Plum Tart (Sugar-Free)
This French Plum Tart (Tarte aux Pruneaux), originating from Geneva, is all about ripe, juicy deep-purple prune plums — known as Zwetschgen — and their irresistible sweet-tart flavour. Tucked into a flaky, buttery homemade pastry crust with a thin layer of ground hazelnuts underneath, they bake until soft, jammy and delicious. It’s a beautifully simple Swiss fruit tart that lets the fruit shine, with no added sugar needed.
The tart has long been part of Jeûne Genevois, Geneva’s historic day of fasting, observed on the Thursday following the first Sunday in September. Tarte aux Pruneaux remains a much-loved part of the tradition today, perfectly timed with Zwetschgen season and a delicious way to celebrate these late-summer plums.
What You’ll Need for Geneva Prune Plum Tart
The beauty of this Swiss Zwetschgen tart is how little goes into it. A handful of everyday baking ingredients plus plenty of ripe fruit — that’s it!
- Zwetschgen (prune plums): The star! These small, elongated plums are naturally sweet-tart, firm-fleshed and fantastic for baking. Choose ripe fruit that still feels firm.
- Plain flour: For the flaky pastry, plus a little for the filling to help catch all those delicious plum juices.
- Cold butter: Cold is key here. Leaving little pieces of butter throughout the dough gives the pastry its flaky texture.
- Egg yolk: Adds richness and helps bind the pastry.
- Ground hazelnuts: Nutty, subtle and so good with plums. They also help keep the bottom of the tart from becoming soggy.
- Cold water and salt: Just enough to bring everything together.
How to Make Tarte aux Pruneaux
This Geneva prune plum tart looks impressive but is wonderfully uncomplicated. Make the pastry, pile in the fruit and bake. Here’s the basic idea.
- Make the flaky pastry: Work the cold butter into the flour and salt, but don’t take it too far — you actually want to see little pieces of butter in there. Add the egg yolk and just enough cold water to bring everything together. No kneading required. Shape into a disc and chill.
- Build the tart base: Roll out the chilled pastry and fit it into your tart tin. Mix the ground hazelnuts with a little flour and scatter it over the base. This simple layer brings a lovely nutty flavour while soaking up some of the juices from the fruit. Flavour + crisp pastry. Win-win.
- Pack in the Zwetschgen: Halve and pit the prune plums, then arrange them tightly over the base, cut-side up. Want to pack in even more fruit? Quarter the plums and tuck them tightly together — the more, the better!
- Bake until juicy and golden: Into the oven it goes, until the pastry is beautifully golden and the Zwetschgen are soft and jammy, with slightly caramelised edges and bubbling juices. Transfer the tart tin to a wire cooling rack and give it time to cool slightly before slicing.
You’ll find the exact quantities and baking time for this Tarte aux Pruneaux in the printable recipe card below.
Prefer a Sweeter Prune Plum Tart?
For a lightly sweetened version, add 1 tablespoon sugar to the flour when making the pastry dough. Then, once the Zwetschgen are arranged on the tart, sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons demerara sugar or raw cane sugar evenly over the fruit before baking. Use 1-2 tablespoons for sweeter plums and 2-3 tablespoons if they’re particularly tart.
5 Reasons You’ll Love This Geneva Prune Plum Tart
This sugar-free plum tart is proof that a really good fruit dessert doesn’t need much fuss. Here’s why it’s worth making.
- The sweet-tart flavour is spot on. Zwetschgen aren’t overwhelmingly sweet. They have just enough acidity to make every bite bright, fruity and balanced.
- There’s no added sugar. When the fruit is ripe and flavourful, you simply don’t need it. Baking concentrates the natural sweetness of the plums while keeping their pleasantly tart edge.
- Hazelnuts + plums = such a good combination. The ground hazelnuts add just enough earthy, nutty richness without taking attention away from the fruit.
- That flaky homemade crust. Buttery, crisp and rustic in the best possible way. Keeping the butter cold and handling the dough lightly makes all the difference.
- It’s beautifully simple. No custard. No complicated filling. No long list of ingredients. Just really good seasonal fruit tucked into homemade pastry.
More Plum Recipes to Try
If this Geneva Prune Plum Tart has you making the most of Zwetschgen season, there’s plenty more plum goodness to try. My Plum Crumble Cake pairs juicy fruit with a buttery crumble topping, while this Plum Berry Crisp combines sweet-tart plums and berries beneath a golden, crunchy topping. Or try my Crumble Cake with Plums for another delicious way to turn seasonal plums into an easy homemade bake.
Plum Tart (Sugar-Free)
Ingredients
- 300 g flour
- 150 g cold butter (unsalted), diced
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 50–65 ml cold water, or as needed
- 50 g ground hazelnuts (or almonds)
- 10 g flour
- 600 g fresh prune plums / Zwetschgen (about 20), halved and pitted
Instructions
- Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and add the butter. Using your fingertips, work the butter lightly into the flour, leaving plenty of visible pea-sized and slightly larger pieces. These pieces of butter help create a flaky pastry. TIP: Alternatively, pulse the flour, salt and butter briefly in a food processor until the butter is broken into pea-sized pieces, then transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
- Add the egg yolk and toss gently to combine. Gradually drizzle in about half of the cold water while tossing the mixture lightly with your fingertips. Continue adding just enough water for the dough to form moist clumps.
- Gently press the dough together without kneading. If dry flour remains at the bottom of the bowl, add a few drops of water to it separately, bring it together, then incorporate it into the rest of the dough.
- Shape the dough into a flat disc, wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or for up to 3 days).
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C and generously grease a 24 cm tart tin with butter, preferably one with a removable base.
- Roll out the chilled pastry on a lightly floured surface until large enough to line the tart tin. Carefully transfer the pastry to the tin, gently pressing it into the base and sides, then trim away any excess around the edges.
- In a small bowl, combine the ground hazelnuts and flour. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the pastry base.
- Arrange thee plums tightly over the tart base, cut-side up, overlapping slightly if necessary.Tip: For a little extra richness, dot the fruit with a few small pieces of butter before baking.
- Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for about 1 hour, or until the pastry is golden brown and the plums are soft and juicy.
- Transfer the tart tin to a wire cooling rack and leave the tart to cool slightly before removing it from the tin and slicing. Serve at room temperature or slightly warm. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Notes
- Adjust the sweetness to your fruit: Zwetschgen range from naturally sweet to quite tart, so taste one first. For sweeter, ripe fruit, the tart is delicious without added sugar. If you prefer a sweeter tart, add 1 tablespoon sugar to the flour when making the pastry, then sprinkle 1–3 tablespoons demerara sugar over the plums before baking, depending on how tart they are.
- Serving tip: With no added sugar, this tart works just as well for breakfast or brunch as it does for dessert. Enjoy it as is, or serve with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt.
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Did you try this Plum Tart recipe?
Then tag @ellerepublic on Instagram and hashtag it #ellerepublic
How did you like it?
Please let me know how this Plum Tart recipe turned out for you! I would love to hear how you liked it. Simply rate it with the stars above ⭐ or leave me a comment and rate it below.
Did you make any changes to this recipe?
If you have tips for other readers, let me know! It helps me and other readers so much. Sharing is Caring :-).
This post contains affiliate links. If you decide to make a purchase through my link, Amazon will pay me a commission for it. This doesn’t cost you anything additional and the price remains the same.
