixture. Fold in the almond meal and dark rum.

3. Remove the tart tin from the fridge. Brush half of the peach jam over the bottom of the tart, then spread the cream for the filling on top. Scatter over the colourful, fresh plums cut in halves, pressing lightly into the mixture. Bake in the oven for 30-35 until golden and cooked through.

4. Remove from the oven and brush lightly with remaining peach jam and pour a bit of cinammon on top . Serve with Häagen Dazs ice creams (my favourite!!!) Macadamia Nut Brittle and Chocolate, Pralinès & Caramel.