Simple Fresh Fruit Tart with Lemon Pastry Cream

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This Fresh Fruit Tart with Lemon Pastry Cream will leave your guest impressed. You'll be thrilled to show off this elegant tart at your next dinner party. The combination of sweet flavors in the pastry cream combined with tangy fruit will make even guests who don't usually like dessert want more!

It's summer, and it's the perfect time to start cooking fresh, light dishes. I'm going to show you how to make a tart that is beautiful and delicious. The recipe uses simple ingredients like flour, sugar, butter, eggs, lemon, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and vanilla extract.

You can use any fruit you have on hand, but this berry variation has become a family favorite for us!

Key Ingredients:

To make this delicious fruit tart, you will need the following key ingredients:

Egg Yolk

Egg yolk is the fat in lemon pastry cream that emulsifies it giving it its creamy texture.

Cornstarch

Cornstarch helps create a smooth and velvety texture to the pastry cream.

Lemons

Lemon juice helps prevent the eggs from curdling.

Strawberries

Strawberries help by adding a refreshing tang that highlights the sweetness of other fruits.

Blueberries

Blueberries provide a sweet, sour, and tart flavor.

Blackberries

Blackberries are sweet and tart.

How do you make pastry cream?

After the pastry cream is cooked over low heat for five minutes, you add corn starch, which will thicken up the recipe.

The recipe is simmered for about five more minutes until it becomes thick and shiny, then cooled before using in the recipe of your choice.

-Other ingredients like butter or cream can be added to pastry cream depending on what you are making with it.

-Try adding pure vanilla extract or vanilla beans to your pastry cream to make a vanilla pastry cream. In this recipe, we use lemon zest to add more lemon flavor to our lemon cream.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about fresh fruit tarts:

What are some Benefits?

They're simple to make- only five ingredients are needed for this recipe. They also freeze wonderfully so if you have leftover filling from one batch, it's not too hard to whip up another one in no time! There's really nothing like homemade food- especially when it tastes this good. And of course, there's always the bragging rights.

What is a fruit tart?

A fruit tart is a dessert recipe that typically consists of pastry dough topped with fresh fruit and sugar. The recipe for the crust can vary, but it usually has flour, salt, butter or shortening (or both), water to make it stick together better, and then some egg yolk mixed in.

A list of other fruit you can use in your tart recipe:

Fruit tarts are a delicious dessert that can be made with any type of fruit. Fruit tarts are great for summertime, as they're light and refreshing, perfect for hot weather. There's so many different combinations and ways you can make them! It all depends on what kind of mood you want to set with your dessert. Some people like their fruit tart recipes to be sweet, while others prefer the tangy taste of citrus fruits like grapefruit or oranges. One thing is certain: making a tart will never get old because there's always new flavors to try!

Here are 10 different types of fruit that would work well in a fruit tart recipe:

-Apples

-Pears

-Plums

-Strawberries

-Blueberries

-Blackberries

-Raspberries 

-Pineapple chunks or slices (cut off the core) 

-Kiwi fruit

-Grapes

As you can see there are no limits to what seasonal fruit you can use when creating a delicious fresh fruit tart.

How do you make sweet tart dough from scratch?

Tart Dough Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup powdered sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter for buttering pan

In a large bowl cream butter and powdered sugar with a hand mixer about 1-2 minutes. Add the egg and egg yolk, mix together for 1 minute. In a bowl mix, together kosher salt and flour. Slowly add the flour and mix on low speed until a dough ball forms.

On a lightly floured, press dough into a disc shape, roll out to a 12-inch circle that’s ⅛ inch thick. Transfer dough to a buttered tart pan. Press dough into a 9-inch tart pan, making sure the dough is smooth against pan. Roll your rolling pin over the top to secure the top of the dough. Discard the scraps of dough. Use a fork to prick the dough evenly, wrap with plastic wrap and place in freezer for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Add the tart to a baking sheet and pop in the oven for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and cool for 10 minutes. At this point the tart is ready for it filling.

Can you make it ahead?

Freezer: Tart Dough: You can mold the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic, put in a freezer bag and place in the freezer until you’re ready to use. Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before you roll it out.

Fridge: Tart Dough: You can mold the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic, put in a freezer bag and place in the fridge until you’re ready to use. Best used in 48 hours max.

Fruit Tart: You can make the fruit tart one days in advance. The fruit tart will remain fresh for 4 days covered in the refrigerator.

Lemon Pastry Cream: Once pastry cream cools off, transfer to an airtight container, place in the fridge for 3 days max.

Latest Recipe Video:

Substitution Options:

Common One to One Substitutions:

Pure Vanilla Extract, Almond Extract = Lemon Extract

Cake Flour (omit cornstarch in recipe), All-Purpose Flour = Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Granulated Sugar = Raw Cane Sugar

Any Combination of Fruit = Strawberries, Blueberries, & Blackberries

what to serve with Fresh Fruit Tart with Lemon Pastry Cream?

• Hennessy Whipped Cream
• Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
• Blueberry Basil Ice Cream
  

Other Tart and Pie Recipes:

• Mixed Berry Galette
• Blueberry Lemon Tart
• Fried Apple Hand Pies
• Fried Sweet Potato Pie

I hope you enjoyed my recipe for a simple fresh fruit tart with lemon pastry cream. If you make it, be sure to leave a comment below!

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Recipe:

📖 Recipe

Simple Fresh Fruit Tart with Lemon Pastry Cream

Kenneth Temple

This fresh fruit tart with lemon pastry cream will leave your guest impressed. 

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 18 minutes mins

Resting Time 4 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total Time 5 hours hrs 48 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 12 persons

Calories 339 kcal

Equipment

• 1 9-inch tart

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Tart Pastry:

• 1 stick unsalted butter room temperature
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for rolling
• 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter for buttering pan

Lemon Pastry Cream:

• ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¾ cup raw cane sugar
• 1 ½ cups half and half
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract
• zest of 1 small lemon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Berries:

• 1 pint strawberries washed, tops removed, halved
• 6 oz. blueberries
• 6 oz. blackberries
• 1-2 tablespoons apricot jam melted *optional

Instructions

 

Tart Crust:

• In a large bowl cream butter and powdered sugar with a hand mixer about 1-2 minutes. Add the egg and egg yolk, mix together for 1 minute. In a bowl mix, together kosher salt and flour. Slowly add the flour and mix on low speed until a dough ball forms.
• On a lightly floured, press dough into a disc shape, roll out to a 12-inch circle that’s ⅛ inch thick. Transfer dough to a buttered tart pan. Press dough into pan, making sure the dough is smooth against pan. Roll your rolling pin over the top to secure the top of the dough. Discard the scraps of dough. Use a fork to prick the dough evenly, wrap with plastic wrap and place in freezer for 30 minutes.

Lemon Pastry Cream:

• Make pastry cream: In a bowl mix, flour, cornstarch, sugar and salt. In a bowl whisk, eggs yolks. Then add to flour mix, and whisk until it resembles wet sand.
• Turn on the heat to medium in a medium pot add the half and half, bring to a slight boil, about 3-5 minutes. Once mixture is slightly boiling, whisk a ⅓ into the egg-flour mix. Pour back into the pot, stirring constantly, cook until custard thickens. Once custard looks lumpy increase speed of stirring, until smooth. Allow cream to boil for 10 seconds.
• Strain pastry cream in a fine mesh strainer over a bowl, stir in lemon extract, lemon zest and butter. Place plastic wrap directly on pastry cream, then place over an ice bath for 30 minutes to cool.
• While pastry cream cools. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Add the tart to a baking sheet and pop in the oven for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and cool for 10 minutes. At this point the tart is ready for it filling.

Assemble Tart:

• Fill the cooled tart evenly with pastry cream. Arrange berries over pastry cream in an even layer, fully covering the pastry cream. Brush the fruit with melted apricot for a glossy covering. Cover with plastic wrap and pop in the fridge for 4 hours to overnight. Tart is good for up to 4 days in the fridge.

Notes

An ice bath is a combination of ice and water; it’s a Chef’s secret used for cooling, hot ingredients fast. It’s a great way to keep food safe from bacteria growth and stop the cooking process.

Common One to One Substitutions:
Pure Vanilla Extract, Almond Extract = Lemon Extract, Cake Flour (omit cornstarch in recipe), All-Purpose Flour = Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, Granulated Sugar = Raw Cane Sugar, Any Combination of Fruit = Strawberries, Blueberries, & Blackberries

Nutrition

Calories: 339kcalCarbohydrates: 45gProtein: 6gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.4gCholesterol: 130mgSodium: 128mgPotassium: 181mgFiber: 3gSugar: 24gVitamin A: 601IUVitamin C: 28mgCalcium: 62mgIron: 2mg

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