End of Summer
I have to admit that the end of summer actually makes me happy. When I was in school, it was always so exciting to start a new year! Plus, I prefer autumn and winter over summer in terms of weather anyway. But, to be honest, this year it feels like September is creeping up on us so quickly! How can August already be over? I’m not sure we have even gotten to post all the summery desserts we had planned to! Anyway, in order to squeeze the most out of the end of summer as we can, today’s recipe embodies summer and sunshine. Because while we may be tired of the sunshine right now, we’re going to miss it in a few months!
A Sunny Dessert
Today’s recipe embraces summer. This fruit tart is cool and refreshing and covered in fruit (as the name suggests)! We love a good fruit tart because they are so simple to make and you can quickly decorate them in a very impressive way. They require minimal baking which is great if it’s really hot and you don’t want to turn on the oven for too long! You can also customize them with whatever fruit you have on hand, whether it’s bananas, kiwis, mangoes, pineapple, or anything else. Our recipes yields a tart that holds together really well and is a beautiful centerpiece for any dinner party or celebration. The crust is flaky and buttery, the pastry cream is silky smooth with an amazing vanilla flavor, and the fruit on top adds a lovely refreshing element to this dessert.
How to Make Frugttærte
As I’ve already mentioned, this dessert could not get any easier to assemble. You should make the kagecreme (vanilla pastry cream) in advance so that it can cool in the fridge. If you don’t want to make it homemade, you can use store-bought vanilla pudding mix. But of course we have to insist that our kagecreme recipe is really simple and a lot more delicious than store-bought! So definitely try it out if you have the time.
Then, make the dough and let this chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Roll it out and add it to your tart pan, freeze for about 10 minutes (so that it holds its shape a bit better in the oven), and then bake. Once it is done, let it cool, and then it’s time to assemble! Add a nice layer of pastry cream and then arrange your fruit on top however you like. Enjoy! Let us know in the comments if you try it out.
Frugttærte (Fruit Tart with Pastry Cream)
Ingredients
Dough
- 113 grams (8 tbsp or 1 stick) cold, cubed, unsalted butter
- 200 grams (1 2/3 cup) all purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 3-4 tbsp ice water
Filling
- 1 portion kagecreme/pastry cream (see our recipe here!)
Fruit
- 2 kiwis
- ¼ pint blueberries
- 12 strawberries
Instructions
- Make kagecreme ahead of time (following the steps in our recipe) and chill in the fridge until ready to use.
- Make the tart dough by combining flour, salt, and sugar in either a mixing bowl or a food processor.
- Add your butter either by hand (crumbling the cold butter into the flour until it your butter is broken down into smaller than pea size chunks or it resembles sand) or in the food processor (add your butter and pulse until the mixture resembles sand).
- Add ice water (or just very cold water) and pulse or combine by hand until the dough starts to stick together. It’s okay if it’s still a little crumbly, but if it’s not coming together at all, add as many tablespoons of ice water until the dough comes together.
- Wrap up your dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. Towards the end of the resting time, preheat the oven to 190 °C or 375 °F
- After the dough has rested, roll out into a 12" circle, about ⅛" to ¼" thick. We used a 10" tart pan for this recipe!
- Prepare a tart pan by buttering the sides and the bottom and adding a piece of parchment paper to the bottom.
- Roll the dough onto the rolling pin and transfer to the tart pan by unrolling it over the tart pan.
- Lower the dough into the edge of the pan. Press down the corners gently, trying not to stretch the dough. If you need to patch any holes or add more dough to the edges to fill out the fluted tart pan edge, just press any excess dough onto the hole or thin edge.
- Clean up the edges by removing any excess dough by running a knife along the edge.
- Freeze the tart base for around 10 minutes.
- When it is time to bake, prick the bottom of the tart with a fork. Ideally, you would bake the tart with pie weights to start (you can also use dried beans, or even rice!) – if you don't have any, it is okay too!
- Bake the base for around 20-30 minutes (15 minutes with pie weights, then remove them for the remaining time!) or until you have an even golden crust.
- Remove from the oven and let the tart base cool.
- Once it has cooled, you can remove the edge of the pan.
- Spread the pastry cream in an even layer across the base of the tart.
- Slice the kiwi and cut the strawberries in half, then arrange on top however you like! Add blueberries to the tart as well! You can use whatever fresh fruit you like here, such as raspberries, blackberries, or others!
- Optionally, you can brush the top of the fruit with simple syrup or honey to add a shine. Enjoy!
