fresh fruit tart

How to make homemade fresh fruit tart with buttery pastry crust and mascarpone cream filling. Save time and prepare the crust and cream ahead of time! See my make ahead tips below the written recipe.

Fresh Fruit Tart with Vanilla Mascarpone Cream

Tablespoons (30 milliliters) cold heavy cream

vanilla extract

(60 grams) confectioners’ sugar

salt

(115 grams; 1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cubed

(120 milliliters) cold heavy cream

mascarpone,

(30 grams) confectioners’ sugar

seeds vanilla vanilla

assorted fresh sliced fruit

orange

For the crust

Whisk the heavy cream, egg, and vanilla together in a small bowl. Set aside.

There are two options for this step: by hand using a pastry cutter or using a food processor. You can do it either way. To use a pastry cutter: Whisk the flour, confectioners&#8217; sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl. Place the cubed butter on top and cut in using the pastry cutter until the entire mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs&#8211; a few larger crumbs is OK. Pour the heavy cream mixture on top and stir to combine. You can use your hands to really get it all combined if needed. To use a food processor: Place the flour, confectioners&#8217; sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse a few times to blend. Add the cubed butter and pulse until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs&#8211; a few larger crumbs is OK. Add the heavy cream mixture, then pulse until the dough comes together and forms a ball.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and flatten into a 1-inch thick disc. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 2 days. (See make ahead tips.)

Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll out into a 9-inch circle. Place into a greased 9-inch tart pan and press it down into the pan and up the sides until it is even all around. Refrigerate as the oven preheats or for at least 10 minutes. Cold dough is important.

Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Remove crust from the refrigerator, line the inside with foil, and fill with pie weights. The pie weights prevent the crust from puffing up, shrinking, and/or losing shape. (Alternatively, you can freeze the dough and bake from frozen without using pie weights. It will take about 20 minutes to bake if frozen.)

Bake the crust for 10 minutes, remove crust from the oven, reduce oven heat to 350°F (177°C), and carefully remove the foil and weights. Use a fork to prick a few holes into the bottom of the crust and bake, without weights, for 5-6 more minutes or until lightly golden brown. Allow to cool completely before filling.

For the cream filling

Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Set aside. In the same mixing bowl (no need to wipe completely clean), beat the mascarpone for 1 minute on medium-high speed. Add the confectioners&#8217; sugar, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Fold in the whipped cream. Spread into cooled crust. Refrigerate until ready to garnish with fruit or garnish right away.

Garnish the tart with fresh fruit. Whisk the optional glaze ingredients together, warm for about 15 seconds in the microwave, then brush on top of the fruit. Slice and enjoy! Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for a few days.

I made this yesterday as a treat for my coworkers. I love fruit tarts and this is the first time I’ve made one but it won’t be my last! This is so so delicious! Not too sweet and so fresh and yummy! Perfect for summer! And so simple to make! I have a 10 inch tart pan and it was perfect. The hardest part is placing the fruit which I got my boyfriend to do!

You can fix curdled/grainy marscapone (even if it's already been mixed with the whipped cream) by gently heating it over a double boiler, whisking continuously, for about 2 minutes. It may separate a little more before it starts to come back together, but just be persistent with the gentle heat and whisking. Once it is completely smooth again, let it cool back to room temp on the counter and then move on with the recipe. The separation can be caused by over-whipping the marscapone or having warm/room temp marscapone and cold whipped cream... either way this method will make it smooth and creamy again. :)

A great recipe - thank you Sally! I used a crème pâtissière filling but otherwise I followed this to the letter - despite a hot day it was ok in the end.

A perfect tart recipe and the cream filling was delicious. Made this for Christmas. Followed the directions exactly and used fresh berries!

Hi Sally, absolutely delicious homemade tart. I used canned mandarin oranges, grapes, kiwi, and fresh strawberry slices. Everyone loved it and I'm excited to try it with more fruits in the warm months this year!

Loved this recipe. Used citrus and raspberries and added some lemon zest to the vanilla cream. Was a big hit at my daughter's baby shower. Thanks Sally!

Perfect tart recipe so delicious,I made it today and I’m going to make it again. Amazing

Super simple and super fresh!! I made this for a small gathering and it was loved by everyone!! It’s a keeper.

Really like this recipe overall.  I especially love the crust - it was easy and delicious, and something I will incorporate into other things needing a sweet crust. I had a little leftover after I cut the edges  and rolled it back out and cut it into little triangles and baked them into cookies, basically. It's also impressively not brittle. I made it in a 10" ceramic tart dish with parchment on the bottom, and was able to carefully turn it out without issue to make it prettier and easier to serve.  Filled it and 
The filling seemed like it lacked a little something to me, but I also didn't have any vanilla bean, so just added more extract. After taste testing, I added a tiny bit of almond extract to give it a little more depth. I did double the filling just to be safe, with the slightly larger pan, and have plenty left over to go with all the fruit I have leftover :) Topped it with black and blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and honey mango, and glazed with apricot preserves. Looked beautiful, and tastes delicious!

Loved it! For some reason the crust wouldn’t stick together so I had to add more heavy cream. It must be the climate where I live or my measuring cups. It’s the same with your pie crust. I have to add more ice water to it. Added lemon zest and juice and as I said before loved it.

If I don't have any fresh fruit, can I used thawed frozen fruit to garnish the tart? Thank you Sally!

The mascarpone curdled immediately after I started beating right after I added in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract. I did the heavy whipping cream separately so that wasn't the problem. I had to fix it by microwaving for 15 seconds, beating, then microwaving again for 30 seconds, then beating and that smoothened it out. Had to put it in the freezer for 15 minutes, leave it out for 30 minutes before whipping again. After laying the fruit and refrigerating, while cutting all the mascarpone cream was too soft and didn't hold up. The fruit collapsed in the slice and didn't look nice anymore on the plate. I've used cream cheese before in a fruit tart with great results and think that would be better than trying with mascarpone again.

I love your recipes! Been following you for years. Never had an issue until today. I frozen my tart dough to see how the technique would work as you outline without weights. Total disaster. I do not recommend this method. Completely shriveled 

Hi, Sally, I made this several times. Once I used a different brand of mascarpone, and I did not bring it up to room temperature. When I whipped the cheese, it became “liquid”. Does this have to do with the temperature, or is it the brand of mascarpone?

Thanks.

(8 Tbsp; 113 grams) unsalted butter, very cold and cubed

mascarpone, cold

There are two options for this step: by hand using a pastry cutter or using a food processor. You can do it either way. To use a pastry cutter: Whisk the flour, confectioners&#8217; sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl. Place the cubed butter on top and cut in using the pastry cutter until the entire mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs—a few larger crumbs is OK. Pour the heavy cream mixture on top and stir to combine. You can use your hands to really get it all combined if needed. To use a food processor: Place the flour, confectioners&#8217; sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse a few times to blend. Add the cubed butter and pulse until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs—a few larger crumbs is OK. Add the heavy cream mixture, then pulse until the dough comes together and forms a ball.

Bake the crust for 12 minutes, remove crust from the oven, reduce oven heat to 350°F (177°C), and carefully remove the foil and weights. Use a fork to prick a few holes into the bottom of the crust and bake, without weights, for 7-10 more minutes or until lightly golden brown. Allow to cool completely before filling.

Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Set aside. In the same mixing bowl (no need to wipe completely clean), beat the mascarpone, confectioners&#8217; sugar, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean on medium speed just until combined. Do not over-mix because mascarpone can begin to separate. Fold in the whipped cream. Spread into cooled crust. Refrigerate until ready to garnish with fruit or garnish right away.

Sally! I loved this recipe!! I was wondering if you have ever added a chocolate ganache/ melted some chocolate to the crust?

First of all let me say the filling and fruit on top were divine! So delicious. Where I had an issue was with the crust not browning, even after baking for an additional 10 minutes in the lower third of my oven. I see others had this issue as well, but I did not find any responses to these people so I don't know what we could have done differently. The crust didn't have that crisp and flavourful taste in its middle, which makes me suspect it needed a little more baking time, but like others mentioned, it was a bit tough but then, too. I rolled my dough between two pieces of parchment, refrigerated it that way to make sure the parchment would release, peeled off the top piece of parchment and inverted the dough into the pan, then pressed gently, so it wasn't an issue of being overworked by any means. I am hoping for a resolution to this, but if not, then I will make this recipe again and use a different one for the crust. Thank you.

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