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1
Make the pâte sucrée: work the softened butter into the flour with the icing sugar until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg and bring together into a smooth dough without overworking. Wrap and rest in the refrigerator until firm to the touch.
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2
Roll the pastry to 3–4 mm, line a 24 cm tart tin, and blind-bake at 170 °C until the base is just firm and the edges take the faintest colour — it should yield no give when pressed lightly at the centre.
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3
Blanch whole almonds and grind them to a coarse, slightly oily meal — coarser than commercial ground almonds. The presence of nut particles is what gives the filling its macaroon-like density rather than a cakey crumb.
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4
This is where the dish lives or dies: combine the ground almonds, caster sugar, and softened butter in equal parts, then add the eggs and kirsch and mix only until the mass is just combined and uniform. Over-mixing develops structure and pushes the texture away from the dense, moist confection it must be; under-mixing leaves the butter uneven. The finished cream should be thick, cohesive, and faintly glossy.
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5
Spread the almond cream evenly into the blind-baked shell. Arrange the candied fruits — cherries, angelica, citrus peel, apricots — across the surface in a mosaic lattice pattern, the visual signature of the tart. Press each piece gently into the cream so it does not shift during baking.
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6
Bake at 170 °C until the almond filling is fully set and the surface is golden. A thin knife inserted at the centre should come out clean and dry, with no raw cream adhering.
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7
Remove from the oven and, while still warm, dust generously with icing sugar. The residual heat partially melts the sugar, producing the characteristic matte-white glaze. Allow to cool in the tin; the nougat is at its peak after 2–3 days, when the flavours have fully melded.