Makes one 25cm tart
I quantity of short-crust pastry, chilled
110g butter
110g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
2 eggs
110g ground almonds
25g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
Zest of ½ lemon
9 medium apricots, halved, stone removed
20g flaked almonds
Preheat the oven to 200C. Grease a 25cm tart tin and roll out the pastry until large enough to line the tin, then chill for 30 minutes. Line the pastry shell with baking paper and weigh down with baking beans. Bake for about 15 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for another few minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and turn down the heat to 180C.
To make the frangipane: cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the ground almonds, flour and baking powder, add the lemon zest and a pinch of salt. Cut all but one half of the halved apricots into wedges.
Spread the frangipane into the pastry shell. Put the last half apricot in the middle, cut-side down, on top of the frangipane mix and arrange the apricots in overlapping circles around it. Scatter with the remaining sugar and bake for about 30 minutes until golden, scattering over the almonds five minutes before the end. Allow to cool before removing from the tin.
