Rhubarb Tart
Jaws will drop when you serve your guests this gorgeous rhubarb dessert! Â Thin slices of tart, seasonal rhubarb top a sweet almond frangipane filling, nestled into a buttery shortbread crust. Â It’s as delicious as it is beautiful!
For the life of me, I can’t be sure if I thought of this myself or saw it somewhere. Â I swear, I look at so many genius food ideas every day, I can’t even keep it straight!
I do know that last year, Sprinkle Bakes covered a cake in thin ribbons of poached rhubarb and my jaw hit the floor.
I get so excited about rhubarb every year.  I think my family thinks I’m nuts.  But I only just discovered it a few years ago and I feel like I need to make up for all those sad years where there was no rhubarb in my life!
If you’ve never had it, it’s the loveliest pink-y red color, with stalks like celery, but a flavor that reminds me more of a tart apple.  It comes into grocery stores in spring, and if you blink you could easily miss it.  This is why I get a little crazed every year around this time.  Once it’s gone you won’t see it again for a full year.
This past weekend we were in the Hudson River Valley visiting my in-laws.  We hit a farmers market while we were there, and lo and behold they were selling big rhubarb plants in pots.  We snatched one up in a heartbeat, so from now on I know I’ll have rhubarb to play with every spring 😉
Yes, I play with my food.  This tart was an especially fun little project.  I completed it in a couple hours, maybe less, but I’m not even gonna pretend this isn’t fussy.  This is the very definition of fussy food- so if you’ve got zero patience for those kind of shenanigans, it’s probably not for you.  But if you are artsy-fartsy and good with your hands and you just want to floor everyone in the best possible way, give this a go.  I bet you’ll really enjoy it.
Start by slicing the rhubarb stalks, long-ways, on a mandolin slicer.  I think this would work well with a veggie peeler too though.  Make the slices about 1/16-inch thick and then poach them in simmering sugar water for a minute, just until they’re soft enough to work with.  Mine were like very al dente pasta almost.  Then, just lay them out on a sheet of parchment in a lattice pattern.  First, line them up horizontally, tight close together with the sides touching.  Then, flip up every other strip and lay another ribbon cross-wise.  Keep working in this way until the sheet of lattice-woven rhubarb is big enough to cover the whole top of your tart.
The crust is simple enough; you make it in the food processor and it only takes about 20 minutes total active time to mix it up, roll it out, and place it in the tart pan.
I decided to go with a frangipane filling, just for something different.  It’s mostly ground almonds, sugar, eggs, and brown butter, baked in the shell, but  the complex flavor you get from the rum, vanilla bean, and lemon is really nice!  You could also go with a pastry cream filling, as a nut-free option, and I think it would be equally delish!
Once everything’s filled, baked, and cooled, you just flip that rhubarb lattice sheet on top, peel off the parchment, and trim the excess away with kitchen shears.  Brush the leftover poaching liquid on top to give it a shiny pink glaze, and put on your most gracious smile, because lots of oohs and ahs are coming your way!
A few useful tools you may need for this recipe:Â
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Rhubarb Tart
Ingredients
For the Shortbread Crust
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, (1 stick), cut into cubes
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, (extract can be substituted)
For the Frangipane Filling
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3/4 cups almond meal
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon dark rum
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, (extract can be substituted)
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
For the Rhubarb Lattice Topping
- 8 -10 stalks fresh rhubarb
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
To make the shortbread crust
- Place the flour, powdered sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.
- Add the butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- Combine the egg, cream, and vanilla in a small bowl and add to the flour/butter mixture, while running the machine.
- Continue to process until the dough comes together into a ball.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Roll the dough to a thickness of about 3/16-inch.
- Place it in the tart pan, trimming away any excess.
- Line with foil and ceramic pie weights or dried beans.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until just beginning to turn golden.
To make the frangipane filling
- Place the butter in a small pan and cook over medium heat until nutty-brown. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Place the almond meal, sugar, egg, rum, vanilla, zest, almond extract, and salt in a bowl and stir to combine.
- Mix in the browned butter, and transfer the mixture to the partially baked tart shell.
- Bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until golden brown and set.
- Cool completely and top with rhubarb lattice.
To make the rhubarb lattice topping
- Using a mandolin slicer or vegetable peeler, slice the rhubarb long-ways to a thickness of about 1/16-inch.
- Place the water and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to a bare simmer, and add 4 or 5 slices of rhubarb. Cook until slightly softened, then drain on paper towels. Repeat, until all the rhubarb is cooked. Reserve the remaining syrup.
- Line up slices of cooked rhubarb side-by-side on a sheet of parchment. Fold alternating slices up, and place perpendicular slices over, in a lattice pattern. Repeat until the sheet of lattice is big enough to cover the entire top of the tart.
- Flip the sheet onto the top of the cooled tart, and peel the parchment away. Trim off any overhang with kitchen shears.
- Using a silicone pastry brush, dab the remaining poaching liquid over the lattice to glaze.
This is looking so yummy and tasty. I really love this amazing recipe of tart. Thank you for sharing this easy to make recipe.
Hello. I can’t wait to try this but with your pastry cream filling.  How long do you cook the tart crust when using pastry filling?  Thanks!
Hey there! I think about 20 minutes at 375 degrees F should do it. Maybe slightly more or less, depending upon how big your tart is and how thick you roll the dough. You’ll probably want to dock the dough and use dry beans or ceramic pie weights to keep it from puffing up in the middle. You’ll know it’s done when it’s set in the middle and slightly golden around the edges. Good luck!
Glad I didn’t make this for company! Unbaked rhubarb lattice was hard to slice and eat! The frangipane filling (though tasty) only did not fill my 14″x4″ tart pan (like the one shown), I can’t imagine it being made in a larger round tin!
Think I would have baked it with the lattice. Was proud of how it looked but disappointed when served to my husband who had could not cut the rhubarb with a fork and picked up and had to tear it with his teeth!
Your recipe needs some work!
The rhubarb should be poached until softened (see step 3 of the rhubarb lattice topping instructions). Do not place it on the tart until it’s soft enough to eat easily.
Allie:
No where in the recipe above as I printed an followed to the letter does it say until soft enough to eat, as I’ve copied for your review. Aldente’ (to the tooth) may have been an inadequate description. Â (I tried to highlight in red but notices I couldn’t reply directly to your comments but copied and pasted below for comparison.
There was also no mention of quantity of filling for size of tart pan in your reply. As I mentioned I used a 4×14″ which appeared to be the one you used. That too would have been helpful.Â
I will try to make adjustments on my own. Perhaps if it could be woven and baked all in one it might be better. The flavor didn’t come out as it does when baked.
(Where in Hudson Valley are you from? I lived and graduated HS in Mahopac Falls!)Â
Start by slicing the rhubarb stalks, long-ways, on a mandolin slicer.  I think this would work well with a veggie peeler too though.  Make the slices about 1/16-inch thick and then poach them in simmering sugar water for a minute, just until they’re soft enough to work with.  Mine were like very al dente pasta almost.  Then, just lay them out on a sheet of parchment in a lattice pattern.  First, line them up horizontally, tight close together with the sides touching.  Then, flip up every other strip and lay another ribbon cross-wise.  Keep working in this way until the sheet of lattice-woven rhubarb is big enough to cover the whole top of your tart.
TO MAKE THE RHUBARB LATTICE TOPPING
Using a mandolin slicer or vegetable peeler, slice the rhubarb long-ways to a thickness of about 1/16-inch.
Place the water and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. Â
Reduce to a bare simmer, and add 4 or 5 slices of rhubarb. Â Cook until slightly softened, then drain on paper towels. Â Repeat, until all the rhubarb is cooked. Â Reserve the remaining syrup.
Line up slices of cooked rhubarb side-by-side on a sheet of parchment. Â Fold alternating slices up, and place perpendicular slices over, in a lattice pattern. Â Repeat until the sheet of lattice is big enough to cover the entire top of the tart.
Flip the sheet onto the top of the cooled tart, and peel the parchment away. Â Trim off any overhang with kitchen shears. Â
I was wondering if you have ever made this ahead of time and froze it? if not do you think it would freeze well?
Hey Kasie! I’m afraid I have not, so I can’t really say for sure. If you end up giving that a try, I’d love to hear how it works out for you!
Hi Allie,
I loved your photos so I tried to recreate the recipe. The rhubarb turned out to be green more than pink. How did you get these gorgeous pink hues?
Thank you.
Hey Lili! Rhubarb comes in all sorts of color variations. The rhubarb we grow in our garden tends to be very green, but if I buy it at the grocery store down the street it’s often a deep ruby-red. Whatever color rhubarb you start with is what you’ll also end up with in the end. Hope that’s helpful!
Hi! This looks amazing! I was wondering though do you think I can replace the flour and sugar with Shortbread Shortbread cookie crumbs and then follow the rest of the dough recipe? I have a bunch of cookies I need to use up and this looked too good to pass up! Thanks, Catrina
That’s a great idea Catrina! I would just make it like a graham cracker crust, in that case. Cookie crumbs, melted butter, and a little sugar or salt if needed. Good luck and enjoy!
Thanks so much!
How exactly do you flip the rhubarb onto the tarte without it falling apart? This is the part I’m having trouble with
Hey Nicki! When I made it, it stuck pretty well to the parchment paper. I just laid out the lattice on the paper and then flipped it right onto the tart. It may have shifted a little but not too much. I was able to fine tune it once it was on there. Hope that helps!
You should publish a baking book full of all your stunning recipes, Allie.
Thank you for the sweet compliment! Maybe someday… 🙂
It was delicious!!
Not as pretty as your version (I used a round springform pan 23 cm in diameter), but it was very tasty!
I think I baked the filling a tad too long as it was a bit on the dry side, but, as I said, the taste was great 🙂
Thanks for a great recipe
Forgot to paste links to a couple of photos of the pie…
http://i.imgur.com/2NmikMr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gno1pTx.jpg
Wow you did an amazing job! The lattice looks perfect! Thanks so much for sharing the pics- I really loved seeing them 🙂
What size is your baking pan? And how many servings would you say this is?
The tart looks so fancy! Can’t wait to make it 🙂 I was looking for something to impress my coworkers with, and this seems like the perfect tart for that!
Hey Tobbe! If you click the link at the bottom of the post (under useful tools) you can get all the info on the exact pan I used. It’s an Amazon affiliate link, so if you don’t already have a rectangular tart pan you can grab one there. https://www.amazon.com/Gobel-Rectangular-Tart-Pan-14/dp/B00004S1BW?ie=UTF8&creativeASIN=B00004S1BW&linkCode=w00&linkId=QJ4RRFCFCIWVPATV&ref_=as_sl_pc_ss_til&tag=yinmomyangmom-20. I would estimate it’s about 8 servings, depending upon how big you slice. I hope that helps! I’m sure your coworkers will be super-impressed. Thanks!
The BIG question is, when slicing it, does the whole thing unravel? I’m worried about how to not to have the stringy rhubarb being very difficult to slice
Hey Simone! It’s a little trickier to slice than the average tart, I’ll be honest. When I took the pics, I actually first cut the rhubarb lattice with kitchen shears and then sliced down through the filling and crust with a regular knife. I got clean slices that way, and because the rhubarb lattice was coated in a sticky glaze, it stayed together pretty well. Hope that helps!
Stunning! What are your thoughts on making parts of it ahead. Do you think you could do everything except the rhubarb topping, hold it over night and then add the lattice? Air-tight?
Thank you Alex! I absolutely think it’s a great idea and I would do just as you said. You can create the lattice on a sheet of plastic wrap, cover it tightly, refrigerate, and then just lay it over the tart before serving. I used my kitchen shears to trim away the excess. I hope that helps! Good luck and enjoy!
This tart is so gorgeous! When I saw the photo I was immediately stunned aand my jaw dropped! It’s so clever, congratulations! And thanks for sharing it 🙂
Thank you so much Jessica! That is so sweet of you to say!
Just to echo what everyone else is saying… this tart is absolutely stunning! It popped up in my pinterest feed (now pinned) and I had to stop by just to say what an ingenious idea the lattice was. Love it!
Thank you so much Stephanie! I’m so happy you liked it and thanks for stopping by with such a sweet and thoughtful comment 🙂
I absolutely love rhubarb and so seldom have the opportunity to enjoy it. This looks awesome! Do you think there’s any chance this would grow in the hot Caribbean? I have been coming across all kinds of rhubarb things lately, and really miss it!
Gosh I wonder??? Around here in the northeastern part of the US, it usually comes into stores and farmers markets in early spring, but we’ve been growing it all summer and it’s looking really good right about now! We planted ours in full sun, summers here are usually in the 80’s-90’s, so I would think it might work for you too! Definitely worth googling 😉 Thanks so much for reading Cathy!
The most beautiful and creative dessert I’ve seen in a quite a while! Bravo!
Thank you so much! It was a lot of fun to make! 😀