Fig tart with honey mascarpone cream

This fig tart combines the very best homemade shortcrust pastry with a luscious mascarpone cream flavoured with honey and vanilla, finished with fresh figs. Sometimes the simplest combinations are the most delicious. Outside fig season, this tart is equally wonderful topped with other fresh seasonal fruit. It’s simply irresistible!

Ingredients for 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, then rub them into the flour with your fingertips (or cut them in with a knife) until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Alternatively, prepare the pastry in a food processor. Add the icing sugar, salt and cold water, then quickly bring the dough together. Shape into a disc, wrap in cling film, and chill for 30–60 minutes.

Grease a 24 cm tart tin with butter and lightly dust with flour, shaking out any excess. Roll out the chilled pastry to about 3 mm thick and line the tart tin. Chill again for 30 minutes.

Lightly dust the pastry with flour, line it with baking paper, then fill with baking beans or dried beans/rice.

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Reduce the temperature to 190°C and bake the pastry case for 15 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven, lift out the baking paper and baking beans, then reduce the oven temperature to 180°C. Return the tart case to the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until golden and fully baked. Leave to cool completely.

Ingredients for honey mascarpone cream:

• 250 g mascarpone, chilled
• 150 ml double cream, chilled
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup or runny honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Place the mascarpone and double cream into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until smooth and thick. Add the maple syrup (or honey) and vanilla, then whisk briefly until just combined.

To finish:

• 8 fresh figs

Spread the mascarpone cream over the cooled pastry case. Trim the stalks from the figs, cut each one into eight wedges, and arrange them over the cream. Drizzle with extra maple syrup or runny honey before serving, if desired.

Store the tart in the refrigerator. For the best texture, remove it from the fridge 30 minutes before serving, as the pastry becomes firmer when chilled.

* Lard gives the pastry an especially crisp, crumbly texture, but you can replace it with the same weight of additional butter if preferred.

Enjoy!