California berries series: 8" berries tart with Frangipane @ Maxim's bakery

Maxim's have introduced a summer berries series, which uses berries as a theme for their products.
The berries used in this series are: blueberry, strawberry, raspberry and blackberry which sourced from Driscoll.

I was attracted by their California berries series which has four items:

- 8" berries tart with Frangipane
- Summer angel [angel chiffon cake topped with berries]
- Berry mousse dessert
- mini berries tart

After trying the mini berries tart, I wanted to try the bigger version so I finally found a store that had it.
When I paid, I was asked if I had a certain credit card because there was a 10% discount, so I ended up paying $142.2.
The tart had already been pre-packed in their fridge, so all they did was bring it out of the fridge and showed me the tart inside.
The box for the cake was HUGE!!! It could fit about three of those tarts stacked horizontally!!!

When I took it home, I realised the tart was firmly attached to the base, it didnt seem to shift when the box swung!
It was good because it kept the tart intact, but it was a nightmare to serve.

I realised it was so hard to cut, and nearer the centre there was hard chocolate between the tart and the paper plate.
So I ended up breaking the slice nearer the centre and when I was lifting it because it was stuck to the bottom.

thick base

Anyway, there was only four blackberries on this tart.

From the pictures you can see how thick the tart base is, it is about the same thickness as the cream.

I believe that they made the tart base thicker in order to use less fruit and Frangipane.
I felt that if the crust was not so thick and instead if they had used a thin layer of sponge or cake on top of a thinner made crust, it would make the texture much better and easier to cut, and of course, not firmly attaching the base with chocolate.

The Fragipane was nice and creamy, sweet enough to compensate for the thick crust.
Overall, I would say the berries tart is better just as Spicygal said.
The berries tart was very refreshing after it had been chilled properly in the fridge.