A shortcrust tart filled with white chocolate cream and topped with fresh summer fruits. The simple white chocolate and mascarpone cream is based on a recipe by Nigella Lawson from her book How to Be a Domestic Goddess. In the original version, the cream was served on a chocolate biscuit base with raspberries, but it pairs beautifully with all kinds of summer fruit :).
Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:
- 200 g plain flour
- 90 g cold butter, diced
- 30 g lard*, cold and diced
- 60 g icing sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 2 – 3 tablespoons cold water
Sift the flour into a bowl, add the butter and lard, and rub or chop together quickly until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the icing sugar, salt and water, then quickly bring the dough together (you can also use a food processor). Shape into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 – 60 minutes.
Grease a 24 cm tart tin and dust lightly with flour, shaking off any excess. Roll out the chilled pastry to about 3 mm thickness and line the tin. Chill again for 30 minutes. Lightly dust with flour, line with baking parchment and fill with baking beans (or dried beans/rice).
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Reduce to 200°C, bake the pastry for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and weights. Lower the temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 10 minutes, until golden and fully baked. Remove and leave to cool.
Ingredients for the white chocolate cream:
- 50 g white chocolate
- 250 g mascarpone, chilled
- 100 ml double cream, chilled
Chop the white chocolate and melt it over a bain-marie. Leave to cool to room temperature.
In a mixing bowl, whip the mascarpone and cream until smooth and thick. Add the cooled white chocolate and gently fold in or briefly mix – the cream should remain soft and not overly stiff (if it becomes too thick, loosen it with a little extra whipped cream). Fill the cooled tart shell with the cream and top with your favourite summer fruits.
Store the tart in the fridge. Before serving, bring it to room temperature for about 30 minutes so the pastry softens slightly (shortcrust tends to firm up when chilled).
* Lard makes the pastry extra crumbly, but you can replace it with more butter if preferred.
Enjoy!
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