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.
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
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.
Video
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 | Carbohydrates: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
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