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This delicious pear and almond crustless tart is a fabulously easy dessert to make and is a firm favourite when a quick flavour packed dessert is needed. It pays to have a tin of pear halves in the pantry along with almond flour (almond meal) ready to make this delicious dessert.
Pear and almonds are one of those food marriages that just works and the good news is the pear and almond crustless tart is easily converted to gluten free – just replace the 2 tablespoons of flour with gluten free flour. Top it off with some softly whipped cream and you’re ready to go.
We’ve passed on the recipe for pear and almond crustless tart more times than we can remember. It’s just one of those simple recipes that present beautifully and everyone enjoys. No messing around making pastry, throw everything, bar the pears in the mixer or food processor, drain the pears and you’re good to go. Too easy!
USING CANNED PEARS
Using canned pears is a great time saver in this recipe. No hanging about waiting for the pears to ripen. Simply drain the pears and you’re good to go. We’re sure the average French home cook does exactly this to make this very classic French tart.
GLUTEN FREE
If you’re after a fabulous gluten free dessert then this pear and almond crustless tart couldn’t be easier. Simply substitute the self raising flour with gluten free self raising flour.
ALMOND FLOUR AND MEAL
Almond flour is the same as almond meal it simply depends on where you live as to what it’s called. It is finely ground blanched almonds, nothing else added. Almond flour or meal is widely available, mostly found in the baking section of supermarkets or health food stores.
DUSTING OR SNOW SUGAR
Dusting sugar or snow sugar does not dissolve when put onto moist food.
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Pear and Almond Crustless Tart - Upside Down Tart
This delicious pear and almond crustless tart is a fabulous stand-by dessert. It pays to have a can of pears and almond flour (meal) in the pantry ready to make this delicious dessert.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons soft brown sugar
- 5 1/2 ozs (150 grams) of soft butter
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- 5 1/2 ozs ( 150 grams) of caster sugar
- 5 1/2 ozs (150 g) almond flour (almond meal)
- 2 tablespoons self raising flour - or gluten free self raising flour
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds
- 6-8 whole almonds
- 28 ounce (800g) tin of pear halves, well drained or 3 - 4 ripe pears cut in half from the stem end to the bottom and cored
- dusting or snow sugar to dust - optional, see notes
Instructions
- 9 inch (23 cm) flan tin with removable base sprayed lightly with oil and base lined with baking paper
- sprinkle the soft brown sugar evenly over the baking paper
- preheat oven to 350 f (175 c) with shelf in the centre
- in a mixer cream butter and caster sugar for 5 minutes till colour is light and sugar has dissolved
- add eggs and beat for 30 seconds
- add almond flour (almond meal) and flour and mix for 2 minutes - (mixture is dollapable rather than pouring consistency)
- add the slivered almonds and mix for 20 seconds or till evenly distributed
- pop a whole almond in the centre of each well drained pear
- place pears cut side down around the outside of the tin on top of the brown sugar and finish with one in the centre
- spread mixture over and around pears evenly
- bake for 40-45 minutes or until batter is cooked then remove from oven
- remove outside rim of flan tin immediately after taking tart from the oven ( an easy way to do this is to place the tart on a can and gently release the sides checking that the mixture hasn't stuck) - see notes
- once the tart has cooled place your serving plate on the tart, holding the plate and the tart tin flip so the top now becomes the bottom
- remove base of tin and baking paper
- dust with dusting/snow sugar
- serve and enjoy!
Notes
- make your own self raising flour - if you only have all purpose (plain flour) mix 1 cup of all purpose flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder making sure to mix thoroughly so as to distribute the baking powder thoroughly and use two tablespoons of this for the recipe.
- remove the tart from the tin quickly, suggest within a minute or two - as the brown sugar in the base can set to a toffee making it difficult to remove the tin if you leave it too long before releasing.
- dusting or snow sugar does not dissolve when put onto moist food
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 923Total Fat 13gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 67mgSodium 307mgCarbohydrates 196gFiber 25gSugar 77gProtein 16g
Nutritional information provided here is only intended as a guide.
32 comments
This is easy to make and really yummy! I would definitely make it again.
Thanks for the feed back Carol, lovely to hear you enjoyed this fabulous cake.
Hi, this looks awesome but can you please clarify whether this is an up side down flan that’s flipped once it’s baked? Your photo doesn’t look like it is but in the 9th step of putting the pears cut side down makes me think it is ? I just want to present it at its best once I’ve baked it. Thanks girls
Hi Mother duck, yes the pear and almond tart is an upside down cake. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, we’ll amend the recipe to save any confusion in the future.
Hope you enjoy the tart, look forward to hearing how it turns out for you. Enjoy. Jo and Jen
For someone with a dairy allergy can you substitute a vegan margarine?
Hi Audrey, whilst we have only ever made pear and almond tart with butter, it would appear that you should be able to sub the butter for vegan marg. After asking a vegetarian friend and looking around on the net the general advice is, you can usually use vegan margarine as a one-to-one replacement for butter. If the end result is greasy, make the next batch with 3/4 cup for every 1 cup of butter and add liquid as needed for moisture. The only other advice would be to look at the site for your brand of marg and see if they have any guide lines. Hope this helps, good luck and we would love to hear how it turns out. Jo and Jen
This looks so good, Thankyou, I will make it soon!!
Hi Lesley, you won’t be disappointed ??
We would love to hear how you rate. Jo and Jen
This looks lovely and I’m going to make it but
Could you convert the ounces to cups etc?
Hi Lynn-Marie the conversion for the ingredients from oz to cup is as follows
2/3 cup soft butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup and 2 tablespoons firmly packed and levelled almond flour
Hope this helps. We would love to hear how you rate it. Enjoy!
I made this with dairy-free margarine instead of butter and it turned out well. It was still raw in the centre after 45 minutes, so I put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes but reduced the temperature to 300. The longer cooking could be because I used the same weight of margarine as butter or because I followed the instructions assuming the ingredient list was in order and ended up putting brown sugar in with the butter at first, so there was the right quantity of caster sugar, but with an extra 3 tbsp of brown sugar.
Hi Karen, we’re pleased to hear that your tart turned out well for you. The soft brown sugar gets sprinkled onto the baking paper and the caster sugar is beaten with the butter. Thanks for commenting, Jo and Jen
This was so yummy!!! It presents beautifully too. Everyone was impressed and finished their plates. I might add perhaps another 1/2 cup of batter but was really delicious overall.
Hi Carolyn, thanks for your comment. We agree it is yummy and impressive and such an easy tart to make. Regards, Jo and Jen
Looks yummy. Off to get the ingredients. Difference between flour and meal is the skin. Skin on its meal, skin off its flour.
Hi Caroline, would love to hear how you enjoyed this delicious dessert. Regards, Jen and Jo
There is a group of us who regularly catch for morning or afternoon tea and one suffers from coeliac, which means finding quick and easy gluten cake recipes, everyone can enjoy, a challenge.
However I stumbled upon your recipe for this crustless tart, and not only was it easy to make, it has become my friends new “favourite” GF cake that I make for her, and I’ve made her a few. She immediately asked for the recipe so that her son, a qualified cook, can add it to his repertoire of GF recipes he can cook for family occasions.
I’ve browsed other GF recipes on your site and they all look quick and easy to make. Now I have a few more cakes to wow her with, and some more notes to swap with her son. Thank you
Hi Karen, so pleased to hear that the ‘Pear and Almond Crustless Tart’ was a hit! There is something very satisfying about sharing a winning recipe. So pleased you shared this recipe and look forward to you trying some other gluten free desserts from our site. Thanks for sharing. Regards, Jen and Jo
This tart truly is a ‘Winner’ with a capital ‘W’! Easy to prepare, beautiful texture, with a caramelised effect on top, once ‘flipped’ over. I made recently for a dinner party and received rave reviews! – add a little whipped cream for a truly delicious dessert!
Hi Elle, This dessert is one of our most popular recipes and for good reason, as you say it really is an easy to make, and a delicious dessert. Thanks for commenting. Regards, Jo and Jen
Definitely 5 Stars!
Hi Elle, yep, we rate it 5 stars as well. Thanks for commenting. Regards, Jo and Jen
I only have a 10 inch flan pan. Can I use that with the recipe or does it need to be modified?
Hi Chrissie, unfortunately the larger pan size will result in a very thin tart. For future reference we have attached a link to Omni Cake pan converter https://www.omnicalculator.com/food/cake-pans
which we have found to be wonderful for scaling recipes
You will need to increase the ingredients as follows
4 tablespoons soft brown sugar
6 3/4 ozs (185 grams) of soft butter
3 medium eggs
6 3/4 ozs (185 grams) caster sugar
6 3/4 ozs (185 grams) almond meal (almond flour)
2 1/2 tablespoons self raising flour – or gluten free self raising flour
1/3 cup slivered almonds
6 – 10 whole almonds – they are only to fill the centre of each pear so the quantity depends on how many pears you use.
28 ounce (800g) tin of pear halves, well drained or 3 – 4 ripe pears cut in half from the stem end to the bottom and cored.
Note:
Chrissie one tin of pears should still be enough, if you space the pears a little further apart.
Hope this helps, don’t hesitate to contact if you have any more questions.
Would love to hear how your tart turns out. Regards Jo and Jen
Hi! You mentioned to leave the shelf in the middle position, but in a convection oven, should I use the heat from the bottom, or upper and bottom plus convection?
This would really help for so many recipes…
I love the ones with pear and I’m definitely doing it. Thanks! Loreto
Hi Loreto, use the heat from the bottom of the oven and leave the shelf in the middle. If your oven only cooks in convection mode, drop the temperature by 10 – 20 degrees Celcius as convection (fan-forced) ovens cook quicker than a conventional oven. Hope this answers your question. Regards Jo and Jen
Can I freeze the Pear and Almond Crustless Tart?
Hello Judy, we think the tart is best eaten fresh and not suitable to freeze. Hope you enjoy it. Regards, Jo and Jen
Can I use sliced pears? Can’t get hold of tinned ones in halves. Will it affect cooking time? Thanks
Hello Trish, pear slices should be fine as long as they are well drained and we don’t think the cooking time will be affected but keep an eye on the oven. Let us know how it goes using the slices. Regards Jo and Jen
Hello I plan to make this very soon.Does it have to be served hot?? Looks delish!!
Hi Kit, this tart is beautiful served at room temperature or chilled. Hope this helps, Jo and Jen