Today, the weather isn’t playing along and I’m missing the sun… So I thought I’d try to brighten up the day a little with a lovely summery recipe! A few weeks ago, I made this exotic fruit tart: a delicious mix of fruit (strawberries, bananas, kiwis, pineapple…), all sitting on a mango and passion fruit diplomat cream. A delight!
This dessert really isn’t difficult to make — the longest part, in the end, is cutting up all the fruit. Nothing insurmountable, then 🙂
Ingredients & preparation
3 components · Full recipe
Pierre Hermé Sweet Pastry (you will have some left over — freeze it)
Ingredients
- 140 g (4.9 oz) softened butter
- 75 g (2.6 oz) icing sugar
- 25 g (0.9 oz) ground almonds
- a pinch of fleur de sel
- 1 egg
- 250 g (8.8 oz) flour
Preparation
1
Cream the softened butter with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer (or with a spatula) and add the icing sugar.
2
Add the egg, ground almonds, salt and flour. Do not overwork the dough.
3
When the mixture is smooth, roll it out thinly between 2 sheets of baking paper.
4
Pre-cut a large circle to fit the base of your tart ring and a wide strip for the side. This is the method recommended by Mercotte, which I highly suggest — the dough is very fragile and warms up quickly (even after a stint in the freezer).
5
Freeze the pre-cut dough for 20 minutes.
6
Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
7
Place the ring on the base circle straight from the freezer. Immediately press the pre-cut strip around the inside of the ring. Work quickly — the dough defrosts fast and is easier to handle while still slightly firm.
8
If the sides are a little too tall, trim off the excess with a small knife.
9
Prick the base, then line with baking paper and fill with baking beads to blind-bake and prevent the pastry from puffing up.
10
Bake for approximately 12–15 minutes until golden. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
11
Once the tart shell is baked and cooled, use a Microplane grater to smooth out any imperfections.
Mango and Passion Fruit Diplomat Cream
Ingredients
- 175 g (6.2 oz) mango purée
- 75 g (2.6 oz) passion fruit juice
- 40 g (1.4 oz) egg yolks
- 50 g (1.8 oz) sugar (use less if the fruit purée is already sweetened)
- 25 g (0.9 oz) cornstarch
- 100 g (3.5 oz) full-fat liquid cream
Preparation
1
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale.
2
Add the cornstarch and mix.
3
Heat the fruit purées in a large saucepan. Pour three-quarters of the hot liquid into the bowl in a thin stream, whisking constantly, then pour everything back into the saucepan with the remaining purée.
4
Whisk over a medium heat until the cream thickens, about 3 minutes.
5
Transfer to a bowl, press cling film directly onto the surface and leave to cool. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
6
Once the pastry cream is thoroughly chilled, take it out of the fridge and whisk it until completely smooth.
7
Whip the full-fat liquid cream to a chantilly and fold it into the pastry cream in three additions.
Assembly
Ingredients
- 2 bananas
- 2 kiwis
- 1 pineapple (you will not need all of it)
- 250 g (8.8 oz) strawberries
- 1 passion fruit
- 1 starfruit (carambola)
- neutral glaze or sugar syrup
Preparation
1
Pour the mango and passion fruit diplomat cream onto the tart base and spread evenly with a palette knife. Refrigerate while you prepare all the fruit.
2
Rinse the strawberries briefly under cold water, hull them and halve lengthways. Set aside.
3
Peel the bananas and kiwis and slice into rounds. Set aside.
4
Prepare the pineapple and cut into large cubes. Set aside.
5
Slice the starfruit into rounds (you will get star-shaped slices). Set aside.
6
Cut the passion fruit into quarters.
7
Now simply arrange the fruit over the tart however you like 🙂
8
To make the tart look even more beautiful and appetising, brush it with a sugar syrup (bring 20 g (0.7 oz) sugar and 20 g (0.7 oz) water to the boil, then leave to cool).
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