[Ingredients A – Short Crust Pastry]
60g cold unsalted butter (cubed)
100g pastry flour
1/4 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
50g ice-cold water
[Ingredients B – Pastry Cream]
200g fresh whole milk
3 egg yolks
500g superfine caster sugar
20g pastry flour (sifted)
1/2 split lengthwise vanilla bean (with seeds scraped)
8g matcha powder
[Ingredients C – Whipped Cream]
40g whipping cream
1tbsp cherry/orange liqueur
[Ingredients D - Topping]
Icing sugar
Fresh fruits of your choice like strawberries, blueberries, nectarines, raspberries…
[Steps]
Combine butter cubes and flour in a plastic bag. Place in the freezer overnight.
Using a food processor, pulse butter and flour mixture, sugar and salt until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add water and mix until a smooth dough is formed.
Place dough on a floured surface and knead lightly. Leave dough to rest in the refrigerator overnight.
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Roll out dough to a thickness of 5mm on a floured surface. Brush away excess flour, then place dough over the tart tin. Gently press dough into the tin, against the side and bottom edges. Roll the rolling pin over the top of the tin to remove excess dough. Prick dough with a fork, then leave to rest for about 5mins in the freezer before baking.
Place a sheet of aluminum foil over the chilled dough, pressing it well into the bottom edges. Place baking weights into the tart tin and bake for 20mins. Carefully remove weights and aluminum foil when the pastry begins changing colour at the edges, then continue baking it for 10mins more.
While waiting, prepare pastry cream. Add milk and vanilla bean to a saucepan and bring to boil.
In a clean bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar together until mixture is pale yellow in colour. Add flour and mix well.
Add hot milk to the egg mixture and fold through. Remove vanilla pod from mixture.
Return egg and milk mixture to the saucepan and bring it to boil over high-heat, stirring constantly. Continue mixing until mixture becomes smooth and glossy, and then remove the saucepan from the heat.
Transfer pastry cream to a tray, cover with cling film and place in the freezer to cool, but do not freeze it. Before use, gently beat cream with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
The tart should be ready by now. Remove it from the oven and leave it to cool on a wire rack.
In a chilled bowl, whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Add whipped cream and liqueur to pastry cream and mix well.
Fill tart shell with pastry cream and arrange fruit on top. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.
[Something that You Must Know]
For pastry cream, the vanilla bean must be infused in the hot milk.
The egg mixture must be well mixed before adding the hot milk. Otherwise, eggs will be cook too quickly.
Because pastry cream contains flour, it must be cooked over high-heat so as to cook completely.
Pastry cream must be cooled rapidly to prevent the growth of bacteria, which is why it is placed in the freezer. It should be kept refrigerated at all times.
It is essential to use cold butter in this recipe as melted butter will cause pastry not to be crispy.
All ingredients must be cold, since the butter should not be melted.
The dough must be rested in the fridge since the gluten it contains makes it shrink easily, if used immediately after it has been made.
If the dough is too soft, refrigerate to chill before rolling it out. Always make sure to dust the work surface well with flour to prevent the dough from sticking.
For whipped cream, it is essential to whip the cream over a bowl of ice water to keep it cold, otherwise the cream will become warm and curdle easily.
Use fresh (single) whipping cream and must have at least 35% fat.