Three Fruit Tart

My long lost cousins visited tonight. I hadn't planned to bake for a while yet, but in honour of the occasion, I dusted off my recipe books, pulled out Jane Price's 'Kitchen Classics: Pastries and Breads', found that old favourite and set to work. I am irrevocably in love with baking with chocolate, but I must admit this one has its charms, namely the undeniably colourful beauty of the three fruits, the chance to create the dreamiest custard from scratch, and finally the sweet and clear taste that is both gentle and subtly amazing.

Three Fruit Tart

Ingredients

Shortcrust Pastry

• 150g of Flour
• 2 tablespoons of Castor Sugar
• 90g of Unsalted Butter (chopped)
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 tablespoon of Iced Water

Custard Filling

• 250ml of Milk
• 3 Egg Yolks
• 55g Castor Sugar
• 2 tablespoons of Flour
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Essence
• Strawberries, Kiwi and Blueberries, to decorate
• Apricot jam, to glaze

The arrangement of fruit was supposed to be random, like on the Summer Berry Tart,
but something inside of me just wouldn't let it happen...

Sift the flour into a bowl and stir in the sugar. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add the egg yolk and iced water. Mix to a dough with a flat bladed knife and a cutting action, and then gather it together in a ball. Press the dough evenly into a circular 23cm tart dish (a 10 × 34cm rectangular dish can be used). Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Line the pastry-lined tin with baking paper and spread a layer of uncooked rice evenly over it. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the paper and rice, and bake for another 20 minutes, or until cooked on the base and golden brown around the edge. Set aside to cool completely.

blue blueberries :)

Custard Filling

To make the filling, put the milk in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to the boil. Set aside while quickly whisking the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl, until light and creamy. Whisk in the flour. Pour the hot milk slowly onto the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Wash out the pan, return the milk mixture to the pan and bring to the boil over medium heat, stirring with a wire whisk. Boil for two minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the vanilla essence, and leave to cool, stirring frequently to avoid a skin forming. When cooled to room temperature, cover the surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold. 

Cut the strawberries in half across what would be their equators and slice the kiwi. Spoon the cold custard into the cold pastry shell, then arrange all the fruit over the custard, pressing in slightly. Heat the jam in the microwave or in a small saucepan until liquid and sieve to remove any lumps. Using a pastry brush, glaze the fruit with the jam. Serve the tart on the same day, at room temperature.

Summer Berry Tart

I stole some free time during the study break to indulge the urge to bake that’s been simmering a while now. In a break from the chocolate tradition, I chose this Summer Berry Tart, similar to the Fruit Tart I’ve made in the past, both from Jane Price’s 'Pastries and Breads'. Without the cooling kiwi slices, this taste was more mellow and laid-back.

Summer Berry Tart

Ingredients

Pastry

• 145g Cake Flour (125g all purpose/plain flour)
• 90g chilled, unsalted Butter, cubed
• 2 tablespoons of icing sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons of iced Water

Filling

• 3 Egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons of Castor Sugar
• 2 tablespoons of Corn flour (corn starch)
• 250ml of Milk
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Essence
• 250g of Strawberries, halved
• 125g of Blueberries
• 125g of Raspberries (couldn't find these yet, so I compensated with the other two)
• 1-2 tablespoons of baby apple gel or apricot jam

Just blueberries (:

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Lightly grease a 20cm round fluted tart tin.
To make the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl. Using your fingertips, run in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar. Make a well in the centre and add almost all the water. Mix with a flat-bladed knife, using a cutting action, until the mixture comes together in beads. Add more water is the dough is too dry.

Roll out the pastry between two sheets of baking paper to fit the base and side of the tin, line the tin with the pastry and trim away any excess. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Line the tin with baking paper and spread a layer of baking beads of uncooked rise evenly over the paper. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the paper and beads and bake for another 15 minutes or until golden.

To make the filling, put the egg yolks, sugar and corn flour into a bowl and whisk until pale. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until almost boiling, then remove from the heat and add gradually to the egg mixture, beating constantly. Strain back into the pan. Stir constantly over low heat for 3 minutes or until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract. Transfer to a bow, cover with plastic wrap and set aside to cool.

Spread the filling in the pastry shell and top with the berries. Heat the apple gel or apricot jam in a heatproof bowl in a saucepan of simmering water, or in the microwave until it liquefies. Brush over the fruit with a pastry brush. Allow to set before cutting and serving.

Chocolate and Strawberry Ganache Tart (The Deerfield Senior Dessert)

I have a week off university, and therefore decided to indulge my urge to bake. At the suggestion of my amazing friend Amanda, I chose this, the Deerfield Senior Dessert. A quick email to the very obliging people in the Deerfield Dining Hall, and I had the recipe. Unfortunately, it was in some strange archaic, arbitrary measurement system, but google fixed that. For the sake of those still metrically impaired, I’ve left those original measurements in. Converting from all purpose to cake flour was tricky too, there is a difference, but I played that by ear, as it were, and it worked!
Obtaining half a litre of fresh satisfactory strawberries was slightly harder, but I soon had those in hand too. 
The result, a sugary strawberry and chocolate nostalgic walk down Albany Road.

The Deerfield Senior Dessert

Ingredients

Chocolate Pastry Shell

• 85g (3 oz) of Unsalted Butter
• ½ a cup of Sugar
• ¾ of a teaspoon of Vanilla
• ⅛ of a teaspoon of Salt
• ⅜ of a cup of Cocoa Powder
• 85g of sifted Cake Flour (¾ cups of All-purpose Flour)

Ganaches

• ½ a cup of Double (Heavy) Cream
• 114g (4 oz) of Milk Chocolate (Bitter- or semi-sweet as per the original recipe)
• 114g (4 oz) of White Chocolate

• ½ a litre (1 pint) of fresh regular Strawberries, quartered

Method

I tried - out of habit - to use our automatic mixer, but the quantity just isn’t enough; either for the dough hook to reach, or to warrant its use. It’s better just to mix it by hand with a flexible spatula or similar utensil, but nothing as thick as a wooden spoon, or as flimsy as a whisk.

Sheer to the point of reflection

Chocolate Pastry Shell

Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth, and then add the cocoa powder and mix to a paste. Add the flour and continue to mix until the mixture forms a consistent dough. My dough had a glorious aroma and a moist but slightly crumbly texture; by this point, yours should too.

Now, here the recipe and my method diverge slightly. The recipe follows the proper way of preparing pastry, but I’ve always found my way works well enough and avoids the chance of everything going irreparably wrong, so first – the proper method.

Form the dough into a disk between two sheets of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Remove and roll the dough – between the plastic – until it is about 3mm (⅛”) thick by 28cm (11”) in diameter. Remove one piece of plastic and invert the dough into a 23-25cm (9-10”) fluted tart pan. Press the dough into the pan, then refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Bottom to top: Divine chocolate pastry base, Thick dark ganache, Temperamental white ganache, Fresh strawberries, White and milk chocolate curls.

Now, my method, which is a bit of a cheat, really, but it works for me and makes me think I’m a pastry chef. Flatten the dough into a flattish disc, don’t worry about the edges breaking. Place the disc in the middle of a 23-25cm (9-10”) fluted tart pan and press from the middle outwards, making sure the dough is evenly spread and being careful not to break through with an over-eager press. Once you’ve reached the edges of the pan, press the dough up so it covers the sides of the tart pan too. Use two fingers on the outside of each ‘flute’ against a thumb on the inside to get the dough to mould to the shape of the tart dish.
Keep working the dough outwards with your fingers until the pan is covered to a depth of about 3mm (⅛”). Use whatever dough creeps over the edge to fix any holes. To achieve a uniform base, anything with a flat bottom will do; I use the ½ cup measurement cup to press the base into shape. When you’re satisfied with the lay of the dough, use a sharp knife and a deft cut to remove any excess dough around the lip. Once you’re satisfied, refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes.

Prick the bottom with a fork and then bake in a preheated oven at 190°C (375°F) until set around the edges, about 12 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely before filling.

Ganaches

Chop or grate the dark and white chocolates (I prefer grating; it goes quicker and is infinitely more gratifying) and keep separate. Two ganaches will be made, each using half the double (heavy) cream, that is, ¼ of a cup.

For each ganache, heat the cream over a medium-high heat in a small saucepan or heavy bottomed pot. As soon as a boil is achieved, remove from the heat and add all the chocolate. Stir with a whisk until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. I waited to make each ganache until I was absolutely ready to pour them in, but once mixed, they don’t set immediately so you have a little flexibility there.

Just a little touch of nostalgia.

Assembling the Tart

Spread the dark chocolate ganache in the cooled shell, working quickly before it stiffens, and then refrigerate until it has hardened significantly – it should resist a tap with a fork. Spread the white ganache over and refrigerate until slightly set. Cover the surface with the quartered strawberries, pressing in very slightly. Beware, the strawberries can stain the white chocolate, so commit before placing each strawberry. I went for concentric circles, but I think a spiral could be quite pleasing too.
Garnish with chocolate shavings or curls and refrigerate until fully set. And you’re done! Enjoy :)

Fruit Tart: Encore

My aunt is visiting us, and although I had promised to create something with apple, her favourite, mum overrode me, and commanded that I provide them with their new favourite treat: The Fruit Tart. The recipe is here.
Make no mistake, I was not unwilling :D And so I did.

As you can see, I went for a different, spiral arrangement of the fruit, reasoning that this would allow the most even distribution of each while still maintaining its aesthetics. I prefer it to the concentric fruit-circles of the first tart.

 
The jam glazing is a crafty idea and gorgeous to look at.

and that custard is quite something...

I get the feeling that this is not the last fruit tart I shall make.

Fruit Tart

I had not, in my memory, actually tasted fruit tart before my parents requested I attempt to make it for our guests At the risk of sounding biased, it was utterly mouth-wateringly delicious. Not only did I learn how to make the softest (if you know what I mean) custard from scratch, I also discovered the secret of getting the fruit atop the tart to glisten with such brilliance…
This recipe is taken from Jane Price’s ‘Kitchen Classics: Pastries and Breads’

For those who are metrically challenged, here's a helpful unit converter...

Fruit Tart

Ingredients

Shortcrust Pastry

• 150g of Flour
• 2 tablespoons of Castor Sugar
• 90g of Unsalted Butter (chopped)
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 tablespoon of Iced Water

Custard Filling

• 250ml of Milk
• 3 Egg Yolks
• 55g Castor Sugar
• 2 tablespoons of Flour
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Essence
• Strawberries, Kiwi and Blueberries, to decorate
• Apricot jam, to glaze

Yep, to glaze.

Method

Shortcrust Pastry

Sift the flour into a bowl and stir in the sugar. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add the egg yolk and iced water. Mix to a dough with a flat bladed knife and a cutting action, and then gather it together in a ball. Press the dough evenly into a circular 23cm tart dish (a 10 × 34cm rectangular dish can be used). Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Line the pastry-lined tin with baking paper and spread a layer of uncooked rice evenly over it. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the paper and rice, and bake for another 20 minutes, or until cooked on the base and golden brown around the edge. Set aside to cool completely.

Custard Filling

To make the filling, put the milk in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to the boil. Set aside while quickly whisking the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl, until light and creamy. Whisk in the flour. Pour the hot milk slowly onto the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Wash out the pan, return the milk mixture to the pan and bring to the boil over medium heat, stirring with a wire whisk. Boil for two minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the vanilla essence, and leave to cool, stirring frequently to avoid a skin forming. When cooled to room temperature, cover the surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.
Cut the strawberries in half across what would be their equators and slice the kiwi. Spoon the cold custard into the cold pastry shell, then arrange all the fruit over the custard, pressing in slightly. Heat the jam in the microwave or in a small saucepan until liquid and sieve to remove any lumps. Using a pastry brush, glaze the fruit with the jam. Serve the tart on the same day, at room temperature.

See more pictures on facebook.