The strawberry tart… a dessert so simple, so tasty, so nostalgic… The perfect example of the saying “the simple things are the best”. It’s made up of a perfectly crunchy pâte sucrée, a delicious vanilla pastry cream and fresh strawberries (French, obviously). Strawberry season is short, so let’s make the most of it while they’re on our market stalls <3
This recipe presents no difficulty. There are loads of ways to make a strawberry tart. Here, I chose to keep it as simple as possible: a pastry cream (but you can also make a diplomat cream if you prefer), a pâte sucrée without almond cream (but you can add it too). In short, mix things up, do whatever you like! If you’re looking for a diplomat cream or almond cream recipe, I’ll point you to my blueberry tart recipe.
To save a little time in making this strawberry tart, you can absolutely make the pastry cream the day before. The next day, all you’ll have to do is smooth it out with a whisk before filling your tart shell. As for the assembly, there too I kept it as simple as possible. You can arrange the strawberries in loads of different ways 🙂
Ingredients & preparation
4 components · Full recipe
Sweet Pastry (start 2 days ahead or the day before)
Ingredients
- 150 g (5.3 oz) butter
- 95 g (3.4 oz) icing sugar
- 30 g (1.1 oz) ground almonds
- 60 g (2.1 oz) egg (one large egg)
- 250 g (8.8 oz) plain flour
- a pinch of fleur de sel
- a knife-tip of powdered vanilla
Preparation
1
Place the softened butter and icing sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Add the ground almonds, powdered vanilla and fleur de sel and mix again.
2
Add the beaten egg and mix using a spatula this time (it will be easier than with the mixer).
3
Finish with the flour and mix with the mixer until you have a smooth ball of dough. Don’t overwork the dough. Bring it together into a ball without pressing too hard. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions.
4
Wrap each portion in cling film, shaping them into a flattened rectangle. Place one portion in the fridge overnight and the other in the freezer (for a future tart).
5
The next day, roll the dough out to a thickness of 2–3 mm using a rolling pin. Cut a piece of dough slightly larger than your tart ring.
6
Grease a 20 cm (7.9 in) diameter tart ring, then lay the dough inside it, taking care to create a right angle where the base meets the sides.
7
Refrigerate for at least 6 hours (ideally overnight).
Vanilla Pastry Cream
Ingredients
- 250 g (8.8 oz) milk
- 1 vanilla pod
- 40 g (1.4 oz) egg yolks
- 50 g (1.8 oz) sugar
- 25 g (0.9 oz) cornstarch
Preparation
1
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale.
2
Add the cornstarch and mix.
3
Bring the milk to a boil with the vanilla seeds and pod in a large saucepan. Pour three-quarters of the milk in a thin stream into the bowl, whisking continuously, then pour everything back into the saucepan with the remaining hot milk.
4
Whisk over medium heat until the cream thickens, for about 3 minutes. Transfer to a dish, cover with cling film pressed directly onto the surface and cool quickly (at least 1 hour).
5
When the pastry cream is thoroughly cold, remove from the fridge and whisk until smooth.
6
Transfer the cream to a piping bag fitted with a 16 mm plain nozzle (you can also use no nozzle). Keep refrigerated until assembly.
Baking the Sweet Pastry
Ingredients
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 g (0.1 oz) double cream
Preparation
1
Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F.
2
Once the dough is thoroughly cold, trim the excess with a small knife.
3
Place a sheet of parchment paper inside and fill with baking weights or dried beans to blind bake (normally, if the tart shell has spent the night in the fridge, the weights aren’t needed as the dough won’t move).
4
Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven, unmould and leave to cool a little.
5
Smooth out any imperfections in the pastry using a Microplane grater.
6
Brush the tart base and the sides (inside and out) with an egg wash made from egg yolk mixed with a little double cream, to make it shiny (the cream represents about 10% of the weight of the yolk).
7
Continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes (the pastry should be nicely golden). Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Assembling the Strawberry Tart
Ingredients
- 500 g (17.6 oz) strawberries
Preparation
1
Rinse the strawberries quickly under cold water, hull them and cut them in half lengthways.
2
Spread the pastry cream over the base of the tart. Leave a millimetre or two free around the edge, which creates a small border to neatly arrange the strawberries against.
3
Arrange the strawberries starting from the outer edge and working inwards, pressing them together tightly.
4
Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. You can glaze the tart with redcurrant jelly, a sugar syrup, or simply dust with a little icing sugar, as I did. This makes the strawberries shine.
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