Strawberry and custard tart

Today I want to share a simple dessert that will make any family gathering better. This time we'll prepare a strawberry tart: a delicious combination of shortcrust base, light vanilla filling and fresh fruits.

 

Pleasantly tender, buttery base goes perfectly with smooth vanilla filling. Strawberries bring natural sweetness and freshness, while jelly adds not only flavour, but also a beautiful shine. A perfect dessert that is best freshly made!

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients (for a tart tin, 25 cm in diameter)

Shortcrust base

• 225 g (~1.5 cup) flour
• 75 g sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 150 g butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla paste

Vanilla filling

• 500 ml milk
• 1.5 tsp vanilla paste
  
• 5 egg yolks
• 100 g sugar
• 40 g cornstarch
• 40 g butter

Decoration

• 300 g strawberries
• Optionally, 1 strawberry jelly + 500 ml water (you'll only need a bit of it for the cake)

Method

1. Prepare the shortcrust base. Shortly stir through 225 g wheat flour, 75 g fine white sugar and a small pinch of salt with a whisk, only until everything is evenly distributed. Add 150 g cold, cubed butter. Rub butter into flour using a confectionery knife, a regular knife, a kitchen robot or your fingertips, until you've got wet sand consistency.
2. Once you can form large, brittle lumps, add one egg yolk and 1 tsp vanilla paste into the dough. If you don't have vanilla paste at hand, you can use vanilla extract or replace part of sugar with vanilla sugar. In the latter case, add it together with the rest of sugar. Mix through the contents of the bowl with a wooden spoon, only until moisture is absorbed by flour, and knead shortly by hand, until flour gets worked into dough. Transfer dough onto a working surface then and knead it for another minute, until uniform. Shape dough into a small disc, cover it tightly with plastic wrap and put it into a fridge for about one hour, to firm up.
3. Transfer dough onto a working surface and roll it out to 3 mm. To save on clean up, you can transfer dough onto a large piece of baking paper, cover it with a second sheet and slowly roll to desired thickness. Rolled out dough should be large enough to cover your tart tin - 25 cm in my case. You can roll it onto a floured rolling pin and cautiously transfer onto a clean tart tin. Press dough down to cover the baking tin bottom, ensuring that dough adheres to the bottom and the sides.
4. Prick the base densely with a fork, creating holes that will let steam escape during baking. This will prevent the base from cracking. Return the baking tin with the dough into a fridge for 30 minutes, until cool and firm.
5. The dough is ready to bake then. Before you put it into an oven, it is worth weighing it down to prevent it from raising. I'm arranging a crumpled piece of baking paper on the cake, placing baking beans on top and ensuring they fill the pastry shell well. You can also use dry beans or rice, they will work just as well.
6. Bake the cake in an oven preheated to 200 deg C, no fan, for 15 minutes. Take the cake out next, remove baking beans and baking paper, and return it to the oven for 8-10 minutes, until the cake becomes beautiful and golden. Take the cake out of the oven then and set it aside to cool completely.
7. Meanwhile, work on vanilla filling. Pour 500 ml of milk into a large pot and add 1.5 tsp vanilla paste. If you don't have vanilla paste, you can also use vanilla extract or split vanilla pod and vanilla beans. Just remember to remove it before adding milk to eggs. Stir through contents of the pot shortly and heat milk up over medium-low heat, until it starts simmering slowly.
8. Meanwhile, prepare remaining ingredients. Put 5 large egg yolks into a large bowl and add 100 g fine white sugar. Cream the contents of the bowl with an electric mixer until thick and light in colour, and until sugar dissolves. Once you've got the right texture add 40 g cornstarch and mix it in shortly at medium-low speed, only until you no longer see raw cornstarch.
9. Milk should be coming to right temperature now. Once it starts bubbling up, take it off heat and add it to egg yolks. Do it slowly, in a slow trickle, while constantly mixing the contents of the bowl at medium-high speed. Once you've used up all milk set the mixer aside and return custard into the pot. It is worth passing it through a fine sieve to catch any set bits that may be a problem in ready vanilla filling.
10. Place the pot over medium-low heat and heat it up for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until thick, smooth custard forms. Don't stop stirring or custard may burn and become unpleasantly bitter. Once it thickens up, take pot off heat and pour custard into a separate bowl. Add 40 g cubed butter straight away and stir it in shortly, until uniform. Cover custard with plastic wrap, so that it touches its top. It will prevent unpleasant skin from forming. Set custard aside, to cool. About an hour on a worktop should be enough.
11. Transfer cool custard into the shortcrust pastry shell and spread it evenly across the whole surface. Arrange sliced or halved strawberries on top. Spread some thickening strawberry jelly, prepared according to package instructions. It's completely optional, but a bit of jelly will add a nice shine, especially if you happen to prepare jelly as a separate dessert anyway. Put the tart into a fridge, until custard and jelly thicken up. Take the tart out of the baking tin before serving and set it aside for 15 minutes for the tart to come up to room temperature. That will make it easier to slice it up.
12. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

• 287 kcal
• Carbs: 32 g
• Fat: 16 g
• Protein: 5 g
• Fibre: 1 g

1 slice (recipe makes 12 slices)

• 315 kcal
• Carbs: 35 g
• Fat: 17 g
• Protein: 6 g
• Fibre: 1 g