Maids of Honour Tarts vs Île Flottante: Delicate French Floating Island

Both desserts lean on sugar and almonds, but use them very differently. Maids of Honour Tarts bake a ricotta filling, enriched with ground almonds, egg yolk and lemon zest, inside buttery shortcrust pastry until golden and set, giving a firm, rich bite. Île Flottante instead pairs chilled vanilla crème anglaise with airy baked meringue islands, a drizzle of amber caramel and toasted flaked almonds for crunch. One is a compact, lemon-bright tart; the other a cool, spoonable play of custard, meringue and caramel.