Summer Dessert

Fruit Tart

This tart is wonderful for the Summer when all the berrie are in season. It's actually a Martha Stewart recipe and it's absolutely delicious! The custard is light and fluffy. The trick is to fold whipped cream into the custard so the custard isn't too thick. The crust is buttery and flaky. Be careful when you make this though because you'll want to eat it up all at once.

First you need to make the custard (Pastry Cream) because it needs to chill completely in the fridge before you can add it to the tart.


Pastry Cream


Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split
5 tablespoons sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon flour (preferably rice flour for lightness)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

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1. Place milk, vanilla bean, and 1/4 cup sugar in a medium saucepan over high heat; cook until almost boiling.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar until thickened. Sprinkle in cornstarch and flour and continue beating until well combined.
3. Remove vanilla bean from milk. While whisking constantly, slowly pour heated-milk mixture into egg-yolk mixture. Pour mixture through a fine sieve back into saucepan, and cook, whisking constantly, over medium-high heat, until it thickens and registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 2 minutes.
4. Transfer to a large bowl and whisk in butter until melted. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the pastry cream; refrigerate until completely cooled.

Paté Sucrée

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup ice water

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and sugar. Add butter, and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, 10 to 20 seconds.
2. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks; add ice water. With machine running, add the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
3. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator, and chill at least 1 hour.

Assemble Tart

Ingredients

• 1/2 recipe Pate Sucree
• All-purpose flour, for work surface
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Pastry Cream
• 1/4 cup red currant jelly, seedless raspberry jam, quince jelly, or apricot jam
• 4 cups mixed berries, preferably blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries

1. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to a 12-inch round, about 1/4-inch thick. With a dry pastry brush, sweep off excess flour; fit dough into a 9-inch round fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, pressing into edges. Using a sharp paring knife, trim dough flush with pan. Chill tart shell until firm, about 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prick bottom of dough all over with a fork. Line with parchment paper, leaving at least a 1-inch overhang. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edges are just beginning to turn golden, about 40 minutes. Remove parchment paper and weights; continue baking until deep golden all over, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool tart shell completely on wire rack. For this step, I only cooked the crust for 30min, uncovered and cooked another 8min and it was perfect. Any longer and it would have burned.
3. Meanwhile, place heavy cream and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat until soft peaks form. Working in batches, gently fold whipped cream into pastry cream; set aside.
4. Place jelly or jam in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring, until melted and smooth. Set glaze aside to cool slightly.
5. Spoon pastry cream mixture into cooled tart shell and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Top with berries; brush berries with glaze. Tart is best served the day it is made. I actually prefer this tart without the glaze. The glaze made it a bit too sweet and rich. I suggest you make the glaze but serve it on the side.

Méli-Mélo of baked goods

Here are some pictures of various baked goods I've made throughout the years. I'm feeling somewhat lazy tonight so I won't bother writing the recipes. Maybe I'll add them later. Just thought it was about time I added another post so here are a bunch of pictures for your enjoyment (or your mouth's)!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Caramel Crème Brûlée

Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Swirl Brownies

4 Tier Cinnamon and Chocolate Cake

Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Hazelnut-Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Bowtie Cookies with Apricot Preserves

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I made this cake about a year ago and it is one of my favorite cakes in the world. It has 4 Tbsp of red coloring in the batter so the cake comes out a rich red. I find that all the best frostings are made up of cream cheese, butter and sugar. This one is no exception. I especially love this cake because of the berries found in the middle of the 2 layers. I had never seen this before and had never even thought of doing it either. 

Here's what the cake looks like before it is completely frosted...

The brightness doesn't really show from this picture. Imagine a deep red of a cranberry. That's what the cake looked like.  The recipe is from Bon Appetit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful


Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

CAKE

• 2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (sifted, then measured)
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
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FROSTING

• 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 1/2-pint baskets fresh raspberries
• 3 1/2-pint baskets fresh blueberries
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Preparation

FOR CAKE:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. 
  Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. 
  Sift sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into medium bowl. 
  Whisk buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in small bowl to blend. 
  Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. 
  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. 
  Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions.
• Divide batter between prepared pans.
• Bake cakes about 27 minutes. Cool a bit and turn cakes out onto racks then cool completely.
  
  

FOR FROSTING:

• Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until smooth.
• Beat in vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

• Place 1 cake layer, flat side up, on platter.
• Spread 1 cup frosting over top of cake. 
  Arrange 1 basket raspberries and 1/2 basket blueberries atop frosting, pressing lightly to adhere. 
  Top with second cake layer, flat side down. 
  Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. 
  Arrange remaining berries decoratively over top of cake. 

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of my cake completely frosted but I did find a picture of what the cake looks like in the book. 

It tastes as good as it looks!




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