Fresh Berry Fruit Tart

I LOVE berries!
Berries can always be used for simple decoration and fillings. I also like to use berries when I make my icing for cakes. However, there is no other way to enjoy fresh berries in extraordinary way than a fruit tart! You have to make a tart shell and pastry cream, but they are fairly easy.

 

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT

Ingredients

Baked Tart Shell – Click this link for How to Make Tart Dough
Pastry Cream – Click the Link for How To Make Pastry Cream
Desired Chocolate (I prefer dark chocolate.)
Fresh Berries (washed and drained)

Equipment

Pastry brush

 

HOW TO MAKE

Preparing berries and chocolate

Melt your favorite chocolate on a double boiler & rinse berries and drain them.

Making glaze

1. Boil the jam in a sauce pan on a medium heat and pour over a strainer.
2. Use a wooden spoon and separate seeds and any chunks from boiled jam.

Coating & Filling

3. Brush the tart shells (the bottom and side) with the melted chocolate. This step helps you to prevent tart shells becoming soggy and it will also add additional flavor.
4. Spread the pastry cream in the tart shells in an even layer.

Arranging berries & Glazing

5. Arrange the berries over the surface of the pastry cream. Try to cover the pastry cream – you cannot cover up 100%, but pastry cream should be almost invisible.
6. To glaze berries, lightly brush with the raspberry glaze that we prepared earlier. This
gives a shinny delicious look.

 

SERVING & STORING

Serving: Do not make fruit tart a night before your party or dinner. Fruit tarts best when they are served within 6 hours (max 12 hours) from assembling. As long as you made pastry cream, glaze, and tart dough (and shaped in the shells) ahead, you can quickly make fruit tarts by baking tart shell, assembling fruits, and glazing them for your guests. Refrigerate them until you are ready to serve.

Storing: Unfortunately, I do not recommend to store leftover fruit tarts. Even with the help of chocolate coat and glaze coat, fruit tarts get extremely soggy over night. Please enjoy fresh fruit tart as you made!

 

ALEXA’S TIPS

• Making glaze: Generally, apricot jam is often used for glaze – I was told once because apricot jam doesn’t over power other ingredients (fruits) color. But, I think you can use any kind of jams. Since I didn’t have apricot jam, I used raspberry jam – thought it would be fine sine all my berries are red.
  
• Assembling fruit tarts: Do not put components (tart shell, pastry cream, and fruits) together more than 12 hours before you serve. Although we brushed the shell with melted chocolate to keep it from becoming soggy, the shell won’t be as crispy and the fruit won’t be fresh anymore.
• Glazing fruit tarts: Be careful to not over glaze fruits. You want to brush over slightly to give a shiny look and to not overpower the true flavor of fruits.

 

TASTE REVIEW

I can promise you that you won’t be disappointed by trying these fruit tarts. I have made so many fruit tarts with the same recipes (Pastry Cream and Tart Dough) over and over again, and I know I won’t get tired of it ever.

Love the color of berries and mint. I can just stare at them all day.

~ Alexa