Fresh Berry Fruit Tart

Posted on February 24, 2008 by Alexa. Tags: Blackberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Strawberry

I LOVE berries!
Berries can always be used for simple decoration and are common in a lot of 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 not that hard!

Do you have fresh berries in your refrigerator? How about making an individual fresh berry tart with me?

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Equipments

Pastry brush

Ingredients for Fruit Tart

Baked tart shell (Click here for the recipe)

Pastry cream (Click here for the recipe)
Desired chocolate (I always prefer dark chocolate.)
Fresh berries (washed and dried)

HOW TO MAKE

Making the Glaze

1. Usually, apricot jam is often used for making glaze (I haven’t look up why yet.) But, any kind of jams will work for glaze. Since I am making fresh berries tarts, I picked a raspberry jam to make my glaze. Boil the jam in a sauce pan and pour over a strainer.
2. Use a wooden spoon and separate seeds and any chunks from boiled jam.

Coating & Filling

3. Melt the chocolate you picked and brush the tart shells (the bottom and side) with the melted chocolate. This step helps you to prevent tart shells becoming soggy and it also upgrades the taste! =]
4. Spread the pastry cream in the tart shells in an even layer.

Arranging Berries & Finishing

5. Arrange the berries over the surface of the pastry cream. Make sure that you try to fill the entire tart shell as the pastry cream is invisible.
6. To coat berries, lightly brush with the raspberry glaze that we prepared earlier. This
gives a shinny delicious look.

Garnish with fresh mint and serve or eat within 12 hours!

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Do not put components 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.
2. Store in a refrigerator. Remember, they are fresh fruits! =]

Love the color of berries and mint!

12 comments, what do you think?

On January 30th, 2009 @ 11:06 PM Sunshinemom said:

I stumbled here looking for berry images. Your about page is very well written and I liked your recipe very much, esp. the chocolate glaze over the tart base – great idea and will use it soon:)

On February 13th, 2009 @ 11:27 PM Alexa said:

Hi! Sorry for my late reply. I recently moved to San Francisco and I’ve been busy with packing and unpaking.
Thank you for checking out my website and leaving the comment.
Yes, the chocolate coating on a tart shell is not only useful but also delicious! I hope you like it! And, please do not hesitate to give me any feedback. =]

On June 6th, 2009 @ 8:50 AM Jérémy Maréchal said:

Hi Alexa !

How are you ? I tried to send you a mail using the “Contact” page but I can’t see the captcha picture. Anyway, it’s not a problem.
I left Kay’s house one month ago and I just remembered recently that you’re a webmaster! So I looked for your website and I found it. The presentation is very nice and all these recipes left me hungry. I’ll try at least one of these, I promise !
You can contact me using my mail address.

Have a very nice day!

Jeremy

On July 1st, 2009 @ 5:56 PM Oriana said:

Wow, awesome website! I love baking, but I’m only 14, so sometimes the recipes are hard to follow. But your explanations and pictures really help. Thanks so much for the cool recipes! Can’t wait to try this one out

On July 12th, 2009 @ 12:00 PM Alexa said:

Hi Oriana! Thank you for leaving a comment. I’m really happy that my photos and instructions helped you understanding better! Feel free to ask me any questions you have!

On August 30th, 2009 @ 10:42 AM Alexa said:

Hey, Jeremy, good to hear from you! My reply is little bit late – sorry about that, but I’ve been busy with moving and working for the past a couple of months. Thanks for remembering and checked my website out. Eliane left in July after she finished her school and Kay has had new students. How is the life over there?

On October 6th, 2009 @ 1:14 PM Jeremy said:

Hi Alexa !

Thanks for your answer, it’s a pleasure to read your message.
Since my last email, I did so many things !
A lot of concerts (U2 for the biggest one, it was crazy), holidays at La Rochelle (a lovely place close to the sea) and.. time’s up ! I came back to school at the beginning of september.
I live in a big house with 5 roommates, it’s excellent. We’re in Brest, 500 meters next to the sea. :]
I’m at school for the 5 next months and then.. go back to the company I work for (I’m in apprenticeship).

So I’m fine in France !
I hope you’re fine too !

Please use my mail address, It will be easier to check out my mailbox!

See ya !

Jeremy

On March 10th, 2010 @ 9:54 PM Susan said:

Hi Alexa,
I was looking online for a fruit tart recipe, since moving here to IOWA their is not that many bakeries that sell them, actually I only found 1.
Your website and your fruit tarts look delicious I will be making them tomorrow and let you know how they turn out
Thanks so much for sharing!

Susan

On March 12th, 2010 @ 8:59 PM Alexa said:

Hi, Susan,

I’m glad that you found my kitchen. How is settling down in IOWA? I hear you about having a hard time finding good bakeries that sell good quality of fresh fruit tarts. I lived in Kansas for 4 years and I don’t think I ever saw bakeries where I used to live other than one in WalMart.

If you could, I think making at home is the best way to enjoy fruit tart. As I said on the post, it started getting soggy even after 6 hours after you put everything together.
Let me know how they turned out!

Bests,
Alexa

On October 10th, 2010 @ 5:50 PM Jan said:

Hi Alexa!

I’m so glad I found this recipe! I have a food project for my class where I have to bring in tarts, and I’m so excited to try and use this recipe. It seems straightforward, and since I have a knack for messing up recipes one way or another, I’m so happy to have found one that I don’t think I can really mess up. (:

I do have one question though– I have to make these next Sunday, and take them in on Monday morning. Will the chocolate seal prevent them from getting soggy and gross overnight? If not, is there anything else I can do about it?

Thank you so much, and I’ll definitely be back soon! (:

On October 11th, 2010 @ 2:29 PM Alexa said:

Hi, Jan.

I made tarts so many times and tried several recipes for pastry cream and tart dough. The one that I am sharing is really good and you won’t be disappointed.

Tarts are only good up to 12 hours after they are put together. According to my experiences, tart shells start getting soggy after 7 or 8 hours and the fruit starts looking mushy.

What I recommend is getting everything ready on Sunday night and put together on Monday morning – you will need to wake up at least one hour early (or longer depends on how many you are making), but it is worth it.

Sunday night
1. Make pastry cream, cool it down, cover the cream (make sure you place plastic wrap directly on the cream), then store in a fridge.
2. Make tart shell, bake them, and cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in a room.
3. Wash fruit (Strawberry, blackberry, and blueberry can be washed and stored over night, but not raspberry – it gets mushy), and store in a fridge.
4. Make Glaze (if you have apricot jam – this is the best.) and store in a fridge.

Monday morning
1. Melt chocolate and brush them on the baked shell.
2. While you are waiting for them to get harden, slice fruit, if needed.
3. Fill tart shell with pastry cream, place fruit, and brush with glaze.

Then, you are ready to go.

I wish you the best and let me know how they go!

On September 26th, 2011 @ 8:51 PM Frances said:

Hi Alexa, these recipes are the best, rigth now I’m coolong my pie, it’s great to know that there are people like you, voluntarily share their knowledge.
Thank You