Glazed Fruit Tart

Glazed Fruit Tart

The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 30 mins
Chill : 20 mins
Total: 80 mins
Servings: 12 servings
Yield: 2 to 4 tarts

Our sweet and buttery shortcrust fruit tarts are filled with pastry cream and topped with strawberries, mandarin oranges, kiwi fruit, mango, blueberries, and raspberries. Although there is some work involved, making these glazed fruit tarts can be easy thanks to our detailed recipe. It just requires some attention to detail, especially with the crust.

Not too many novice cooks want to work with shortcrust pastry as it has a reputation for being hard to work with due to its high-fat content. The trick is to avoid overworking the dough and chilling it well before rolling it out to harden the butter. Use a gentle touch and barely any kneading for a melt-in-your-mouth crumb. This recipe yields 4 5-inch tarts, or 2 larger 7- to 9-inch tarts.

Ingredients

For Pastry Cream Filling:

  • 2 cups whole milk, divided

  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

  • 0.7 ounces cornstarch

  • 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature

  • 2 ounces superfine sugar

For Sweet Shortcrust Dough:

  • 8 3/4 ounces unsalted butter, chilled, cubed

  • 3 1/2 ounces superfine sugar

  • 1 large egg, beaten, at room temperature

  • 12 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour, sifted

For the Glaze:

  • 1/2 cup apricot jam

  • 2 tablespoons water

For Fruit Topping:

  • 10 large strawberries

  • 2 medium kiwi fruits

  • 1 medium mango

  • 10 raspberries

  • 10 blueberries

  • 1 small can mandarin orange segments, drained

Steps to Make It

Note: While there are multiple steps to this recipe, this glazed fruit tart is broken down into workable categories to help you better plan for baking and assembly.

Make the Pastry Cream

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    pastry cream ingredients

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  2. Place all but 2 tablespoons of the milk in a medium saucepan. Add the vanilla and warm gently over low heat. Line a baking tray with plastic cling wrap.

    milk and vanilla in a saucepan

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the reserved 2 tablespoons of milk and the cornstarch until smooth.

    milk and cornstarch in a bowl

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  4. Add the egg yolks and caster sugar to the milk-and-cornstarch mixture and whisk to combine.

    add egg and sugar to the cornstarch mixture in the bowl

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  5. Add a little of the warmed milk to the cornstarch-egg mixture and whisk. Add the remaining warm milk to the bowl and whisk constantly to avoid any egg clumps.

    combine warm milk and corn starch mixture

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  6. Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the mixture thickens, or about 6 minutes.

    pastry cream cooking in a saucepan

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  7. After the pastry cream has thickened, pour it onto the plastic-lined baking tray. Cover the cream with more plastic cling wrap to stop a skin from forming. Refrigerate to cool until needed.

    pastry cream on a baking tray, covered with plastic wrap

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

Make Shortcrust Dough

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    shortcrust dough ingredients

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  2. Using a standing mixer or a wooden spoon, cream the butter with the caster sugar until smooth.

    butter and sugar creamed together

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  3. Add the beaten egg and stir well.

    add egg to the butter mixture in the stand mixer

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  4. Place the sifted flour on a clean work surface. Make a well in the middle and add in the creamed butter-sugar mixture.

    butter mixture in a flour well on a cutting board

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  5. Using just your fingers and fingertips, gently fold the flour in and bring the dough together.

    dough on a wood cutting board

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  6. Roll the dough into a large log and divide it into 4 equal portions—or 2 portions depending on how many tarts are you making. Wrap them individually with plastic cling wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

    dough wrapped in plastic

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

Line the Tart Pans

  1. Preheat oven to 390 F and lightly grease 4 5-inch or 2 7 to 9-inch tart pans.

    greased tart pans

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  2. Place each piece of chilled dough on top of plastic wrap and cover with another piece of plastic wrap. With a rolling pin, roll in all directions with steady pressure to make a large circle about 1/2-inch thick. Make sure you roll the dough about 4 inches wider than the base of the tart pan. Work quickly so the dough doesn't get soft and become hard to manage.

    dough rolled out under plastic wrap

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  3. Gently transfer the dough to the tart pan. This can be done by loosely folding the dough over the rolling pin and then positioning it over the tart pan to unfold.

    dough in tart pans

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  4. Ease the dough into the corners of the pan and use your fingertips to gently press the dough against the sides to fill in the fluting. To trim the overhang, just run your rolling pin over the top of the tin. If there are any holes in the dough, simply take a small piece from the overhang trimmings, moisten it lightly with water and position it over the hole. Press it gently into place. Repeat the process with the remaining dough and tart tins.

    dough in tart pans with excess dough removed

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  5. Using a fork, poke holes in the bottom of each pastry shell (docking).

    dough in tart pans, poke holes with a fork

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  6. Blind bake the crusts for 12 to 15 minutes using pie weights on top of parchment paper—use uncooked rice or beans to fill the tarts to the brim if you don't have pie weights. The crusts are ready when the edges pull away from the tin. Remove from oven and remove weights and baking paper. The center of the tart may still appear moist but this is fine. Set aside to cool.

    baked tart crusts

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

Make the Glaze and Fill the Tarts

  1. Gather the glaze ingredients and fresh fruit.

    tart glaze ingredients

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  2. Make the apricot glaze by heating apricot jam and water together in a small saucepan. Stir well to melt, or about 3 minutes.

    apricot jam and water in a saucepan

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  3. Strain and discard any pulp. Place the strained mixture back in the saucepan and heat gently for 5 minutes until thicker. Allow to cool off in a bowl.

    strain pulp from the apricot jam

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  4. Clean the strawberries, kiwi fruit, and mango and slice them into small pieces. The raspberries, blueberries and mandarin orange segments can be left whole.

    clean and dice fruit

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  5. Fill each baked tart base with the chilled pastry cream, spreading it in an even layer.

    tart crust filled with pastry cream

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

  6. Equally divide the fruits over the tarts, covering the surface of each so no pastry cream is visible.

    fruit on top of the tart

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  7. Dip a pastry brush into the apricot glaze and lightly brush the surface of the fruit to give an attractive shine.

    fruit tart brushed with glaze

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  8. Serve tarts immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 12 hours.

    Glazed Fruit Tart covered with plastic wrap

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
405 Calories
19g Fat
54g Carbs
7g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories 405
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 19g 24%
Saturated Fat 11g 55%
Cholesterol 107mg 36%
Sodium 46mg 2%
Total Carbohydrate 54g 19%
Dietary Fiber 3g 10%
Total Sugars 23g
Protein 7g
Vitamin C 48mg 239%
Calcium 83mg 6%
Iron 2mg 11%
Potassium 316mg 7%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)