Fancy Fruit Tart-Summers Best Offerings
Fruit tart in the spring and summer are a great way to highlight fresh berries that are at their peak and taste so wonderfully juicy and sweet. This dessert is a great opportunity to showcase those great fruits in season with their great colors that also make a healthier way to eat dessert.
This Fruit tart were one of the first platted desserts I learned how to make. Additionally, I find individualizing it really steps up the presentation and you can serve this to your guests or company.
Your guests are bound to walk away from their meal with a memorable ending of how amazing their dessert experience was.Â
Let’s make it simple….
Fruit Tart Components
Crust:
Pate Sucree crust, a sweet crust consisting of flour, butter, egg yolks, and water.
Fruit Tart Filling:
This can really be anything ranging from a pastry cream, vanilla pudding, cream cheese filling, or fresh whipped cream. Check out my post on Custards 101.
Topping:
Fresh fruit of your choice, use a variation in color to really make the presentation pop. Arrange them in fun designs as you can cut the fruit or leave some of them whole. The sky is the limit you are the artist and go for it!
Glaze the top of the fruit with a clear glaze (you can buy in the store, usually in the “German” section/aisle, as pictured here) or warmed apricot preserves (thinned out with a little water if necessary), both brushed lightly over the fruit after assembling for a shiny finish.
Garnishes:
For extra zazzle you can make your choice of fruit puree’s (fruit sauces) to place on the side of the dessert for an attractive presentation. My favorites are mango, strawberry, and raspberry.  An assortment in this dessert and placed them side by side then took a toothpick and dragged it through all of them to give them a continuous look.
Also, you could also create various swirl design, have fun with it! The sauce elevates the dessert to a new level.
Some Additional Fruit Tart Tips
Crusts
You can bake the crust up ahead of time and keep them in an airtight container for a day or so or even freeze them till ready to use, thaw before assembling. I like to add a little coconut to my crust when I’m making it, you could also add a touch of coconut extract, orange extract, or even 1-2 tsp of orange zest.
Assemble the tart the day you would like to serve it to prevent it from becoming soggy.
Fruit Tarts: Recipe
You may be asking how is a tart different than a pie? Answer: the dough! Pie is made with Pate Brisse (check out the video by Chef Steps) which is a basic pie crust that is flaky made with flour, butter, salt, and water.
Pate Sucree differs with the addition of sugar and egg yolk, to make it richer and sweeter.
Pate Sucree Recipe
1 1/3 cup flour
2 T sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
1 egg yolk
1-2 T ice water
In a small food processor or by hand, cut the butter into the flour until it is mealy consistency. Add the egg yolk and start with 1 T water, add additional water if necessary just till the dough starts to come together. Flatten into a disc and wrap with Saran wrap and chill for 10 minutes.
Roll out the dough onto floured surface to 1/8″ thick fit into a tart shell, mini tart shells, or cut out with cutters to make individual flat tart shells. With a fork prick the bottom of the dough (referred to as docking) and refrigerate the crust for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425 and bake till lightly golden brown.
*This makes enough for one 9″ tart shell.
Cookie Cutters-Great Options for Crusts
These are some options for making the individual fruit tarts like the one pictured. These are various sizes and designs of cutters you can buy for multipurpose uses.
Making Fruit Tarts doesn’t have to be scary at all. Making the dough, filling it with a creamy filling, and top it with fruit and garnishes. Create your own. Leave a comment below in what you created!
Love Tarts: Check out a few more ideas:
