Rose, first snow and travelling

This post was meant to be published few days ago, yet, it comes to light right now, once I reached my destination, unpacked and I can sit down and finish writing it at a leisurely pace.
The days before my leaving Budapest for Poland (and Christmas) were pretty busy - we were teaching weekend workshops (so great atmosphere we had!), DJing Friday and Sunday, taking part in the amazing Global milonga, baking bread for my parents... At the same time I tried to pack myself which was more than a challenge, given that I wanted to take my new huge cookbook, one kg of fresh walnuts, a jar with sourdough* and other crazy things that you normally take with you for Christmas ;)
I don't know how I did, but I managed to bake a tart on the top of all those things. Again, I don't know how this happened but I had to choose an elaborate one ;) The reward for my effort was very high though - delicious vanilla cream mixed with cherries and a delicate walnut merengue top... Three different textures, three different flavours closed in the form of a tart.
When I went out to the balcony to photograph the tart, it just started snowing for the first time with big big snowflakes... Magical. I tried to capture the moment, but the snow was so elusive...** So I focused on the tart... It's beauty called for something more than just a white background so I photographed it with the red rose I got from P. A special rose that in the middle of winter kept its head upright for a whole week and when I was leaving it still looked gorgeous.
The cake is so rich and yet delicate, that I'm going to repeat it for Christmas. It's definitely not a typical Christmas cake, but it has something special in it, which definitely makes it a good festive idea.

Walnut Tart with Cherries 
(recipe by Stephan Franz from "The Cook's Book")

Makes a 26cm (10 1/2 inch) tart.

For pâte brisée:
188g butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
250g plain white flour
1 scant teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
1 scant teaspoon caster sugar
50ml full fat milk at room temperature

For the vanilla cream:
300ml milk
5 medium egg yolks (100g in total)
75g caster sugar
15g cornflour
100ml double cream
seeds of 1/2 vanilla pod or sugar with real vanilla

For the filling:
400g whole black cherries - stoned.***

For the walnut layer:
100g cake crumbs or toasted breadcrumbs, finely ground
90g walnuts, toasted and finely ground
pinch of ground cinnamon
100g unsalted butter, diced and softened
100g caster sugar
3 medium egg yolks (60g in total)
seeds of 1/2 vanilla pod or sugar with real vanilla
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
4 medium egg whites (120g in total)

1. Prepare pâte brisée. Check for detailed instructions here.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Use a round cake tin with 4cm (1 1/2in) high sloping sides or springform cake tin, any of them 26cm (10 1/2in) in diameter. Lightly grease the tin with butter.
3. Roll out half the pastry to a 3mm (1/8in) thickness and cut out a circle to fit the bottom of the tin. Lay in the bottom of the tin and prick all over with a fork so that no air bubbles occurs during baking. Bake for 10 minutes. The pastry should be set and only very slightly coloured.
4. Let the pastry cool and lower the oven temperature to 175°C (350°F). Roll out the remaining pastry into two equal strips, around 4cm wide. Use them to line the sides of the tin.
5. Prepare vanilla cream:
Pour 90ml of the milk into a bowl, blend with the egg yolks, 45g of the sugar and the cornflour. Pour the rest of the milk into a pan and add the cream, remaining sugar and vanilla seeds/sugar. Bring to the boil and add the egg yolk mixture. Stir continously and bring to boil, then remove from the heat immediately.
6. Pass the vanilla cream through a fine sieve and spread evenly over the pastry base.
7. Arrange the cherries onto the vanilla cream surface.
8. Prepare the hazelnut layer:
Lightly mix together the cake or breadcrumbs, walnuts and cinnamon. In another bowl beat the butter and 30g of the sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and combine well. In another bowl whisk the egg whites, remaining sugar and a pinch of salt to stiff peaks. Add one third to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Carefully fold in the remaining whites using a large spatula. Fold in the nut mixture in batches.
9. Fit a piping bag with a large plain nozzle, spoon in the nut mixture, and pipe in a spiral onto the cherries. Bake in the oven at 175°C (350°F) for 45 minutes. Let it cool down and dust with incing sugar before serving.

* Sourdough's first plane journey was successful :) I fed it straight away I got home and it appeared that it likes Polish flour pretty well ;)
** If you know how to photograph falling snow - let me know :)
*** I used pickled cherries in a light sugar syrup.