Berry & Lemon Custard Tart

Autumn is almost upon us, August brings a softer golden light and a slight chill to the evening air.  I seized every opportunity I could this last week to forage for blackberries as they are so incredibly sweet this year.

This dessert was inspired by my love of lemon tart.  I adore the citrusy, creamy, custardy filling with an almond crust.  With an abundance of berries to hand it was only fitting to combine the two!

I’m so excited to share this recipe with you to celebrate natures bounty!

Print Recipe

Berry & Lemon Custard Tart

Prep Time50 minutes mins

Cook Time48 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 38 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 8 people

Equipment

• 23cm Pastry tin

Ingredients

Pastry

• 160 g plain flour
• 40 g ground almonds
• 100 g butter cold and diced
• 25 g icing sugar
• 3 ½ Tbls cold water

Berry puree

• 200 g blackberries and blueberries, equal quantities (200g is the total weight)
• 30 ml water

Filling

• 4 eggs medium
• 1 large lemon, zest of you should have 60ml juice
• 130 g caster sugar
• 80 ml double cream
• 150 g berry puree

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180Cfan/gas 5.
• Begin by rinsing the berries in a colander and placing them into a medium saucepan with the water. Gently bring to a simmer and cook for 5-7 minutes. Blitz in a food processor to a puree then pass through a fine sieve. You don’t have to use a food processor it's just a little harder work pushing it through the sieve. You should end up with 150g puree. set to one side.
• In a food processor place the flour, ground almond, icing sugar and butter. Pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the cold water and pulse until the dough just comes together. Turn out onto the work surface and form a ball. Wrap in greaseproof paper and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Dust a little flour onto your work surface and roll the pastry out to a large round or until its approximately 5cm bigger than the tin. Grease the base of the tin with a little butter. Tease into place and leave the excess edge to trim after baking. Prick the base with a fork and place in the fridge for 15 minutes.
• Fill the pastry case lined with greaseproof paper with baking beans and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the beans and bake for a further 6-8 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 150Cfan/gas2. Once the pastry case has cooled, shave the excess from the top edge of the tin with a microplane.
• In the mean time make the filling. Crack the eggs into a medium bowl and whisk with a balloon whisk, add the sugar and cream and whisk again. Finally add the zest of the lemon, juice and the cooled berry puree. Whisk thoroughly to incorporate the ingredients. If possible place the baked pastry case onto a baking sheet in the oven then pour the custard into the pastry case in the oven. Shut the door gently. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the custard has a slight wobble. Remove from the oven a cool. Decorate with more berries and a few mint leaves.