Fruit Tart Recipe

Why You’ll Love This Fresh Fruit Tart Recipe

• Absolutely worth it. This berry tart is a bit unlike my usual recipe offerings. It’s more involved, although I wouldn’t classify it as difficult. Each step is simple and you can make this beauty in stages to make it more manageable.
• The pastry cream is truly something special. The filling underneath that fruit is pastry cream, or crème pâtissière as it’s known in French. It’s used in everything from eclairs to Boston cream pie, and it’s essentially a spreadable, pipe-able custard. Yum!
• Adaptable to the seasons. Although I love this fruit tart recipe in the summer, you can easily adapt it to the seasons if you’d like. Persimmons, for example, would be quite good in the fall.

What You’ll Need

Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.

For the crust:

• Cold unsalted butter – Cut the butter into 1-inch cubes; the colder it is, the better!
• Superfine sugar – Here’s how to make superfine sugar.
• All-purpose flour
• Salt
• Egg yolk – Eggs that are fresh out of the refrigerator separate more easily.
• Heavy cream

For the whipped pastry cream:

• Eggs
• Cornstarch
• Half-and-half – See my list of half-and-half substitutes.
• Granulated sugar
• Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste – If you want to change things up, you can use almond extract here.
• Salt
• Unsalted butter – Learn more: Unsalted or Salted Butter: Which is Better for Baking?
• Heavy cream

For assembly:

• Fruit preserves – This gives your tart a French bakery-style glaze. Use apricot, raspberry, or currant.
• Fresh berries – Rinse them, hull them, and dry them well to keep the berries from making your tart soggy. You can change the berries as the season progresses, and you can also use slices of kiwi, peaches, nectarines, and plums.

To make the crust:

• Start the dough. Pulse the butter and sugar in a food processor until the sugar disappears. Add the flour and salt; pulse again until the butter is no bigger than small peas.
• Finish the dough. Stir the egg yolk and cream in a bowl and pour this into the food processor. Pulse just until incorporated. Scoop the dough into a plastic bag and press from the outside just until it holds together.
• Form the dough into a disc. Transfer the dough to a large piece of plastic wrap. Use the plastic wrap to knead the dough a few times, then press into a 6-inch disc. Wrap it with the plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes or freeze for 10 minutes.
• Roll out the dough. Roll the dough between two lightly floured sheets of plastic wrap until it forms a 1/8-inch-thick circle.
• Make the crust. Remove the top sheet of plastic wrap. For a 9 1/2- by 1-inch tart pan, cut the dough to an 11-inch circle. Lift the dough using the plastic wrap; invert it and drape it evenly into the tart pan. Remove the plastic wrap and press the dough into the sides of the pan until it’s about 1/8 inch above the rim (it will fall during baking).
• Bake. Bake the crust at 425°F for 5 minutes. When the dough starts to puff, prick it lightly with a fork, then bake at 375°F for 10-15 minutes more. 

To make the pastry cream:

• Make the egg mixture. Whisk the eggs and cornstarch. Slowly add 1/4 cup of the half-and-half, whisking until smooth.
• Heat the sugar and half-and-half. Place the sugar in a heavy, nonreactive saucepan. Stir in the remaining half-and-half and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Whisk 2 tablespoons of the sugar mixture into bowl with the egg mixture. Pass the egg mixture through a strainer into another bowl.
• Finish cooking. Return the half-and-half mixture to a boil. Whisk in the egg mixture for 20-30 seconds.
• Add the butter. Remove the pan from heat. Whisk in the butter and vanilla extract. Pour this mixture into a bowl and place a piece of greased plastic wrap onto the top.
• Chill. Cool the cream to room temperature, then refrigerate until it’s cold. 
• Finish. Whip the desired amount of heavy cream and fold it into the pastry cream. (For this recipe, I used equal amounts of pastry cream and whipped cream.)

Assemble:

• Warm the preserves. If you’re using preserves with whole fruit or seeds, microwave it in a small bowl until it’s melted, stirring once or twice. Strain through a fine mesh sieve; this should yield about 3 tablespoons. Brush the preserves onto the bottom and sides of the crust.
• Assemble. Spread the pastry cream onto the crust in an even layer. Arrange the fresh berries on top of the fruit tart and refrigerate 1-3 hours before serving.

How to Store

Store this fresh fruit tart covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. How long it lasts will depend on the freshness of your berries, though—if your berries were a little past their prime when you assembled the tart, it might only keep for a day.

Can This Recipe Be Frozen?

No, this fruit tart recipe can’t be frozen; when frozen and thawed, the berries will release liquid into the cream and make the tart soggy. If you do want to make this in advance, you can assemble the crust, fill it with the cream, and freeze it for up to 3 months without the berries on top. Thaw the tart in the refrigerator, then top it with berries.