Fresh Fruit Tart Recipe

A fresh fruit tart is a summertime staple! I love this buttery shortcrust filled with sweet and creamy vanilla custard and topped with lots of fresh berries! Follow my tips for keeping your berries fresher longer, how to keep the crust nice and crisp, and how to make an easy glaze using jam!

Fruit Tart Ingredients

There are a lot of ingredients in this photo because we're making tart dough, pastry cream, and topping it with fresh berries and glaze. Don't be intimidated though, all these ingredients are very common in most household kitchens. Make sure your butter is room temperature. Soft enough to leave an indent with your finger but not melted. Your eggs should also be warm. I place mine (while still in the shell) into a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.

Note: This recipe makes enough dough for 2 tarts (maybe even three depending on the size of your pan). Theoretically, you could cut this recipe in half by whisking the whole egg and cutting it in half but it's really easy to just freeze the extra dough to use for later!

How to Make a Fresh Fruit Tart

Making The Tart Dough Step-By-Step

Step 1 – Add the softened butter into the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed for about 30 seconds until it's smooth.

Step 2 – Add in your sifted powdered sugar, salt, and mix until smooth.

Step 3 – Add in the vanilla and the egg and mix until combined.

Step 5 – Gradually add your flour and mix until everything starts to come together and a dough forms.

Step 6 – Divide the dough into 2 pieces, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten into disks. Refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour before using your dough. If you skip this step, your crust will melt in the oven.

Pastry Cream Step-By-Step

This pastry cream recipe is a baking staple. It’s basically vanilla pudding (if you’re in the USA) or a custard. It's super versatile and can even be made dairy-free by replacing milk with coconut milk and butter with vegan butter!

Pro Tip: Use real vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste to take your cream up a notch. Vanilla extract will work fine, but I love seeing all the little black specks in my dessert. Plus the star flavor is vanilla, so why not?! 1 vanilla bean pod = 1 tablespoon vanilla.

Step 1 – Bring milk and first quantity of sugar (5 oz) to a simmer over medium-high heat. Whisking constantly to avoid burning.

Step 2 – In a separate, large heatproof bowl, combine the eggs, cornstarch, vanilla extract, and the second quantity of sugar (4 oz), whisk to combine.

Step 3 – Once the milk is simmering, turn off the heat and add ¼ of your hot milk mixture to the egg mixture VERY slowly while whisking constantly. This is going to temper (slowly heat) your egg yolk mixture and avoid curdled scrambled eggs. Whisk until smooth.

Step 4 – Turn the heat back on (medium) and slowly add the mixture to the rest of the milk in your saucepan, whisking constantly. Bring it to a simmer.

Step 5 – Once your mixture starts bubbling, continue whisking for 1 minute to ensure the mixture is cooked and properly thickened.

Step 6 – Pour your mixture into a heatproof container. Divide your softened butter into cubes and place them on top of the pastry cream, allowing them to melt. Do not cover.

Step 7 – Allow your pastry cream to cool at room temperature until just warm to the touch. This will take a few hours. You will know it's ready to stir when the bowl feels barely warm and the edges of the butter are starting to turn solid in color.

Step 8 – Stir in your butter with a whisk. Don't be worried if it looks curdled at first, this is normal. Just keep whisking until smooth.

Pro Tip - Use an immersion blender to make your pastry cream super smooth and creamy

Step 9 – Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap so that it's touching the surface of the pastry cream to avoid a skin forming. Let it cool fully before using it in a tart shell.

Fruit Tart Assembly Step-By-Step

Step 1 – Take your tart dough out of the refrigerator about 30-60 minutes before rolling it out. It should be slightly flexible but still firm.

Step 2 – Lightly flour your surface and rolling pin and roll it out to ⅛ inch thick. Don't make it too thick! Use a ruler to check the thickness. Rotate frequently and pinch together any cracks when rolling.

Step 3 – Roll the dough up onto your rolling pin and lay it into the tart shell. I prefer a tart pan with a removable bottom. That way you can see the beautiful edges of the tart after baking. The removable bottom also makes it easy to take the crust out of the tin. You can make a tart in a regular pie pan, you just won't be able to remove it from the pan.

Step 4 – Carefully lift the dough up on the sides and press it into the pan. Use your fingers to press the dough into the ridges on the side. Don't press too hard that you press through the dough. Make sure you get into the bottom corners!

Step 5 – Roll your rolling pin flush across the top of the tart shell to remove the excess dough. Squish together the leftovers and save them to make another tart!

Step 6 – Freeze the tart shell for 20 minutes. Do NOT skip this step!

Step 7 – Press a layer of tin foil into the tart shell, all the way into the corners and fill with pie weights. Also, do this if you're using a regular pie pan instead of a tart shell.

Step 8 – Place on top of a baking sheet and blind bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Rotate after 15 minutes to promote even browning. After 30 minutes, lift out the weights and bake for another 10 minutes. The edges will be golden brown and will start to pull away from the edges of the pan.

Step 9 – Place the whole tart and pan into the fridge to cool down.

Fresh Fruit Tart Assembly  Step-By-Step

Step 1 – Wash all of your fruit and dry fully. Check out my berry wash recipe to learn how to make your fruit last up to 3 weeks in the fridge!

Step 2 – Prepare your strawberries and kiwi fruit and cut in ⅛ inch thick slices. You do not need to cut berries because they will get mangled looking.

Pro Tip: You want to use the sharpest knife possible when cutting fruits and vegetables. The sharper the knife, the easier it is to cut and the less likely you'll be to push too hard or slip and injure yourself. 

Step 3 – Gently lift your cooled tart out of the tart pan. Transfer to a plate or keep it on the bottom pan.

Pro Tip -  Dab a bit of melted chocolate on the plate to glue the tart shell to the plate and keep it from sliding around

Step 4 – Optional: Melt down some chocolate and brush a thin layer onto the inside of the tart shell. This is a trick I learned while working at a Safeway bakery and will keep the crust from getting soggy. Refrigerate for 5-10 minutes to set the chocolate.

Step 5 – Add in the pastry cream and use a spatula to smooth it out. Fill the tart with pastry cream.

Step 6 – Decorate the tart with your fruit! I like to go from the outside-in and have contrasting colors when I layer my fruit.

Step 7 – Mix the apricot preserves and water and then microwave until melted (about 10 seconds). Glaze the cut strawberries and kiwi with the mixture. This will keep your fruit from drying out and looking very shiny! You can also thin piping gel or corn syrup with water and use it as a glaze.

Step 8 – Refrigerate until serving. I left mine in the fridge overnight and ate this the next day for my husband, Dan's birthday!

The pastry cream sets up overnight so that you can cut through it but is still soft and creamy. The chocolate keeps the crust super crisp and actually tastes amazing with the fresh fruit.

FAQ

Can I Use Granulated Sugar Instead Of Powdered Sugar

Granulated sugar tends to aerate the butter and make the dough fluffy which is not what we want. The air pockets expand and cause the dough to shrivel and shrink during baking

CAN I DO THIS WITHOUT A STAND MIXER?

You can definitely make tart dough without a stand mixer. You can use a hand-held mixer or you can even just mix with a fork by hand.

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