How to Make a Fruit Tart with Vegan Custard
This beautiful and delicious fruit tart with lemon custard is a classic Italian pastry recipe that everyone loves. And of course, we veganized it and made it extra healthy without compromising its taste. The result is a vegan fruit tart with vegan custard that is egg-free, dairy-free, made with whole-grain flour, and plenty of fresh seasonal fruit.
Fresh, colorful, sweet, and nutritious, with a shell of vegan shortcake pastry, filled with vegan lemon custard and tons of seasonal fresh fruit on top - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, nectarines, kiwis, cherries and mint leaves. Are you ready to be blown away by this veganized Italian classic?
Fruit tart with fresh fruit and custard is a traditional Italian pastry that can be found in pretty much any pastry shop from the north to the south of Italy. Growing up I ate hundreds of those colorful cakes, and their flavor is still impressed in my memory.
This is why you've got to trust me when I tell you that this veganized version of fresh fruit tart with our homemade vegan lemon custard is just as delicious as the traditional recipes....but...a a lot healthier and environment-friendly as it's made with no eggs, no milk and no butter.
Why we love it: Fruit tarts are a summer staple and an easy dessert to whip together for a backyard party. A traditional fruit tart contains dairy and eggs but this recipe is 100% vegan and has the same delicious flavor!
Make it for: A summer dessert and bring it to the summer BBQ party! Present this beautiful dessert on a white platter and cut 10 slices to share with the party guest. Enjoy this dessert with red or white sangria.
Recipe Developer: Nico & Louise, @theplantbasedschool
Prep Time:15 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Resting Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 1 hour
Fruit Tart with Vegan Custard
Serves 10 people
Ingredients
For the shortcrust pastry base
- 3 cups whole grain flour (375 grams)
- 0.9 cup sugar (190 grams)
- 0.4 cup sunflower oil (75 grams)
- 0.20 cup coconut oil (30 grams)
- 0.4 cup of cold water (90 grams)
- Zest of half lemon
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar (8 grams)
- 2.5 tsp baking powder (9 grams)
- 1 pinch salt
For the vegan custard
- 3 cups unsweetened soy milk (690 grams)
- 6 tbsp cornstarch (70 grams)
- 5 tbsp sugar (100 grams)
- 1 pinch turmeric
- zest of 1 lemon
- vanilla extract
For the fruit topping
- 8 strawberries
- 2 kiwis
- 1 nectarine
- 5 cherries
- 9 raspberries
- 9 blueberries
- 9 mint leaves
Instructions
- In a saucepan, whisk together the milk, cornstarch, sugar, turmeric until well-combined
fruit tart. - Add the lemon zest, or thin lemon peel, making sure you only use the yellow part of the lemon and not the white flesh under the skin. That part is bitter.
- Set the saucepan on high heat and bring to a simmer while whisking continuously. Keep stirring fast and vigorously to avoid any lumps. Stop when you reach your desired consistency. If you like a smooth custard you should pass it through a sieve halfway through this step to filter out the lemon zest.
- Let cool the custard at room temperature. Whisk occasionally to prevent the formation of skin on the surface. If you want to cool it down faster, you can submerge the pan in cold water while whisking until the custard is cold.
- In a bowl, add lemon zest, vanilla extract, sunflower oil, coconut oil, water, salt, sugar, and stir well. Add the whole grain flour and the baking powder all at once and mix with a spoon. When the dough comes together, mix a few more times with your hands until smooth. Don't over-mix. Shape the dough into a ball.
- Wrap in foil and let rest in the fridge for an hour, or in the freezer for 15 minutes. This is a very important step as the dough needs to cool down or else it will be very hard to roll.
Prep the pie dish by greasing it with some oil. We use a 10 inch (24 cm) pie dish. 9 inch is easier if it's your first pie. Then dust it with some flour. This will make it easier to remove the tart once baked. - Start flattening the dough, first with your hands, then with the help of a rolling pin.
- Make it 1/8 of an inch thick (4mm). Also, make sure you sprinkle your rolling pin and your work table with some flour. You need to work fast here as you want to keep the dough as cold as possible so that it's easier to move.
- Roll the dough around the rolling pin and carefully unroll it over the pie dish.
- Make sure the dough covers the whole dish and fits in it tightly. With a fork, make some holes into the base of the tart. Pour your homemade custard into the dish and spread it around evenly with a spoon.
- Bake at 360˚F / 180C for about 30 min. The tart is ready when slightly golden on top. Let the tart cool down completely before adding the fruit on top.
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