Halloween doesn’t have to be a candy explosion and it’s certainly NOT just for the young, it’s for the young at heart. This tart will get you in the festive mood just in a slightly more grown up manner.

 

PASTRY DOUGH

This is a pate brisse dough

 

8oz Butter

 

8oz all purp flour

 

4 oz cake flour

 

1/2 tsp salt

 

1/4 tsp baking powder

 

3 fluid oz ice cold water

 

I coloured the dough as I was adding the water at the end but think it may be easier to soften the butter and add the food colouring to that and then re refrigerate it before you start.

 

Cut  the butter into little pieces Combine the dry ingredients; Rub butter in by hand or with a paddle on the lowest speed, leaving pieces of butter no bigger than the size of a pea.

 

Stir in the water little by little until the dough holds together. Scrape out of bowl and wrap in cling film and flatten into a disk. chill for 30 mins in fridge.

 

 

Roll out until 1/8 -1/4inch thick and big enough to hang over the edge of a 9 x 9 inch square tart pan,Press into the edges and leave the over hang, Prick bottom of pastry with a fork.

 

 

Chill for a further 30 mins and then bake blind for 20-25 mins leave to cool and trim edges with a sharp knife

 

PASTRY CREAM

1 pink milk

 

2 oz corn starch

 

4 oz granulated sugar

 

1 egg

 

4 yolks

 

2 oz butter

 

1/4 vanilla extract

 

orange food colouring

 

3 oz orange liqueur

 

 

Dissolve cornstarch in 1/8 total amount of milk

 

 

Combine remaining milk with sugar in a saucepan, bring to a boil.

 

 

Whisk the whole egg and then yolks into cornstarch mixture.

 

 

Pour a third of the boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking all the while. Return the remaining milk mixture to the boil

 

 

Whisk the egg mixture into the boiling milk, whisking all the time until the pastry cream thickens and returns to the boil. Whisk constantly for 1 min.

 

 

Dissolve food colouring in orange liqueur

 

 

Remove  the custard mixture from heat and beat in the butter, vanilla and orange liqueur.

 

 

Pour into a bowl and cover with cling film pressing it directly onto the surface. Chill immediately

 

ASSEMBLING THE TART

These are the fruits I chose to use

 

Concord grapes

 

Blackberries

 

Blue berries

 

Green grapes

 

Kiwi fruits

 

You will also need some apricot preserve to glaze the fruits with.

 

 

Trim the edges of the pastry with a sharp knife. Remove the pastry cream from the fridge, you may need to whisk it slightly to loosen it up. Then pour the pastry cream into the pastry shell and pop back into the fridge while you prepare the fruit.

 

 

A beautiful assortment of fruits that will set off the orange pastry cream and black pastry perfectly.

 

 

Slice the kiwi and lay in a circle on the pastry cream, overlapping them as you go. Pat the kiwi slices to remove any excess moisture

 

 

Fill in the corners with a mixture of blueberries and concord grapes

 

 

Add a circle of grapes inside the kiwi’s and finish with the blackberries and more blueberries in the centre.

 

 

Melt the apricot jam and brush over the fruit.

 

 

All that’s left to do is cut into the tart and watch the pastry cream ooze out.