Berry and vanilla cream tart

A fruit tart is always a great tea party treat and this one with its flecks of vanilla and colourful fruity layer is light, despite the rich filling.

Makes 1 x 23cm tart • Preparation: 1 hour, plus cooling time Cooking time: 25 minutes • Oven temperature: 200°C

DOUGH

• 340ml cake flour

• a pinch of salt

• 125ml butter, at room temperature

• 1 egg yolk

• 10ml ice water

• 5ml vanilla essence

1 Sift the flour and salt together. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk, ice water and vanilla essence and mix briskly to make a firm dough. Shape the dough into a flat disc, cover and leave to rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

2 Preheat the oven. Roll out the dough about 5mm thick, line a 23cm loose-base tart tin with the dough, cover with a sheet of baking paper and a layer of dry beans to weigh it down, and blind bake the crust for 10–15 minutes or until done. Remove the beans and put the tart crust back in the oven for another 5 minutes to bake the base. Allow to cool.

3 Bring the cream, milk, vanilla pod and seeds to the boil in a pot. Remove from the heat, cover the pot and let the mixture steep for 5 minutes.

FILLING

• 250ml cream

• 250ml milk

• 1 vanilla pod, cut lengthwise and seeds scraped out

• 6 egg yolks

• 125ml castor sugar

• 5ml gelatine powder

• 300ml sliced strawberries, figs and blueberries, to garnish • icing sugar (optional)

4 Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick and creamy.

Now gradually add the warm cream mixture while beating continuously. Pour all of this mixture into the pot that the cream was heated in and place the pot back on the stove; cook the custard over low heat until it thickens. Be careful not to overheat and curdle it – keep stirring slowly.

Meanwhile, put the gelatine in a bowl with 15ml cold water and let it stand until it gets spongy. Place the gelatine bowl in a larger bowl of boiling water and stir gently until it has melted.

5 Remove the custard from the heat as soon as it has thickened, then stir in the melted gelatine. Pour the custard through a sieve into a clean mixing bowl (place the bowl over ice if you’re in a hurry) and allow to cool.

6 Pour the cooled custard into the prepared crust and refrigerate to set.

7 Just before serving, arrange the fruit in a pattern on top of the tart. There are no rules but remember, you want to be able to slice the tart easily and also have enough fruit with each slice. Sprinkle with a little sifted icing sugar, if desired.