Quick and Easy Summer Berry Tart

A Modern Twist on a Fruit Tart With a History

There is no easier cake to make than a summer berry tart! If you have less than an hour to spare and berries to use, then simply throw a handful of ingredients into a bowl, mix, bake, prepare a pudding at high speed and decorate with whatever fresh fruits you might have in the fridge.

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The exquisite taste and attractive decoration will get you points for creativity when you serve this tart, and nobody will ever know how rushed you were to bake it.

We are used to living life at high speed, and sometimes even a little time to indulge is hard to find. Luckily, we have ready-made mixes that help speed up the process of baking.

Those familiar with this blog know that I advocate healthy eating, organic everything and a big fat NO to pesticides. But, for this occasion only (because time was extremely tight), I chose to make a quick pudding using a packed mix rather than real eggs. A bit of food engineering involved, true, but this happens extremely rarely in my kitchen.

The pudding mix I used is German made and available online. In Europe, it is available in any food shop and is largely used.

If you have an extra half an hour to spare, I explain how to make pudding from scratch and use fresh products in my Tiramisù recipe. The only difference is that you will not need to add mascarpone for this tart recipe.

Of Tarts and Puddings

There is a bit of a culinary debate over the origins and proper making of tarts. Although the Greeks and Romans have made something similar in antiquity, tart baking has evolved and changed through the ages.

Today’s recipe has its beginnings in the kitchen of the Tatin sisters, French hotel owners in the XIX century. Busy as they were (wow, lack of time seems to have been a problem always!), one of the sisters forgot to add dough to her pie – she added it later during baking and thus invented the upside-down pie. Mistakes create masterpieces; what can I say?

A tart can have a crusty base or a fluffy sponge filled/topped with what I have always called pudding – essentially, a vanilla cream made by boiling egg yolks, sugar, corn/potato starch and milk together. Some call it custard, but I will stick with pudding.

I prefer a fluffy sponge because I can use syrup to moisten it, adding flavour to the tart. On rare occasions, if no children are involved in tasting, I replace the syrup with liquor and get an even better boozy fruit tart.

Ingredients for Summer Berry Tart

I used raspberries (red and yellow) for this tart, strawberries and blackcurrants freshly picked from my little allotment, washed, drained, hulled, and sliced (the strawberries). You can use any summer berries in any combination as long as you know and trust the source. I cannot stress enough the importance of avoiding pesticides all together in foods!

For the fluffy sponge

Organic large eggs

Organic coconut sugar

Oil (rapeseed, preferably – because it is cold-pressed. If possible, avoid refined oils – vegetable, margarine and all “spreads”, canola, soybean, corn – as you would pest!) A while ago, I read that there is one molecule difference between plastic and margarine! Imagine what people spread on their toast!

Almond milk/semi-skimmed cow milk, organic

Organic white flour

Baking powder

Rock/sea salt (not “table”)

For the pudding

One sachet of pudding powder

Coconut sugar

Milk

Optionally, follow the instructions in the Tiramisù recipe

For the syrup

Coconut sugar

Water

Organic lemon

For the gelatine pellicule

One gelatine sheet

Water

How to Make Summer Berry Tart

For this tart, I used a flan dish of 24 cm in diameter, oiled and floured.

Make the sponge by literally throwing all the ingredients together in a large bowl and whisking with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes. Usually, I separate eggs, add everything individually and generally spend more time on the sponge batter. It made no difference to the consistency, so this will be the only method I’ll use from now.

Place the batter in the tray and bake on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven. Check the sponge is baked thoroughly, turn it upside down as explained in the recipe card and place it on a cooling rack.

Meanwhile, prepare the pudding by following the instructions on the sachet. Add vanilla essence for extra flavour if needed or even a tablespoon of liquor if you prefer to keep the same taste as the syrupy sponge.

Cool and whisk the pudding to smoothen it. Add it to the top of the sponge and level nicely.

Decorate with the berries of your choice.

Using a brush, smear the gelatine over the berries to help them set (it also helps to keep a fresh, vibrant colour for longer).

Refrigerate the summer berry tart for two-three hours before cutting. Serve with a scoop of ice cream or coffee of your choice, a bubbly or a glass of liquor.

Enjoy!

A Modern Twist on a Fruit Tart With a History