Hey there, I spent the whole day baking, my appartement smells incredible but I have so much dishes to clean lol
I just wanted to share my three different sweet tarts, and see what other fellow bakers think of them.
I made a raspberry-black chocolate tart, topped with vanilla meringue, and more toppings
Then the classic lemon-meringue, but with a twist, I tried to make meringue shards, for the texture
And lastly the pistachio-cherry, with a pâte d’amande/pistachio, white chocolate pistachio ganache and a simple cherry jelly
I had a lot of fun making all the different fillings ans toppings, as well as the crusts themselves
The best part was assembly of course, trying different pastry bag tips, experimenting
Anyway, I am well aware that these are not good enough yet to sell professionally but I’d love to hear any comments, advice and tips!
I can provide recipes if anyone is curious or want to recreate
Cheers
by JPerreault19
25 Comments
They probably taste great. The appearance don’t do it for me but they look delicious despite me having a hard time with piping job and messiness of the jams.
They look great! I would definitely try one and buy one …or two
I think with french patisserie people expect a delicate, finessed and professional design. So less, and more precise décor, imo.
glazing your fruit will make them look much more polished & finished ✨
I’d buy them!!!! They look yummy 😍
It look attrative and I’m sure it delicious to taste if it go with an icecream
Sell them to me
The presentation of the top right two for the lemon and raspberry are lovely and are in line with what I’d expect aesthetically.
For the pistachio cherry I think the cherry jam just unfortunately isnt super attractive. I’d include it as a layer under the ganache and top with roasted chopped pistachios or whole/halved cherries instead.
But this was a huge amount of work to put together and testing out the different piping techniques is a great way to figure out what you like best!
next up experiment with camera filters (lighting) and angles
These all look delicious but I cannot stop seeing the meringue shards as chunks of chicken! 🤢
The globs of jelly are unappetizing. The pastry with what look like broken pieces doesn’t look appetizing. They are all too messy and amateurish. I definitely think with practice you can get better, but you probably want the truth and not all these people talking about how they would definitely eat them. I would eat them too, but I wouldn’t buy them.
I personally love the look of imperfection and consider it aesthetically pleasing! 💖 The pistachio flowers look better just with one centre though imo.
Recipe please!
The filling should go to the top.
Oh lord please tell me you’re washing those raspberries
Edit: what a crazy thing to downvote. OP I have ocd and if I saw unwashed fruit near your products like this I would have to assume you handled the unwashed fruit and then they tarts and they would all be contaminated. And I would never trust a product from you to have been handled correctly.
Since someone called me an asshole for bringing up my mental illness-yea im mentally ill. And maybe some of the people who shop from OP will be too. I was here sharing my perspective from someone who might have more unique criticism from a minority group. So there you go u/hshed.
Great effort and practice makes perfect.
To get a really clean edge on your pastry shells, push the dough into the tins as you’ve done, then roll over the filled tins to trim the edges.
not sure where you want to sell-farmers markets, a bakery or wholesale to local restaurants? each market will have different needs. i used to be a chef at a restaurant where we bought lots of little celebration cakes, maybe 6” across that said happy birthday or nothing, they sold well. i could see you selling something like your tarts the same way. also consider sizing. catering wants one or two bites, restaurants 2-4 people, etc. really dial in who you want to sell to first. look at the market and see what level you need to be at. Good luck!
I’m not a professional or even a novice, just think it’s really awesome to see someone put their heart into something and to want to be even better💕
I’d say with a little fine tuning, you’re well on your way!
Just WOW!!
so beautiful and looks tasty I would buy them all
These are so near perfect! I’m not an expert, but as someone who buys things, I find the top left, top right, bottom right tarts and upper left lemon tart to be the most aesthetically pleasing and the type of thing I’d actually spend money on. I agree with the cherry jam assessment, though it looks nice enough if just in the center. Maybe take a shot of less of it? Or try to do more petal piping around it for a more seamless look? I think the petals are a lovely idea.
They look great, one thing I will say is that technically you can’t sell perishable items in the US, depending on how big your operation is, the health dept might shut you down
But then again maybe they won’t find you
Look into cottage kitchen laws if you’re interested
This is more of an issue if you plan on selling in a farmers market or something like that
Honestly, I’d rather eat one of these than the perfect presentation at many bakeries. These look like what my mother or grandmother would have made in their kitchens, and I’d pay to have that experience again. Nice work, and keep going!
i would not do meringue shards as it doesnt look pretty… you should pipe meringue with round tip and make it look like kisses then torch them for color and it would look better. i think you also need a better butter cream recipe to get your piped decoration to be prettier. the current recipe looks kind of melted giving messy and un uniform appearance. would not do the blobs of jelly on there…jelly goes better as a layer on the filling and not as decorations.
Idk what everyone else is saying I’d devour these in a heartbeat
I’m glad you’re enjoying making them! I think you’ve got some technique to practice before getting to the selling stage. Your meringue is broken- it looks like the sugar wasn’t fully dissolved into the egg white before you baked it, so it has a grainy texture on the outside. There is far too much pistachio ganache on the tarts and you can practice your piping skills- one of the most important things in professional baked goods is consistency, so you want every tart (of the same flavor) to look exactly the same. Your cherry jam is very thick- did you make it at home? If so, you’ll want to think it so it isn’t as chunky. If store bought, you can whisk it vigorously so it breaks it up and even thin with a little hot water- it’s sort of just blobs and chunks, when you decorate you want it to have intention. Lastly the pastry shells- put them in the molds with some overhang and chill. Once cold, use a sharp paring knife to trim the edges so you get a nice even edge after baking. The bake on them looks excellent! And your flavor choices are wonderful 🙂