Desserts
Strawberry tart with pastry cream and a baked shell
Strawberry tart with a baked sweet shell, cooked pastry cream and fresh fruit: grouped ingredients, complete chilling times and estimated nutrition per slice.
- Total time
- 238 min
- Servings
- 8
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Cuisine
- International
Ingredients
Pastry shell
Pastry cream
Fruit
Method
Make the pastry crumbs
Prepare scales, bowl, saucepan, whisk, thermometer, cooling rack and a 22 cm nonstick metal tart tin with removable base; add no extra grease. Wash hands and separate fruit from equipment with raw egg. Mix the 180 g flour, 50 g sugar and 1 g salt for the shell. Briefly rub in the 90 g cold cubed butter with your fingertips until crumbly. Do not taste raw flour or dough.
Bring together and press into the tin
Beat whole egg without its shell and separately weigh 30 g for the shell and 100 g for the cream. Refrigerate the cream portion immediately and use any remainder in another cooked preparation. Add the 30 g egg and 20 g cold water to the crumbs. Bring together without prolonged kneading; press all the dough evenly over the base and walls, making a rim about 2 cm high. Smooth with a clean spoon back, using no extra flour or fat, and lightly prick the base. Allow a reference 20 minutes for these initial tasks.
Chill the shell and mix the cream
Cover the tin and refrigerate for 30 minutes at 4 °C or below. During this chill, spend 10 minutes mixing the cream: off the heat, whisk the 100 g egg with the 50 g sugar and 25 g cornstarch until lump free, then gradually stir in the 300 g pasteurized whole milk. During the last 15 minutes of the shell chill, preheat the oven to 180 °C, conventional heat, with a central rack. Preheating and cream mixing overlap with resting and are not counted twice.
Cook the cream and check its temperature
Heat the saucepan over medium low heat, stirring continuously over the bottom and corners until thickened and bubbles appear throughout the mixture. Keep it gently bubbling for 1 minute while stirring, and check with a clean thermometer that the cream reaches at least 72 °C. The proposal allows 8 minutes of cooking in total, including that minute; extend until both conditions are met. Remove from the heat and stir in the 10 g butter and 3 g vanilla extract. Looking thick alone does not replace cooking.
Refrigerate the cooked cream immediately
Spread the cream in a clean shallow container. Cover its surface with food-safe material suitable for that temperature and refrigerate immediately at 4 °C or below; do not cool it on the counter first. Allow a reference 120 minutes until the entire cream is cold, extending if necessary. In the proposed plan, the cream enters the fridge after 20 minutes of shell preparation, 10 of mixing and 8 of cooking, while the shell follows its own preparation.
Bake the shell completely
After the shell's 30 minutes of resting, line its base and walls with baking parchment and fill with oven-safe ceramic baking weights to support the rim. Bake for 25 minutes at 180 °C. Remove the tin using oven gloves, carefully take out the parchment and hot weights, then bake without them for another 10 minutes until the base and rim are golden, dry and firm with no wet pastry patches. The 35 minutes are a guide; extend for your oven and do not use a partly baked shell. Weights are not eaten or counted as ingredients.
Cool the shell and wait for cold cream
Leave the tin on a rack for around 45 minutes until the shell is no longer warm. Carefully unmould when cold and place on the serving plate. Check that the cream has had its 120 minutes in the fridge and is at 4 °C or below. In the 238 minute plan, another 28 minutes of waiting for the cream remain after shell cooling; the cream stays in the fridge. Do not fill a warm shell or use lukewarm cream. Actual cooling may take longer.
Wash strawberries and assemble cold
Wash strawberries under running water before hulling, without soap, and discard spoiled fruit. Dry with clean paper, remove stalks and weigh 400 g prepared fruit; slice it. Stir cold cream with a clean spoon and spread all of it inside the cold shell. Arrange all strawberry slices in slightly overlapping rows. Allow 20 minutes for washing, weighing, cutting and assembly. Add no jam, glaze, whipped cream or extra sugar. Washing does not sterilize the fruit.
Chill the assembled tart
Cover without crushing the fruit and refrigerate the assembled tart for 60 minutes at 4 °C or below. Keep cream and fruit cold; remove the tart only to serve. This final rest helps slicing but does not replace cooking or correctly chilling the cream. Add any extra cooling time to the total.
Slice and keep refrigerated
Use a clean knife to cut 8 equal portions. The complete proposed plan takes 238 minutes: 20 for the shell, 30 resting with cream mixing and cooking in parallel, 35 baking, 45 shell cooling, 28 waiting for cream, 20 assembling and 60 final chilling. Active preparation totals 50 minutes and cooking 43, with overlaps; timing and yield are untested. The 1259 g is the raw ingredient sum, not a finished weight. As an untested household quality proposal, eat preferably the same day or within 24 hours, covered and always at 4 °C or below. Never return plate leftovers to the tart.
The step photos are illustrative.
Notes
Nutrition facts
One eighth of the whole tart; no confirmed finished weight
- Protein
- 6 g
- Carbohydrates
- 38.3 g
- Fat
- 13.3 g
- Saturated fat
- 7.6 g
- Fiber
- 1.6 g
- Sugars
- 17 g
- Sodium
- 91 mg
Formula estimate, not laboratory analysis or kitchen testing. Ten exact USDA foods with all eight nutrients present. Whole-milk reference includes added vitamin D without claiming fortification for this recipe. Brand differences, residues and finished weight remain unmeasured.
Reference source: USDA FoodData Central — SR Legacy
For general information only; it does not replace advice from a qualified health or nutrition professional.
About this recipe
Strawberry tart with a fully baked sweet shell, cooked whole-egg pastry cream and fresh strawberries. The proposal makes 8 portions in 238 minutes including chilling and overlapping tasks; formula, timing and yield await kitchen testing.
Frequently asked questions
Are the strawberries baked with the tart?
No. Fully bake the empty shell, cook the cream in the saucepan and chill both. Arrange washed, dried and sliced strawberries on cold cream and refrigerate. Do not add fresh fruit to raw pastry or assemble with lukewarm cream.
How much egg and time are needed?
Weigh whole egg without shell: 30 g for pastry and 100 g for cream, rather than a fixed egg count. The proposal takes 238 complete minutes with chilling and parallel tasks; extend as needed. Timing and eight portions await testing.
How do I avoid raw cream and store the tart?
Stir until bubbles cover the mixture, keep a gentle bubble for one minute and check at least 72 °C with a clean thermometer. Refrigerate cream immediately in a shallow container and assemble cold. As an untested household quality proposal, eat the same day or within 24 hours, always at 4 °C or below; washing strawberries does not sterilize them.
