Tarta de frutas (vegan fruit tart)

A flaky puff pastry tart filled with a homemade vegan crème patisserie, and topped with fresh seasonal fruit.


Hola!

Today I bring you a classic Spanish patisserie treat: a vegan fruit tart. It is a flaky puff pastry base filled with a homemade vegan crème patisserie, topped with fresh seasonal fruit and glazed for a nice shine. Since it’s kept in the fridge and it has pieces of fruit, it feels very refreshing and summery.

There’s not much specific history to this. Pastry has been around for centuries and so have pies and tarts. I would say that in Spain we tend to make a big fruit tart (a whole baking tray), whereas in the UK I have most commonly seen individual fruit tartlets. Another difference is that in the UK they are mostly shortcrust pastry, but in Spain we like puff pastry for fruit tarts and also for apple tarts.

I’m not an expert baker, but I am an avid watcher of the Great British Bake Off, so I can confidently say that:

  • We want a crispy and flaky puff pastry. Keep it in the oven until it gets a nice golden colour.
  • Use soft easy-to-bite seasonal fruit, or it will fall apart when you take the first bite.
  • It’s a simple recipe, so the focus is on presentation. I consciously chose 4 different colours of fruits (red, yellow, green and orange) to make a beautiful mosaic.
  • Think of the design ahead of doing it. Improvising doesn’t always turn out well. I went online searching for inspiration and saw horrid things. I came up with the “S” shape since I haven’t seen any like that. You can go for simple lines if you can’t be bothered.
  • Cut the fruit ready to decorate before pouring the crème pat onto the pastry. Bananas will go brown very quickly, so read how to avoid that below.
  • It will be unfinished until it is glazed. I have seen fruit tarts on the internet that have fresh fruit on top and no glaze. Like, the house was on fire, I dropped the fruit and got out. NO! Use whatever you want to make it shine or it is not real patisserie (Mary Berry would be proud).

PLANT POWER, MAKE UP!

Did you know that most of the ready rolled puff pastry brands are accidentally vegan? I was surprised too, but I suppose that trying to cut costs they might have used margarine or palm oil. Not great for our health, but I wouldn’t do it from scratch. In fact, I found a ready rolled puff pastry on reduced to clear and that was the origin of this recipe.

Regarding the crème pat, you can make custard with any plant milk, cornflour to thicken and vanilla flavour.

For the glaze, we won’t be using gelatine that comes from the animals’ cartilages and bones, thank you. We will use agar to make that jelly shine. You can also use veggie gelatine, which is quite easy to find.


TARTA DE FRUTAS (VEGAN FRUIT TART)


Makes: 16 pieces
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes


INGREDIENTS

1 puff pastry sheet

Crème patisserie
4 cups soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. caster sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 lemon, peel and juice
1/2 cup cornflour
A pinch of yellow colouring or saffron powder

Fruit
2 kiwis
Canned peach slices
Strawberries
1 lemon
1 banana

Glaze
1/2 cup water
1/2  sachet veggie gelatine
1/2 tbsp. caster sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract


INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat the oven at 200°C. Put the puff pastry sheet into your baking tray, fitting the edges of the pastry up (at least one inch) to the edge of the tray. Prick the base and sides with a fork so that it doesn't puff up in the oven and bake for 15-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let it cool down.
  2. In the meantime, slice the fruit ready to decorate, except for the banana. Peel a lemon, trying to remove as much as you can from the pith, and juice the lemon.
  3. Make the crème pat by adding 2 cups of soy milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon stick, sugar and lemon peel to a saucepan. Cover with a lid, bring to a boil and simmer. Mix in a bowl the remaining 2 cups of soy milk and cornflour until completely dissolved. Pour the cornflour slurry into the saucepan and simmer until thickened, whisking continuously (10-15 minutes). It will thicken further when cooling down so don't overdo it. It has to have the thickness of a Greek yogurt. Add a pinch of yellow colouring and stir. Taste it and adjust with more vanilla or sugar if you want. Remove the cinnamon stick and lemon peel from the saucepan. Pour onto the baked pastry and shake the tray to make it flat.
  4. Start decorating the cake immediately before the crème pat solidifies. Slice the banana and dip the slices in lemon juice before placing them on the cake. This will prevent them from browning. I like overlapping the remaining pieces of fruit, so start from the edges and go towards the centre of the cake. 
  5. Add all the glaze ingredients to a small saucepan and whisk to combine. Turn the heat on to medium-high and bring to a boil. Simmer on medium-low for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn the heat off and start brushing the glaze onto the fruit straight away (it solidifies very quickly). Put the cake in the fridge for a few hours before eating.

You can keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Bon profit!