How to make a fruit tart -recap from my seminar at MoeFACs summer conference 2025

One of the most common and simplest forms of a tart is the fruit tart, made with a short crust sweet dough base, filled with a rich vanilla flavored pastry cream and then topped with berries. Found in almost every French style pastry shop all over the world this tart can be a small individual tart known as a tartlet or a large tart meant to be cut into slices. They can be made in round shapes, square or rectangles. The berries can be glazed with a thinned out apricot jam or simply dusted with powdered sugar. The type of berries commonly used are raspberries, blueberries and strawberries although others can be used as well such as blackberries, currents, gooseberries, wild strawberries, etc. Sliced tropical fruits are also used in many fruit tarts.

Fruit tarts can be made more interesting by adding another flavor profile with an additional layer fruit tarts can be made with a shallow layer of almond cream (Frangipane) which is then baked prior to topping with pastry cream and fruit. Frangipane is also the filling used in the French Pear tart known as Tarte Bourdaloue. 

2 cups                                     Milk

1/2 cup                                  Granulated sugar

½ each                                    Vanilla bean split lengthwise and scraped, (or 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract)

3/4 cup                                  Cornstarch

1/4 cup                                   Egg yolks

1/4 cup                                   Milk

3/8 cup                                  Sugar

4 ounces                                Butter, cut in ½” dice

1 cup                                      heavy cream, whipped

1. Sca1d 2 cups milk, 1/2 cup sugar and the vanilla bean in a small stainless-steel pot,

2. In a separate bowl mix together the corn starch, egg yolks, remaining milk and sugar (this is called a liaison),

3. Pour the hot milk into the liaison while mixing and then strain back into the pot,

4. Cook on medium heat while whisking constantly until it is very thick. This can take a few minutes, reduce heat and cook and stir constantly so as not to scorch for 2 minutes to thoroughly cook the starch,

5. Remove from the pot and put into a mixing machine bowl with the diced butter,

6. Whip at high speed until the pastry cream is room temperature.

7. Add the whipped cream and mix just enough to incorporate.

In my pastry cream recipe some of the sugar is mixed with the milk in order to raise the temperature of the milk prior to adding the liaison (cornstarch, egg yolk and milk mixture). By doing this the cream can be cooked much faster than if the sugar was omitted.

 Pastry Cream tips to achieve the best pastry cream:

·      Pastry cream can be scorched while cooking. To prevent this, make sure to switch back and forth while stirring the cream with both a thick wire whisk and a heat-resistant rubber spatula, the spatula is used to stir the cooking cream in the bottom corners of the pot where the whisk cannot reach.

·      Always use a stainless-steel pot when cooking pastry cream and other creams. Aluminum will make the cream turn a grey color.

·      To prevent a thick skin from forming on the cooling pastry cream after it is cooked, whip it in a mixing machine until room temperature or sprinkle a thin layer of granulated sugar on top of the cream as it cools. When it is cold press plastic wrap tightly onto the surface of the cream for storage to prevent a skin from forming.

Sweet Pastry Dough Recipe

Yield: about 3 pounds, enough for 3 each 10” tarts

½ pound                   granulated sugar

1 pound                    butter

1 1/2 pounds            all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon               salt

1/2 Tablespoon         Vanilla

2                                eggs

1.    Mix the butter, sugar and salt together in a mixer with the paddle attachment until smooth,

2.    Add the flour, eggs, and vanilla then continue to mix until thoroughly blended,

3.    Remove and form into a large slab or disks and place on a sheet pan,

4.    Chill in refrigerator until solid,

To use knead the cold dough or mix with a dough hook just enough to make it pliable. Quickly roll out to desired thickness, cut and use.

Tips for the perfect sweet pastry dough

·      Thoroughly chill the dough and then knead it slightly until soft. Then roll out quickly or the dough will become too soft to handle,

·      Be careful not to over-bake the dough. Bake just until lightly brown.

·      If the edges of the dough become brown before the center is done during baking then remove the pan from the oven for a few minutes. Then return it to the oven to bake it through. This technique works well for thin wafer cookies as well to ensure even baking.

Frangipane Filling

Yield 2 ¼ pounds

8 ounces                      Almond paste

8 ounces                      Sugar

8 ounces                      Butter

8 ounces                      Pastry flour

4 each                          Eggs

1/2 Tablespoons         Vanilla

Method:

1.      Mix the first two ingredients with 1 egg until smooth.

2.      Then add butter and 1 egg and whip until smooth.

3.      Then add flour and 2 eggs.

4.      Mix in the with vanilla.

Pipe into tart shells lined with a thin layer of apricot jam or orange marmalade and bake at 350F.