Classic French Strawberry Tart with Pastry Cream
An elegant French strawberry tart with a crisp pâte sucrée, velvety smooth pastry cream and glossy fresh strawberries — the epitome of summery pâtisserie.
Ingredients
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 125 g cold butter, cut into cubes
- 80 g icing sugar
- 1 egg (medium)
- 1 pinch of salt
- 500 ml whole milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 100 g caster sugar
- 40 g cornstarch
- 1 vanilla pod
- 30 g unsalted butter
- 500 g fresh strawberries, washed and sliced
- 4 tablespoons strawberry jam
- 1 tablespoon water
Preparation
- Make the pâte sucrée by combining the flour, icing sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the cold butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then add the egg and knead quickly until a cohesive dough forms. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave it to rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the pastry cream by heating the milk with the split vanilla pod and scraped seeds over medium heat until just below boiling point. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and cornstarch until pale and smooth, then gradually pour in the hot milk while continuing to whisk. Pour everything back into the saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the cream thickens. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter, cover with cling film pressed directly onto the surface and leave to cool completely in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the bakeVIA mini oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured work surface into a circle of approximately 3 mm thickness and line a greased 24 cm tart tin. Prick the base with a fork, lay baking paper on top with blind baking weights and blind bake the base for 15 minutes in the bakeVIA mini oven.
- Remove the blind baking weights and baking paper, then bake the tart base for a further 8 to 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius in the bakeVIA mini oven until golden brown and fully cooked. Leave the base to cool completely on a wire rack before proceeding.
- Whisk the cooled pastry cream until smooth and spread it evenly over the cooled tart base using a palette knife. Arrange the strawberry slices in overlapping layers or rosettes decoratively over the cream, ensuring the entire surface is covered.
- Heat the strawberry jam with the water in a small saucepan until it forms a smooth, liquid glaze, and strain if necessary. Gently brush the strawberries with the warm jam using a pastry brush to give them a beautiful shine, then leave the tart to set in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving.
