This Rainbow Fruit Tart recipe has a sweet tart crust with vanilla bean pastry cream filling and is topped with fresh glazed fruit.
Happy Pride Month! I made this rainbow fruit tart in honor of pride month and to bring awareness to some ways that you can support the LGBTQ+ community.
How to support the LGBTQ+ community
One important way you can support the community is by giving to a local or national organization that advocates, celebrates and educates to improve the lives of people who identify as LGBTQ+. I donate to my local organization, OutNebraska, now that we moved to Omaha.
Here are some other great national options:
- The Trevor Project — The Trevor Project is the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning) young people.
- ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union Foundation) — The ACLU works to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people can live openly without discrimination and enjoy equal rights, personal autonomy, and freedom of expression and association.
- Point Foundation — Point Foundation empowers promising lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students to achieve their full academic and leadership potential – despite the obstacles often put before them – to make a significant impact on society.
Another impactful way to support the community is by researching and understanding the issues they face. When you are educated about the issues, you can make more informed choices when voting on measures that affect the LGBTQ+ community.
With pride month being in June, I wanted to bake something refreshing as an escape from the heat. Pastry cream and fresh fruit always do the trick for me. The best thing about this is how simple it really is, aside from the fancy fruit design.
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How to make a rainbow fruit tart
This rainbow fruit tart recipe is actually very simple. It is just a tart crust filled with pastry cream (which is basically just vanilla pudding) and then topped with fresh, sliced fruit.
I made a vanilla bean pastry cream, which starts with simmering milk and vanilla. Then you whisk together eggs, sugar, flour and cornstarch before slowly adding the milk vanilla mixture. You return it to the heat to cook out moisture until you have a thick cream.
I poured my chilled pastry cream into a sweet tart crust and then topped it with thinly sliced peaches, strawberries, mangos, kiwis, blueberries and blackberries. I arranged the fruit in a ROYGBIV pattern before glazing with warmed, watered down and strained raspberry jam. I typically prefer apricot jam for glazing though as it does not color the fruit.
Rainbow fruit tart ideas
Here’s some ideas for fruits to use in a rainbow fruit tart. I used peaches, strawberries, mangos, kiwis, blueberries and blackberries, but you can really use any fruit here.
- Red — Strawberries, Peaches (with red skin), Raspberries, Watermelon, Cherries, Pomegranate
- Orange — Mango, Peach (peeled), Cantaloupe, Papaya, Apricot, Oranges
- Yellow — Pineapple, Banana
- Green — Kiwi, Pear, Honeydew, Green Apple (skin on), Green Grapes
- Blue/Indigo — Blueberries
- Violet — Blackberries, Figs (skin on), Plums
Tips for making a tart
The pastry cream and the dough can be made a day ahead. Alternatively, make the pastry cream during the 2-hour dough chilling period.
Keep your tart dough chilled for easier handling. Take the extra few minutes to pop it into the freezer in between rolling and cutting.
📖 Recipe
Rainbow Fruit Tart
Equipment
Ingredients
Tart dough
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (125g)
- ½ cup almond flour (60g)
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar (85g)
- 5 tablespoon cornstarch (50g)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 10 tablespoon butter (130g) room temperature, cut in ¼ inch cubes
- 1 large egg beaten
- 4 oz white chocolate
Vanilla bean pastry cream
- 1 ¾ cup whole milk (380 grams)
- 1 vanilla bean paste or extract
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- 4 egg yolks (60 grams)
- 2 tablespoon flour
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
Fruit layer
- peach thinly sliced
- strawberries thinly sliced
- mango thinly sliced
- kiwi thinly sliced
- blueberries sliced in half
- blackberries sliced in half if large
- 1 tablespoon apricot or raspberry jam thinned out with water, warmed and strained
Instructions
Make the dough
- Whisk dry ingredients together in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Add butter and mix on low until a sandy texture forms. Dough should remain in a clump when grabbed.
- With the mixer running on low, add vanilla. Add half of the egg. If the dough comes together and looks like cookie dough it is ready. If it is still too dry, add the rest of the egg.
- Wrap in plastic and flatten into a disc. Refrigerate overnight or at least two hours. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Roll out on a floured surface or between two sheets of plastic (I cut up plastic from random stuff like packing material or cereal bags and wash them) into a 12-inch circle. Transfer to the 9-inch tart pan and trim edges using a paring knife. If using plastic, you may find it easier to remove the plastic after popping it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
- Prick tart base with fork. Place a circle of parchment on top of tart and fill with pie weights or dried beans or rice. Chill dough in the freezer for at least 20 minutes before baking.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes. This dough will not take on a lot of color. Remove weights and parchment and return to the oven if the middle is still not done.
- Let cool completely. Melt white chocolate and brush the tart bottom. This will prevent soggy bottoms. Chill until chocolate is set.
Make the pastry cream
- Warm the milk and vanilla bean until simmering in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat.
- Combine the granulated sugar and egg yolks in a medium bowl. Whisk by hand or with beaters until light yellow and fluffy.
- Add flour and cornstarch and whisk until thoroughly combined and lightened even further.
- Slowly stream in warmed milk and vanilla with a ladle while whisking vigorously. Continue slowly adding in the milk mixture until it is all combined.
- Return the mixture to the medium saucepan and place over low heat. Whisk constantly until the pastry cream has thickened to a pudding consistency. This can take 5+ minutes.
- Remove from heat and pour into a heatproof bowl. Cover with plastic and press down to touch the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill at least 1 hour or place over a bowl of ice to chill it faster.
Assemble the tart
- Pipe or spoon chilled pastry cream into the tart shell. Smooth with an offset spatula.
- Place sliced fruit on top of pastry cream. I tried to follow ROYGBIV to be true to an actual rainbow. So I did peaches (with dark reddish skin on), then brighter red strawberries, mango, kiwi, blueberries and lastly blackberries. You can use any fruit you’d like though!
- I finish by glazing the fruit with warmed, watered down and strained jam. I typically like to use apricot because it does not affect the color of the fruit. This time I only had raspberry jam on hand, which worked perfectly fine. Just use what you have!
- Keep chilled. The tart is best served within the day, but will keep for a few days in the refrigerator.
