Tarte aux Fraises
“A crisp sweet-pastry shell filled with silky vanilla crème pâtissière and crowned with glossy halved strawberries glazed to a shine. The buttery base, smooth custard and fresh tart-sweet fruit form the textbook French fruit tart. A fixture of every patisserie window come strawberry season.”
Where it comes from
The strawberry tart is a fixture of French patisserie, found in boulangeries from Paris to the provinces. It is built on two foundations of classic French pastry — crisp pâte sucrée and silky crème pâtissière — under a glaze of bright fruit.
On the plate
The shell shatters cleanly into buttery shards, giving way to cool, vanilla-rich custard and the bright juice-burst of fresh strawberry. The glaze adds a faint jammy sweetness and a beautiful shine. Light, fruity and elegant, it is summer on a plate.
How it works
Blind-baking sets the pastry fully so the custard filling cannot make it soggy, and the high-sugar dough stays crisp. Cornflour in the crème pâtissière lets it be boiled without curdling, giving a thick, sliceable custard, while the glaze seals the fruit from drying or weeping.
Variations
Some use a pastry cream lightened with whipped cream (crème diplomate), add a thin layer of almond cream, or mix in raspberries and other berries.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓40 min active · 90 min waiting
How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓- 135 min
Rub butter into flour, icing sugar and egg to form a sweet pastry, then chill 30 minutes.
- 225 min
Roll out the pastry, line a tart tin and blind-bake until golden and crisp.
- 35 min
For the crème pâtissière, heat milk with a split vanilla pod.
- 46 min
Whisk egg yolks, sugar and cornflour, then pour on the hot milk and return to the pan.
- 515 min
Cook gently, stirring, until thick, then cool with a film pressed to the surface.
- 63 min
Spread the cooled custard into the baked tart shell.
- 76 min
Halve the strawberries and arrange them tightly over the custard.
- 82 min
Brush with warmed strawberry or apricot glaze to finish.
