# Pasty cream fruit tart flop



## pastrycake (Sep 11, 2005)

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pastrycake


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Jan 17, 2013











  








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pastrycake


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Jan 17, 2013







My first attempt at fruit tart but my sweet tart dough cracked in half and the it was a mess slicing the tart. The pastry cream was too soft and had no body whatsoever but tasty. No easty to serve but made it into parfaits. I used the strawberry tart recipe from nick malgeri


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## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

Good save!

The true measure of a chef is not what you can produce but rather what you can save!

Looks very yummy!

(just add a dollop of whipped cream and a garnish of fresh fruit with maybe some mint and you're in the money!)

- don't forget to use the crusts as they seem to be fine


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## pastrycake (Sep 11, 2005)

Thanks for your kind words  MichaelGA.  I have learned alot from everyone here.  The crust got soggy at the end of the day.. I even brushed some apricot preserve before adding the pastry cream.

Here is the pastry cream recipe from Nick Malgieri:

1 cup milk

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp flour ( but I only used 2 tbsp)

Should I have increase the flour or switch to cornstarch to give it more body? Anyone have a good tart and pastry cream recipe?  I may try Ina Garten next time but thought I asked yall here.


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Would you care to detail why you used 2 Tbsp of flour instead of 3?


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Forget the flour Use cornstarch or arrowrood, dissolved in a bit of milk,  it  sets better. You could also add a little gelatin to it. or a cold set starch


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I learned to make a wonderful fruit tart from the time life cooking of the world provincial french cooking cookbook.

The series was one of the best and the recipes all came out, at least all the ones i tried. The descriptions were a little fussy but they worked.

The tart has a brisee crust, a bavarian cream filling and closely packed whole strawberries on top, and melted redcurrant jelly painted on top. I swear the combination is perfect - the sweet tartness and juiciness of the strawberries, the lavishly soft creaminess of the cream, the tart sweetness of the jelly (no other jelly i ever tried was nearly as good) and the sweet crispness of the crust - what a combination.

This cream has just the right amount of gelatin, it doesn't feel rubbery (also because you add whipped cream which makes it silky and soft) and yet, you can cut slices and the cream doesn't flop out, and yet, it hasn't got all the starch that it would take to make it stiff enough not to flop out, but that would make it taste less creamy and rich. I can't imagine improving on it.

Here's the cream recipe. Don;t start it till the crust is cooked.

1 egg

1 yolk

1/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp flour

pinch salt

1 envelope gelatin

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup hot milk

1 cup heavy cream

beat very well with a whisk: eggs, sugar, salt, flour, gelatin and vanilla.

Gradually beat in the hot milk

cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, till smooth and thick, but don;t let it boil. _(If you like to taste-as-you-go, as i do, you'll find it's too sweet at this point, but with the cream added later it's just right)_

cool completely

whip the cream. Whisk the pastry cream to get rid of lumps and make it smooth (if it;s been refrigerated) and then fold in the whipped cream

Pour immediately into the cool crust.

Immediately lay your strawberries in, uncut and with the point up, in circles, working from the middle all around and having each strawberry touch each other until the whole surface is covered. You have to do this right away because otherwise the gelatin will set in the meantime and you won;t be able to set them in the cream.

Melt some redcurrant jelly and brush it heavily over the strawberries - it will enhance the color and the taste. Keep refrigerated, of course.


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## jolie4686 (Jun 16, 2010)

when it comes to pastry cream this recipe works like a charm

60g cake flour

360g granulated sugar

1lt milk

12 egg yolks

1 vanilla bean split

60g unsalted butter

Yeild:3lbs 10oz

Sift together the flour and sugar. Whisk 240ml of milk into egg yolk, Add flour and sugar whisk till smooth. Heat remaining milk and vanilla bean to a boil, temper egg mixture, and add to rest of milk. Stir constantly until thick. boil for about 1 min. remove from heat and add butter, but dont over mix it, cause it will make it runny.

Labensky, Sarah R. _On Cooking Fourth ed_., new jersey: upper saddle river, 2007


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## pastrypassion (Apr 8, 2010)

If you want to keep your tart shell from getting soggy, try coating it in some white chocolate before putting in the pastry cream.  Make sure you cook your pastry cream enough.  If you don't, you end up with a runny product.  Also...I've never used flour in a pastry cream.  Cornstarch is the way to go.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

pastrycake said:


> Thanks for your kind words MichaelGA. I have learned alot from everyone here. The crust got soggy at the end of the day.. I even brushed some apricot preserve before adding the pastry cream.
> 
> Here is the pastry cream recipe from Nick Malgieri:
> 
> ...



Prior to baking, brush the inside of the shell with slightly beaten egg white and then blind bake as you normally would.
Also why not substitute confectioner's sugar for the flour/granulated sugar mixture as confectioner's sugar has cornstarch already added to it???????
For a thicker and much richer pastry cream, why not substitute heavy whipping cream for milk???? Do so and your taste buds will thank you.
And I'm sooooo glad that I'm not the only one who has had similar problems. It's universal!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8^)


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

you can also coat the shell with egg white to stop soggyness it forms when cooked a plastic like coating on pastry with no added flavor


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

ED BUCHANAN said:


> you can also coat the shell with egg white to stop soggyness it forms when cooked a plastic like coating on pastry with no added flavor


Ed, do you recommend beating the egg white prior to coating the pastry shell? If so, then for how long is it beaten?


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Looking at your pictures, Pastry cake, your fruit is swimming in a cream and do not stand up. Your problem, in my opinion, is with the cream. You can make a thicker cream with more starch, but it isn;t going to be more pleasant.

*Please try the recipe I posted above.* It's basically a bavarian cream, soft as silk, yet stands up to hold the fruits, which you can be sure won;t fall over and be like soupy pudding. You can brush the tops with melted redcurrant jelly (because they will be standing up and visible!) and you'll have a stained glass window effect of brilliant color, extremely appealing, and a cream which does not require your crust to be coated with anything.

The gelatin will set slowly, so you have time to fold in the whipped cream, and the whipped cream adds richness and silkiness, and the gelatine will make it more solid without being rubbery, I promise. You pour it into the cooked shell, and then immediately set the fruits in, strawberries, point up, in concentric circles, and other fruit set in a nice pattern if you prefer.

I have never found a more perfect recipe.

The only other way to make the cream solid enough to cut the torte without it spilling over, or to drown your fruits, is to put so much flour in it it tastes floury or so many eggs it tastes like an omelette.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

To all:

Read this post elsewhere at cheftalk:

Eggs contain an enzyme (extra-large have more than large) that, over time, will destroy the network of starch strands that thicken a pudding. Cooking the egg/starch mixture at a boil for 2 minutes will kill this enzyme and your custard will remain thickened.

The same hold true for the process of making pastry cream. The tendency when making starch-thickened custards is to worry about curdling the eggs with too high a heat. That will happen if you don't stir it constantly with a whisk during the short boiling time.

Alas, if you don't bring the temp up high enough to cook out the enzyme, runny custard will result.

Shirley Corriher explains this process and the science behind it very well in her book BakeWise.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Yes, kokopuffs, but the bavarian cream holds up because of the gelatin, and the cream is incredibly soft, despite that, because it contains whipped cream.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

Siduri, I appreciate all approaches to the 'cream filling'.  In your recipe, is the final amount of B. Cream more than enough for a crust baked in a shell with walls one inch high?  I mean, 1 C milk + 1C whipped cream, it would seem to fill a 9 inch pan with walls twice as high.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I use a 9 to 10 inch tart shell, I believe slightly less than an inch high - it's  the standard loose-bottomed metal quiche pan with wiggly edges.  It doesn't overflow, but it does fill completely and the strawberries stand up beyond the edge of the pastry case, as they should.  Being a filling that is very stable, not at all liquid when it sets, it doesn't spill out and it holds the strawberries on their stem end only slightly pressed into the cream.  Yet, it remains very soft in the mouth, not at all rubbery or starchy.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

siduri said:


> I learned to make a wonderful fruit tart from the time life cooking of the world provincial french cooking cookbook.
> 
> The series was one of the best and the recipes all came out, at least all the ones i tried. The descriptions were a little fussy but they worked.
> 
> ...


I have a surplus of vanilla beans and read online that one bean pod can substitute for 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract. Would that be correct? And for how long can vanilla beans be stored in the fridge until they become 'stale with age'?


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

You're asking me, Kokopuffs, but i don't have any idea.  It seems strange to use a whole bean for this, unless you steep the bean in the hot milk for a while then wash it and use it again. 

I can't easily get vanilla extract here, though i bring it from the uk when i go, and also have found a source of ground vanilla beans at the "health food" store i usually go to and i use a half tsp of it.  I never got the hang of using a vanilla bean.  Tried making vanilla extract with it, had the beans in a jar of pure alcohol for months and it was pale yellow.  Tried soaking it in the hot milk but not all recipes use hot milk. It didn't seem to give much flavor that way either.  Maybe the beans i found were stale.   I just gave up and now can find the extract here too. in a specialty store.

I'm sure someone else would know.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

> Originally Posted by *siduri*
> 
> ...I never got the hang of using a vanilla bean. Tried making vanilla extract with it, had the beans in a jar of pure alcohol for months and it was pale yellow. Tried soaking it in the hot milk but not all recipes use hot milk. It didn't seem to give much flavor that way either. Maybe the beans i found were stale. I just gave up and now can find the extract here too. in a specialty store...
> 
> I'm sure someone else would know.


To make the extract you would probably need either a distillation soxlet extractor setup using alcohol (ethanol) as the solvent, extracting for some hours or so - I would think as opposed to a 'passive' extraction by simply soaking the bean in alcohol. And I found another source that states a two inch length of fresh bean = 1 tsp extract, and so this stuff is all over the place. But again I really thank you for pointing out that recipe in the Time Life book which I now savor and I will, indeed, follow for the next upcoming tart.


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