Fresh Fruit Tart with Chocolate Pastry Cream 朱古力水果撻

I am supposed to make a birthday cake for my husband, but he wants something different. So I said, "How about a fruit tart?" I bought a fluted tart pan with a removable bottom a while ago but did not get a chance to use it. I read a few books from the local library and came up with this fresh mixed fruit tart with chocolate pastry cream. The tart pastry can be pre-made and needs to be refrigerated before rolling out.

This recipe is good for a 9 or 9 ½ inch tart pan.

8 tbsp/1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut to small cubes
50g/ ¼ cup sugar
200g/ 1 ½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 large egg yolk
2 tbsp heavy cream

⅛ tsp salt

I use a stand mixer with the paddle to make the dough. A food processor or your hands can be used as well. If using your hands, just work as quickly as possible so the dough will not be heated up by your body warmth.

1)  Whisk together the yolk, heavy cream and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Set aside.
2)  Put the cold butter and sugar and in the mixing bowl. Mix in low-medium speed until the sugar almost disappear.
3)  Add the flour and salt. Mix for 30 seconds.
4)  Add the egg mixture and mix until barely combined. Do not over mix. It should look like coarse sand.
5)  Take out and press into a disk. Wrap it with plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
6)  Roll out the dough (in between two wraps) to slightly larger than the pan.

7)  Carefully place the tart dough into the pan and press to the sides. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

8) Blind bake the crust with some weights on it so that it does not puff up. I use some coins as weight instead of beans or rice because they are better in conducting heat (of course you can buy those pie weights). Make sure the coins or beans are filled to the sides of the pan, not just the bottom. Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 425⁰F oven for 5 minutes, lower the temperture to 375⁰F and bake for 15-20 minutes more. Then remove the coins with the foil. Bake 10 minutes more until it is nice and brown.

9)  As the crust is baking, prepare the chocolate pastry cream:

2 cups whole milk

4 large egg yolks

6 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp cornstarch

a pinch of salt

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

2 ½ tbsp unsalted butter, cubes and in room temperature

Boil the milk in a small pan. In another pan, whisk the yolks, sugar, salt and cornstarch together until well blended. Temper the yolk in the mixture by slowly pouring in the hot milk, with constant stirring. Pour the mixture back to the pan. Bring it to a boil under medium heat with constant stirring. It will get thick as it boils. To avoid lumps, do not stop stirring. After it boils, remove from heat and slowly mix in the melted chocolate. Then add the butter and mix until well blended. The mixture should be silky and shiny. Put a piece of plastic wrap tightly and directly on the cream and cool in the fridge before using.

10)  Spread the cold pastry cream on the room-temperature crust.

11)  Now comes the fun part. Arrange the fruits on top in whatever design you like. This is designed by Ingrid, my sweet daughter.  

Happy Birthday My Dear !!

Recipes adapted from: tart pastry from The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Beranbaum; chocolate pastry cream from Baking by Dorie Greenspan.