Italian glazed fruit tart with lemon pastry cream

On summer days, when nature pleases us with such a variety of fresh bright fruits, it’s simply a sin not to make the Italian glazed fruit tart with lemon pastry cream and shortbread crust. This heavenly delight will not leave anyone indifferent.

The king of all creams… a soft sweet cloud… one of the most delicious fillings for cakes, profiteroles, tarts. Do you know what I’m talking about? About His Majesty Crème Pâtissière – the most classic, the “most international”, the most popular sweet filling for any baked goods!

On the way to glazed fruit tart

The French have an extraordinary imagination! They invented the bicycle, the car, the airplane, took the first-ever photo and shot the first film, designed the umbrella and the first prototype of a calculator! In addition, the French (world-famous gourmets) invented so many delicious dishes: mayonnaise, soufflé, profiteroles … And they also created the recipe for Pastry cream (the French pastry cream was the basis for the future vanilla, chocolate and  lemon pastry cream varieties).

Who invented the French pastry cream? 

Almost 400 years ago, an inventive chef Francois Massialot lived in France. In his kitchen, unusual soups were cooked, unusual cakes were decorated and unusual meat was baked, and he prepared his dishes not for anyone, but for noble counts, cardinals and marquises. In short, Monsieur Massialot had an extraordinary talent for cooking and was not afraid to experiment. And thank God that one day he came up with the idea to write down all his recipes. Well, probably not all of them… because every self-respecting cook has his own secret secrets, which he will not tell anyone for any money … but Massialot still generously shared most of his recipes in his book. Or rather, in the world’s first culinary dictionary with a “very French” name “Le cuisinier roïal et bourgeois“! It was in this edition that the recipes for creme Brulee, sugar paste and the French pastry cream (Crème Pâtissière) appeared (classic and basic nowadays, but extremely new in the days of Massialot)

The book found a lot of admirers (it wasn’t surprising at all – everyone wanted to cook and eat like a king), so the book from one volume was republished into a 2-volume edition, and then into a 3-volume edition and was translated into many languages.

And then the French pastry cream met the shortbread pastry

At that time shortbread pastry was very popular all around the world (especially in Europe, and most of all in Italy).  It was used to bake cookies and various small pastries, and in Italy the biggest success was crostata (a sweet shortbread tart crust with a sweet filling – in those days, mainly with fruits or jam). And then the book of  Massialot was published, and the world learned about the miracle of the miracles – Crème Pâtissière (French Pastry cream).

The Italians, as everyone knows, are absolutely in no way inferior to the French in their skill and ingenuity (including culinary). So they told: “French pastry cream is perfect, but we will add our fragrant lemons to it and will use it as a filling for Italian crostata! Ah, and we will decorate the top of the tart with fruits for freshness and brightness” And, as is the case with every Italian dish…

…they created a heavenly delight – the glazed fruit tart!

Everything is perfect in this Italian fruit tart, there is nothing superfluous, each component perfectly emphasizes and complements the other. The contrast between crispy shortcrust pastry and delicate lemon pastry cream is ideally smoothed out by juicy fruits (talking about the fruits… you can let your imagination run wild – everything will do.

The glazed fruit tart will be delicious with

• strawberries
• kiwi
• banana
• peaches
• wild berries
• blueberries
• raspberries…

the list is endless! (Don’t forget to cover the fruit with some clear glaze, in this way it will keep a fresh bright look for a long time).

Enjoy life brightly.

Ingredients for the Italian glazed fruit tart:

My tart pan is 28cm in diameter

(Shortbread pastry):

• flour
• eggs
• sugar
• butter (from the fridge)
• grated zest of a lemon
• baking powder

(Lemon pastry cream):

• milk
• yolks
• grated zest of a lemon
• sugar
• flour
• cornstarch (potato is also suitable)
• Vanilla

(For decoration):

• your favorite berries or fruit
• packet of clear glaze (I use the one in powder)

Glazed fruit tart step-by-step recipe

Make the shortbread pastry: put together flour, sugar, grated lemon zest, baking powder and butter

Mix everything until crumbs form

Add the eggs and knead the dough. Put it in the fridge for 30 minutes

Take the dough out of the fridge, roll it out thinly, place it in a tart pan (greased with butter and sprinkled with flour) and prick it with a fork

Cover the dough with baking parchment, place dried beans or baking beads on the paper (to create a press), and bake for 20 minutes at 180°C (350°F)

Then remove the beans and baking parchment and bake the shortbread tart crust for another 20-25 minutes (180°C/350°F) until golden brown. Remove the tart case from the oven and let it cool

Prepare the lemon pastry cream: whisk together the egg yolks, lemon zest, flour, starch, vanilla and sugar

Add the milk and cook over medium heat (stirring constantly) until thickened

Let the finished cream cool completely (stir it from time to time so that a crust does not form on the surface when it cools). Then put it on top of the ready shortbread tart crust

Decorate the lemon pastry cream tart with your favorite fruits or berries. Prepare the clear glaze according to the instructions on the package and pour it over the top of the fruit. Leave the tart in the fridge for at least 2 hours and then enjoy its incredible taste.