French Fruit Tart

This French Fruit Tart is everything delicious, all wrapped into one light and crispy tart. A rainbow of fresh fruit sitting on top of silky-smooth vanilla bean French pastry cream.

Why you’ll love this French Fruit Tart!

My favourite thing about the French Fruit Tart is how simple but tasty it is. The fruit on top is a delicious addition and I love ho colourful it is! But you know what my favourite thing is? The little black vanilla bean specs. I love seeing that in desserts!

What does this French Fruit Tart taste like?

The tart itself is not actually very sweet. The crust is delicate but not too crumbly. The pastry cream filling is soft and silky but holds its shape well and the fruit on top helps add colour and flavour. It’s a simple idea but when it all comes together a magnificent treat!

What you need for the French Fruit Tart

All-purpose flour – This is sometimes also known as

Powdered sugar – Using powdered sugar as opposed to caster or granulated results in a much finer biscuit crumb which is what you’re after with this tart. A delicious and delicate tart crust!

Vanilla extract – Don’t skimp on good vanilla. Use home-made or buy a really good quality one. A little goes a long way.

Unsalted butter – if using salted butter, simply leave the salt out of the recipe.

Egg yolks – Egg yolks are used in the crust to create a rich tart crust and in the French pastry cream to help thicken it and give it a rich flavour as well.

Whole milk – you may also use skim milk if you wish. If you only have plant-based milk, you can use that instead, however it will alter the flavour of the pastry cream.

Heavy cream – You want to use cream that’s used for whipping. It must have at least 30% fat content.

Caster sugar – This is also known as superfine sugar. You want to avoid using granulated sugar if you can get superfine sugar. You can even make your own superfine sugar from granulated sugar using a food blender!

Salt – I used fine salt.

Corn starch – This is also known as arrowroot powder and is used to thicken the pastry cream.

Vanilla bean paste – this is really strong in flavour and will add those iconic little black vanilla bean specs in your pastry cream letting people know you rich honey. You use good quality vanilla.

Fruit – This is where you can get creative. I used:

• kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced
• strawberries, cleaned dried and sliced in half
• mandarin, peeled and segmented
• raspberries, washed and dried
• blueberries, washed and dried.

But you can use any type of fruit you like! Mango anyone?

How to make the tart

Crust

1. Add the flour, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar to the bowl of a food processor and blitz for 20 seconds to combine.

2. Next, add the butter and pulse until you reach lentil sized pieces.

3. Lastly, add the egg yolks and blitz until small clumps of dough form.

4. Turn the crumbly mixture out your workbench and bunch it together (without kneading).

5. Form a rough disc shape and then wrap in plastic. Chill for 60 minutes.

6. Dust your workbench with flour.

7. Use a rolling pin to roll out to 14 inches wide.

8. Carefully roll over the rolling pin

9. Transfer and unroll over a 9-inch tart tin with removable bottom.

10. Carefully lift the dough over the tart to allow it to naturally fall into the corns of the tart.

11. Use the rolling pin to cut the excess pastry away.

12. Use a fork to prick holes into the dough.

13. Place the tart tin on a baking tray. Scrunch up a large piece of baking paper and then un-scrunch it. Place on the inside of the tart tin.

14. Fill with baking beads. I used dried chickpeas. Bake for 15 minutes.

15. Take it out of the oven, carefully lift out the beads using the corners of the baking paper and bake on 150°C / 300°F for a further 10 minutes.

16. Once baked, allow to cool completely.

Pastry Cream

1. Add the milk, cream and a 1/4 cup of sugar into a large saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil on medium heat then take off the heat.

2. Add the egg yolks, remaining sugar, corn starch, salt and vanilla bean paste to a small mixing bowl. Use whisk to mix until well combined.

3. Add about 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture.

4. Whisk to combine.

5. Add the milk egg mixture to the pot with the milk and whisk to combine.

6. Place back on medium heat and whisk until thick.

7. You should be able to run your finger across the back of a spoon and it will not come back together.

8. Add the butter.

9. Whisk in until completely melted into the pastry cream.

10. Transfer to a medium sized bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to cool completely.

Let’s decorate!

1. Add the custard in the tart shell.

2. Spread around using a spatula and get it as smooth as you can.

3. Once chilled, Arrange the fruits on top.

4. Brush with the apple or pineapple conserve on top.

Tips for making the French Fruit Tart!

• Make sure you decorate it with fruit only an hour before you serve it. The fruit can sometimes cause the pastry cream to look split.
• if you want to prepare as much as possible in advance, the fruits can be sliced and prepped a day in advance, simply store in separate airtight containers, in the fridge before adding to the tart.

Gave this a go? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok for more great recipes!

Other Recipes You Might Like!

• Easy Passionfruit Banana Bread – Easy, delicious banana bread with cream cheese frosting, topped with fresh passionfruit pulp!
• Strawberry Mango Margarita Cupcakes – Easy, cocktail inspired cupcakes!
• Black Forest Tart – Indulgent chocolate and cherry tart!

Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @thescranline on Facebook and Instagram!

French Fruit Tart With Pastry Cream

This French Fruit tart is everything delicious, all wrapped into one light and crispy tart. A rainbow of fresh fruit sitting on top of silky-smooth vanilla bean French pastry cream.

Serves 12

5 from 2 votes

Author: Nick Makrides

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep: 3 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

50 minutes mins

Total: 4 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Calories: 377kcal

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Ingredients

Sweet Tart Crust

• ▢ 215 g all-purpose flour, plain flour
• ▢ 50 g powdered sugar, icing sugar
• ▢ 1/4 tsp fine salt
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ 110 g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• ▢ 1 large egg, 55g, whisked

Pastry Cream Filling

• ▢ 500 g whole milk, not skim, warmed
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or Pure Vanilla Extract
• ▢ 40 g corn starch, corn flour
• ▢ 60 g caster sugar, superfine sugar
• ▢ Pinch of fine salt
• ▢ 4 egg yolks
• ▢ 80 g unsalted butter, cubed and cold

Fruit Topping

• ▢ 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
• ▢ 10 strawberries sliced in half
• ▢ 1/2 cup mandarins, peeled and segmented
• ▢ 1/2 cup blueberries
• ▢ 1/4 cup raspberries
• ▢ 100 g pineapple or apple jelly/conserve, warmed to brush and glaze over fruits

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Learn How To Make it! [VIDEO]

https://youtu.be/DL06D2qBtNY

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Instructions

Sweet Tart Crust

• Preparing the tart tin – Line the bottom of your 10-inch tart tin with baking paper by removing the bottom, tracing around it on some baking paper and then placing on top of the bottom. This will stop the tart shell from sticking to the bottom of the tart tin. An issue I found I had in my testing. If you have a non-stick tart tin, sticking shouldn’t be an issue.

Crust (food processor)

• Combine dry ingredients – Add the flour, powdered sugar and salt to the bowl of a food processor and blitz for 20 seconds to combine.
• Add butter and egg – Add the vanilla extract and butter and pulse until you reach lentil sized pieces. Add the whisked egg and blitz until small clumps of dough form.

Crust (by hand)

• Combine dry ingredients – Add the flour, powdered sugar and salt to a large mixing bowl and use a whisk to combine.
• Add butter and egg – Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub into the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs that look like they’ve been flattened. Add the whisked egg and vanilla extract and use a spatula to mix in until the dough begins to clump together and becomes too hard to mix with the spatula.
• Form dough ball and chill – Turn the mixture out your workbench and bunch it together (without kneading). Form a rough disc shape and then wrap in plastic. Chill for a minimum of 1 hour.
• Roll out dough – Lightly dust your workbench and rolling pin with flour. Place the chilled dough disc on the workbench and lightly dust the top with flour. Use a rolling pin to slowly roll dough disc out to 14 inches wide. Turn your dough as you roll and pinch together any cracks that might form around the edges as you roll.
• Transfer dough over tin – Carefully roll over the rolling pin and then transfer and unroll over a 10-inch tart tin with removable bottom.
• Form the tart – Carefully lift the dough over the tart tin to allow it to naturally fall into the corners of the tart. You don’t want to stretch it or it will shrink as it bakes and become uneven. Roll the rolling pin over the excess dough to cut clean. Discard excess dough.
• Dock the tart – Place the tart tin on a baking tray. Use a fork to prick holes into the bottom of the tart shell. This is called ‘docking’ and will prevent your tart from puffing up too much as it bakes the second time.
• Chill your tart – place the formed tart in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
• Preheat a fan forced oven to 150C / 300F (170C / 340F for no fan).
• Blind baking your tart shell – Scrunch up a large piece of baking paper and then un-scrunch it. Place on the inside of the tart tin. Fill with baking beads, dried chickpeas or dry rice. Bake for 20 minutes. Take it out of the oven, carefully and slowly lift out the beads using the corners of the baking paper. Place them into a bowl or container to cool down for re-use.
• Final bake – Bake for a final 20 minutes or until golden in color. Allow to cool before adding the fillings.

How to prepare a vanilla bean (if using)

• Use a sharp knife to cut the bean in half lengthwise. Then, use the sharp end of the knife to scrape out the vanilla pods from inside the bean. Add the milk, bean halves and scraped out seeds into a medium sized heavy bottomed stainless-steel pot. Heat on medium heat until warm, not hot. When you’re ready to use it, run it through a sieve as you pour it into the rest of the ingredients.

French Pastry Cream

• Combine dry ingredients and eggs – To a medium sized heavy bottomed stainless-steel pot, add the corn starch, sugar and salt and use a whisk to combine. Add the egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
• Add the milk – Slowly add the warmed milk, about 1/4 cup at a time, and whisk each time until all of the milk has been added. It’s at this point you can add the vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste if using.
• Cook pastry cream – Cook in the pot on medium heat. Use a whisk to mix continuously. Do not stop mixing or the pastry cream will become grainy. After about 3-4 minutes the mixture will begin to thicken. Continue whisking until the mixture begins to bubble. When it bubbles, stir for 3 minutes, then take off the heat.
• Add butter – Add 1/4 of the butter and whisk until it’s melted and well combined. Repeat until all the butter has been added. You want to do this slowly, so the pastry cream doesn’t split.
• Run through a sieve – Run the thickened pastry cream through a fine mesh sieve into a medium sized mixing bowl to get rid of any lumps.
• Chill to set – Cover the surface of the pastry cream with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 5 hours. Overnight is best.

To finish

• Once pastry cream is set – Give the pastry cream a whisk before using to smoothen it out again. Pour into the cooled tart crust and spread out evenly using a spoon or offset spatula.
• Adding the fruit – Arrange the fruits on top and then brush with the apple or pineapple conserve on top. Slice and serve immediately.

Notes

Storage

Pie can be made up to 2 days ahead. Add the fruit only an hour before serving otherwise it will split the pastry cream and can be stored in an airtight container for up to three days.

Nutrition

Calories : 377kcal

Carbonhydrates: 29g

Protein: 6g

Fat: 24g

Saturated Fat: 14g

Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g

Monounsaturated Fat : 7g

Trans Fat : 1g

Cholesterol: 220mg

Sodium: 77mg

Potassium : 191mg

Fiber: 2g

Sugar : 12g

Vitamin A: 962IU

Vitamin C: 27mg

Calcium: 80mg

Iron: 1mg

Nutrition Disclosure

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