This fruit tart recipe gives you a crisp, buttery crust, a silky vanilla pastry cream and a colorful layer of fresh fruit. It looks like a bakery dessert; however, each part is simple, and you can make the crust and cream a day ahead.
In French bakeries this tart is called tarte aux fruits, and it is built on a sweet pastry known as pâte sucrée. After the recipe, you will also find fixes for a soggy base, a shrinking crust and a runny cream.
Fruit Tart Recipe at a Glance
- Prep time: 1 hour (plus chilling)
- Bake time: 20–25 minutes
- Pan: 23 cm (9-inch) tart pan with a removable base
- Serves: 8
Ingredients
Sweet pastry crust
- 200 g (1⅔ cups) all-purpose flour
- 60 g (½ cup) powdered sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 120 g (½ cup) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 egg yolk plus 1–2 tablespoons cold milk
Vanilla pastry cream and topping
- 500 ml (2 cups) whole milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 100 g (½ cup) sugar
- 40 g (⅓ cup) cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 30 g (2 tablespoons) butter
- 500 g (1 lb) mixed fresh fruit: strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, mango
- 3 tablespoons apricot jam, for glazing
How to Make This Fruit Tart Recipe
- Make the dough. First, mix the flour, powdered sugar and salt. Then rub in the cold butter until the mixture looks like sand. Add the yolk and milk, and press the dough together without kneading.
- Chill. Next, flatten the dough into a disc, wrap it, and refrigerate it for 1 hour.
- Line the pan. After that, roll the dough 3 mm (⅛ inch) thick and lift it into the pan. Press it into the edges, trim the top, and prick the base with a fork. Then freeze it for 20 minutes.
- Bake the crust. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line the crust with paper and baking beans, and bake for 15 minutes. Then remove the beans and bake for 8–10 minutes more, until golden. Let it cool completely.
- Cook the cream. Meanwhile, heat the milk until steaming. Whisk the yolks, sugar and cornstarch, then slowly whisk in the hot milk. Return everything to the pan and stir over medium heat until it boils and thickens. Finally, stir in the vanilla and butter.
- Cool the cream. Press plastic wrap onto the surface so no skin forms, and chill for at least 2 hours.
- Assemble. Whisk the cold cream until smooth and spread it in the crust. Then arrange the fruit on top in circles.
- Glaze. Finally, warm the jam with a spoonful of water and brush it over the fruit, so it shines and stays fresh.
Fruit Tart Recipe: Common Problems and How to Fix Them
Why is my tart crust soggy?
Cause: Most of the time, this is because the crust was underbaked, or the cream sat in it for too long.
Fix: Bake the crust until fully golden. In addition, brush the warm crust with a little melted white chocolate, because it forms a barrier against the cream.
Why did my tart crust shrink?
Cause: You stretched the dough in the pan, or it was not cold enough.
Fix: Lift the dough into the pan instead of pulling it, and freeze the lined pan before baking. As a result, the butter stays firm and the sides hold.
Why is my pastry cream runny?
Cause: The cream did not boil long enough to cook the cornstarch.
Fix: Keep stirring until large bubbles break the surface, and then cook for 1 more minute. Also, chill it fully before filling.
Why is my pastry cream lumpy?
Cause: The eggs cooked too fast, or you stopped stirring.
Fix: Add the hot milk slowly while whisking, and stir constantly. If lumps form anyway, push the cream through a fine sieve.
Tips for Success With This Fruit Tart Recipe
- Dry the fruit well after washing; otherwise, water runs into the cream.
- Assemble the tart no more than 4 hours before serving, so the crust stays crisp.
- Use a mix of colors, for example red berries, green kiwi and yellow mango.
Fruit Tart Recipe Variations
- Mini tarts: bake the dough in 10 small tart pans for 12–15 minutes.
- Lighter cream: fold 120 ml (½ cup) whipped cream into the cold pastry cream. However, avoid over-whipped cream, which turns grainy.
- Chocolate tart: replace 20 g of flour with cocoa powder and top the cream with raspberries.
Storage Tips
Keep the finished tart in the fridge and eat it within 1 day. Meanwhile, you can store the baked crust in an airtight box for 3 days and the cream in the fridge for 2 days. For more make-ahead ideas, see how to freeze baked goods without losing moisture.
Origins
Open pastry cases filled with fruit appear in European cookbooks from the Middle Ages. Later, French pastry chefs added smooth crème pâtissière, and the glazed fruit tart became a classic in bakery windows. You can read more about the history of tarts on Wikipedia.
Fruit Tart Recipe FAQ
Can I use store-bought pastry?
Yes. Ready-made sweet shortcrust works well; just bake it fully before filling.
Which fruits should I avoid?
Avoid very juicy fruits such as watermelon, because they release water into the cream.
Why do I need the apricot glaze?
The glaze makes the fruit shine and also stops it from drying out in the fridge.
Hungry for more? If you enjoyed this fruit tart recipe, our digital cookbook collects 31 of our favorite desserts, from knafeh to cheesecake, in one easy download.
