If you’re looking for a stunning springtime dessert, you need this recipe for Tarte aux Fraises. This classic French Strawberry Tart features a buttery sweet shortcrust pastry crust, rich crème pâtissière, and fresh strawberries glazed with apricot jam for a treat that is the food equivalent of quiet luxury.
When I lived in France, I loved walking by the pâtisserie window and pastry case on my way home from work. From dainty, bite-sized petit fours to a rainbow of colorful French macarons, and perfectly portioned chocolate ganache tartlets to rows of airy cream puffs filled with crème diplomate, the craftsmanship that combined aesthetics with flavor never failed to inspire me.
While there wasn’t a traditional French dessert that failed to knock my socks off, there was nothing like seeing the first fresh strawberry tarts of the strawberry season after a cold, dark winter. And, like all the best French things – clothes, makeup, interior design, food – the tarte au fraises revels in sweet juicy strawberries simplicity.
Between the flaky, buttery pâte sucrée tart shell, delicious vanilla pastry cream filling, and fresh, ripe strawberry slices coated in a simple glaze, this spring-inspired tarte aux fruits is the definition of elegance on a plate. Truly the perfect summer dessert to celebrate seasonal strawberries! Luckily, my time in pastry school taught me all the essentials for making this French strawberry tart recipe — and now I’m sharing the secrets with you.
⭐ Why You’ll Love This Strawberry Tart Recipe
- The Ideal Way to Welcome Spring. The arrival of in-season strawberries always sets my heart alight. While you can get “fresh strawberries” all year long thanks to modern farming and shipment techniques, they don’t really smell or taste like strawberries until late March. This easy strawberry tart is always my favorite way to celebrate when they finally arrive.
- High Impact, Low-Stress. The individual elements for this tarte aux fraise can be made in advance, so there’s no need to rush. Make the tart dough and/or bake off the tart shell weeks in advance, make the pastry cream a few days ahead, then assemble everything before your event. All that’s left to do is wait for the “ooohs,” “aaahs,” and “ooo-la-las” to start rolling in.
- Perfect for Celebrations. With a showstopper like this, you’re sure to win all kinds of accolades from your guests. Whether it’s for Mother’s Day, Easter, Graduation, garden parties, or dinner parties, you can’t beat a French strawberry tart with pastry cream.
🍴Ingredients
- Pâte Sucrée - This sweet tart dough requires just a handful of basic ingredients, is simple to pull together, and is easy to work with. Plus, you can make it months in advance!
- Thick Pastry Cream - Milk, egg yolks, a vanilla bean (or vanilla extract), and a few pantry staples are all you need to make this rich, creamy, versatile filling.
- Fresh Strawberries - You can’t make French strawberry tarts without strawberries! Make sure to reach for fresh, in-season, brightly colored, and headily fragrant berries for the best results.
- Apricot Jam - This lightly colored, seedless fruit preserve is perfect for glazing the berries.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
⏲️ Substitutions & Variations
- Dough Swap. While I love my tender, almond-flecked pastry dough recipe, you’re welcome to swap in crumbly, cookie-like pâte sablée for your tart shell instead.
- Different Cream. The classic French strawberry tartlets I loved from my time abroad were made with creme patissiere, which is a loose custard. If you prefer, you can make your strawberry tart with cream-lightened pastry cream (a.k.a. crème légère) or pipable diplomat cream.
- Tarte aux Fruit can be made with many different fruits, so have fun mixing and matching. Berries, stone fruit, and even kiwi make for excellent variations!
- Go Mini. Glazed strawberry individual tarts are just as beautiful as larger versions, plus they don’t require any fussy cutting or plating.
- Add some extra toppings. Add a touch of whipped cream a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or more fresh fruit topping to amp up the flavors!
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
📖 How to Make a Strawberry Tart: Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Make Tart Dough. With an electric mixer or a stand mixer, mix and chill the tart dough. Then, using a rolling pin, shape and form the dough.
Step 2: Make Pastry Cream and add cling film to the top of the pastry cream in a large mixing bowl while chilling.
Step 3: Assemble. Blind bake your tart shell in a tart tin with a removable bottom. Spread the pastry cream into the cooled tart shell.
Step 4: Top with your sliced ripe strawberries. You can use a large cookie cutter to help ensure the strawberries sit perfectly in the middle of your tart!
Step 5: Glaze with the apricot jam before serving and enjoying!
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
- Use parchment paper to line the crust with weights before blind baking. BTW, you don’t need fancy pie weights — dried rice or beans work just as well!
- Make sure to let your tart crust and pastry cream cool completely before assembling the tart. Add a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream before refrigerating so it doesn’t form a skin.
- This strawberry tarts recipe can be made piecemeal over several days. Just make sure not to assemble it until you’re within a few hours of serving it, or you’ll risk the crust becoming soggy.
💭 Recipe FAQs
It depends on the recipe, but generally speaking there are 3 primary elements — a pastry crust, some kind of cream filling, and plenty of fresh strawberries.
Again, it depends on the recipe. Sweet potatoes, chocolate ganache, lemon curd (or passionfruit curd), whipped mascarpone, and frangipane tarts are some of my favorites. But, there are also savory tarts like this cheesy pancetta number. If you can imagine something that would taste good in a tart, there’s probably a recipe out there for it!
Maceration is probably your best bet, though it tends to make the berries weep. Don’t get scared off by the name — it just means tossing the berries in sugar. You can also roast strawberries to concentrate their sugars and make them taste sweeter.
I think this fruit and creme patissiere tart is best eaten within a few hours of assembly, but any leftovers will keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days.
More French Recipes You’ll Love
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Tarte aux Fraises (French Strawberry Tart)
Equipment
- Tart Pan
Ingredients
Tart Dough
- ¾ Cup + 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, 200 g
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla paste, or vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 ¼ Cup Powdered sugar, 150g
- ½ Cup Almond flour, 50g
- ¾ Cup All-Purpose flour, 100g (first addition)
- 2 Eggs, room temperature
- 2 ¼ Cups All purpose Flour, 291g (second addition)
Vanilla Pastry Cream
- 4 Cups Whole Milk, 976g
- 1 Vanilla Bean
- 5 Egg Yolks, 90g
- ⅔ Cup Granulated Sugar, 133g
- ½ Cup Cornstarch, 64g
- Pinch Pinch of Kosher Salt
- 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, 42g
Assembly
- 12 oz Fresh Strawberries
- 2 Tablespoons Apricot Jam or Strawberry Jam, to glaze fruit
Instructions
Tart Dough
- In a stand mixer using a paddle attachment, start by mixing sugar, butter, vanilla paste, salt, almond and all-purpose flour mixing until combined. Take a moment to scrape the mixing bowl¾ Cup + 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, 1 teaspoon Vanilla paste, ½ teaspoon Salt, 1 ¼ Cup Powdered sugar, ½ Cup Almond flour, ¾ Cup All-Purpose flour
- Add room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing between additions2 Eggs
- Add the second addition of all purpose flour, making sure to not overmix.2 ¼ Cups All purpose Flour
- Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap – then place in the fridge to chill before using for at least one hour.
- I tend to make my tart dough ahead of time so I throw it in the fridge until the next day. If using this method, remove your dough from the fridge 30 minutes before you plan to roll it out – you’ll find that it will be MUCH easier to work with!
- Once your dough is rolled to the desired thickness, press gently into the bottom of your buttered 9 inch tart pan, poking the bottom of the tart LIBERALLY with a fork, and place in the freezer to chill for 20-30 minutes. This is essential – your tart shells are less likely to shrink while baking if you take the time to freeze your shells.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line the shell with parchment paper and baking rice/beans/pie weights to further prevent the dough from puffing up.
- Bake for 20 minutes before removing from the oven and removing the parchment paper and pie weights then bake for another 10-15 minutes until ever so slightly browned.
Vanilla Pastry Cream
- In a heavy saucepan, add your scraped vanilla bean and milk together and bring to a simmer.4 Cups Whole Milk, 1 Vanilla Bean
- Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and pinch of salt together in a bowl. Whisk until the mixture lightens in color and becomes a pale yellow.5 Egg Yolks, ⅔ Cup Granulated Sugar, ½ Cup Cornstarch, Pinch Pinch of Kosher Salt
- Temper the egg mixture by slowly whisking in the hot milk to the egg mixture together until homogenous. Return the mixture to the saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly over medium heat.
- When the pastry cream comes to a boil, continue to whisk constantly and boil for up to 2 minutes. The pastry cream should reach 200F. Remove from the heat and strain into a clean bowl. Stir in the butter and mix until the butter is melted and mixed into the cream.3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- Cover with plastic film placed directly in contact with the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming and place in the fridge to cool. Before using, whip the pastry cream until smooth!
Assembly
- Spread the pastry cream into the tart shell and top with your sliced strawberries. Glaze with the apricot jam or the fruit jam of your choice before serving and enjoying!12 oz Fresh Strawberries, 2 Tablespoons Apricot Jam or Strawberry Jam
Notes
- Use parchment paper to line the crust with weights before blind baking. BTW, you don’t need fancy pie weights — dried rice or beans work just as well!
- Make sure to let your tart crust and pastry cream cool completely before assembling the tart. Add a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream before refrigerating so it doesn’t form a skin.
- This strawberry tarts recipe can be made piecemeal over several days. Just make sure not to assemble it until you’re within a few hours of serving it, or you’ll risk the crust becoming soggy!
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