Custard Cream Tart with Raspberries and Strawberries

Custard Cream Tart with fresh fruit is one of my favourite summer recipes. I love this version with summer berries, freshly picked by myself at an English farm!

Ever since reading a post on Love Taza about strawberry picking, I’ve been dreaming about visiting a PYO (Pick Your Own) farm here in England. Luckily my friends Sam and Hannah knew exactly the right place: Peterley Manor in Buckinghamshire.

I planned this day adventure with Sam, Hannah, Wendy and Charles during our Frenchie picnic in Hampstead last month. Staying true to our style, we immediately created an hashtag for the event: #PYOandPie.

We first picked delicious raspberries (the best I’ve ever tasted) before moving to the strawberry field. It’s nearly the end of strawberry season, but we managed to find enough good ones to fill our punnets. We *may* also have eaten quite a few on the way… ;)

After picking fresh berries and buying more fruit and vegs at the farm shop, we drove to Sam and Hannah’s house in Wycombe to make a cake!

I used my Fruit Tart recipe to make the shortcrust pastry, which I filled with homemade custard cream and our fresh berries. We spent a few hours making the cake, drinking coffee and playing with Sam and Hannah’s adorable French bulldog Eggs Benedict.

Sam, Wendy and I got really geeky when it was time to style and photograph the cake. I loved Sam’s black boards which we used as table top and background: they created a great colour contrast against the red of the berries!

The tart itself didn’t last long, we wolfed it down in a matter of minutes! :)

Ingredients

For the pastry

• 330g plain flour
• 165g butter
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 12g baking powder
• pinch of salt

For the cream

• 2 egg yolks
• 70g white sugar
• 25g plain flour
• 250ml milk
• zest of 1 lemon

For the decoration

• 1/2 punnet strawberries
• 1/2 punnet raspberries
• 5 sheets of gelatine

Preparation

Shape the flour in a fountain, place the pieces of cold butter in the centre, with sugar on top. Knead the butter and sugar first, then slowly add the flour into the mix. Keep kneading, then add the egg, baking powder and pinch of salt.
Once you have a ball of smooth pastry, place it in the fridge to cool.

After 10-15′, spread the pastry with a rolling pin and lay it on a greased baking tray. Cook in the oven at 180° C for 20 minutes.

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, then slowly add flour and milk. Stir continuously to avoid creating lumps in the cream. Add lemon zest and move the bowl to the stove. Cook with low flame until the cream becomes thick – don’t stop stirring, always moving in the same direction. When the cream starts to boil, remove from the stove.

Spread the custard cream over the pastry, then lay over the berries (previously washed and dried).

Melt the gelatine with water following the instructions on the packet. Pour over the gelatine and place the tart in the fridge.

It really was the perfect day in the life of a food blogger and photographer! I’m so grateful to have such amazing friends! :)