Tourment d’amour (Love's Torment) is a traditional Saint Barthélemy recipe for a classic tart of a shortcrust pastry base topped with coconut jam and finished with genoise sponge. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Saint Barthélemy version of: Love's Torment (Tourment d’amour).
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This delicate tart originated in Guadeloupe and, as the story goes, Caroline (a young girl from Terre-de-Haut, one of the five islands in the archipelago of Guadeloupe) and Freminville (a visiting ship’s captain) fell in love. But in the middle of their courtship, Freminville was given orders to leave immediately on an overseas mission. Unable to see her before he set sail, Freminville left Caroline a letter telling her the date he’d be back.
On the appointed day, Caroline baked a special dessert to celebrate his return. But the captain was delayed, and when days passed with no sign of her lover the distraught young girl took her own life. When Freminville finally did get back he found Caroline dead in her house, the pastry she’d lovingly baked for him still sitting on the table, now hard and stale. Legend has it that ever since then the women of Terre-de-Haut have made the dessert (which became known as Tourment d’Amour in honor of the tragic couple) when their husbands go off to sea, praying that they’ll return safely and in time to eat it while its still moist and fresh.
As the story goes, Caroline (a young girl from Terre-de-Haut, one of the five islands in the archipelago of Guadeloupe) and Freminville (a visiting ship’s captain) fell in love. But in the middle of their courtship, Freminville was given orders to leave immediately on an overseas mission. Unable to see her before he set sail, Freminville left Caroline a letter telling her the date he’d be back.
On the appointed day, Caroline baked a special dessert to celebrate his return. But the captain was delayed, and when days passed with no sign of her lover the distraught young girl took her own life. When Freminville finally did get back he found Caroline dead in her house, the pastry she’d lovingly baked for him still sitting on the table, now hard and stale. Legend has it that ever since then the women of Terre-de-Haut have made the dessert (which became known as Tourment d’Amour in honor of the tragic couple) when their husbands go off to sea, praying that they’ll return safely and in time to eat it while its still moist and fresh.
The original Tourment d’amour is a tart of a pastry base, jam filling (traditionally coconut jam, but guava jam, pineapple jam and banana jams are also used) with a topping of genoise sponge. The recipe below lets you bake them at home. This version from Saint Barthélemy is a little more complicated, where the jam is topped with pastry cream before the genoise sponge topping is added.
For the Pastry Cream:
500ml milk
½ vanilla pod cut lengthwise and seeds scraped out
150g sugar used as two equal halves
40g plain (all purpose) flour
2 eggs
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp rum
finely-grated zest of one lime
For the genoise sponge:
120g Plain flour, sifted
120g Caster sugar
40g Butter, melted and cooled
4 large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Method:
Prepare the pâte brisée according to the recipe and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the pastry cream: Combine the milk, half the sugar, and the vanilla seeds and pod in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, remaining sugar, and the flour until the mixture becomes pale yellow in colour.
Once the milk begins to boil, remove vanilla pod and then slowly pour about a third of it into the egg mixture whilst stirring constantly so you don't get scramble eggs. Add the mixture back into the saucepan and continue cook, to whisking constantly, until the mixture starts to boil. At this point beat in lime zest, cinnamon and the rum. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.
After this time, roll out the pastry and use to line the bases of 6 medium-sized loose-bottomed metal tart tins. Trim the pastry flush with the rim of the tart tin.
Prick the pastry with a fork then spread the coconut jam quite thickly over the base. Spread an equal amount of the pastry cream on top of the jam, smoothing it with the back of a spoon.
For the genoise sponge mix: Set up a bain-marie: Place a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Crack the eggs into the bowl and add the caster sugar. Using an electric whisk, beat the eggs and sugar continuously over the heat for about 5-7 minutes, until the mixture is pale, thick, and has tripled in volume.
Once the egg mixture is thick and holds its shape, take off the heat. Sift the plain flour and salt over the egg mixture and gently fold it in using a spatula. Be careful not to deflate the batter.
Drizzle the cooled melted butter and vanilla extract (if using) into the batter, gently folding until fully incorporated.
Spoon the resultant batter into the prepared pastry cases. Carefully transfer to baking trays then place in the centre of your pre-heated oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until the tops of the sponge tarts are deeply golden and springy to the touch and the tarts are cooked through.
Allow to cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack then unmould and serve warm.
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