Summer could well be just around the corner and this month Surbiton siblings Pete and Leo Williamson share their dad’s fruity strawberry tart recipe.

Strawberry tart

This summery fruit tart is sure to impress your friends and family. Fruit tarts are normally made with crème patissiere, but to save time, I’ve improvised an alternative creamy filling: I started with whipped cream, beating until quite stiff and then mixed in store-bought custard. Good fillings can also be made from cream with fromage frais and mascarpone.

Tip: I sourced some huge strawberries for mine, but you can use any type of strawberry or, of course, any kind of fruit. If you prefer homemade sweet shortcrust pastry there is a recipe on the WDC blog.

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Serves 8 - 1 hour - Level easy

Ingredients

1 pack of ready-made sweet shortcrust pastry

2 x 400g punnets of strawberries

300ml double cream

100ml good store-bought custard

3 tbs strawberry jam

½ tsp vanilla essence

2 tsp icing sugar plus extra for dusting

Equipment

To make two smaller or one large tart:

2 x 15cm or 1 x 24cm tart tins

Ceramic baking beans or dried beans

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C or Gas 4

Wash and hull the strawberries. Pick out half the best looking fruit for decorating the tart and set

aside. Cut the remainder into slices and put in a bowl. Add a teaspoon of sugar, mix and leave to macerate for half an hour.

Prepare the pastry base. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 4mm. Line the tin/s cutting the excess above the rim.

Cook the pastry base. Using a fork prod holes into the base. Line the base with tin foil and then the

beans. Bake ‘blind’ for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and return to the oven for 10 – 15 minutes until the base is cooked. Allow to cool.

Finish the base. Spread jam on the base. Strain the sliced strawberries and layer them on top of the jam.

Make the filling. Beat the cream with a whisk until it forms stiff peaks. In a separate bowl, whisk the custard with the vanilla and icing sugar. Beat the custard into the cream. Taste and adjust with more icing sugar and vanilla if needed. Fill the tart case/s.

Finish the tart. Cut the remaining strawberries in half and arrange on the tart. Serve dusted with icing sugar.

Go to whatdadcooked.com

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