Strawberry brûlée tart

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Graham Hornigold gives an interesting twist to a classic crème brûlée by encasing it in pastry, and topping with strawberries for a deliciously rich dessert that will make a stunning dish at a dinner party. White chocolate decorations can be bought from pâtisserie stores or online.

First published in 2015
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Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Sablé Breton

Vanilla crème brûlée

  • 2 vanilla pods
  • 300 double cream
  • 75g of egg yolks
  • 40g of sugar

Caramelised puff pastry

  • puff pastry, scraps
  • icing sugar, for dusting

For the tart

Equipment

  • Cooking thermometer
  • Blow torch

Method

1
To make the Sablé Breton, sieve the flour and baking powder together into a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter, salt and half the caster sugar until light and fluffy
2
In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and remaining sugar, then fold this into the butter mixture. Add in the flour and baking powder, and bring everything together to form a dough
3
Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking parchment to a thickness of 1cm, then place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3
4
Cut the dough out with a 16cm ring and transfer to a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Cook in the oven for 20–25 minutes until golden, remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Turn the oven down to 150°C/gas mark 2
5
To make the vanilla crème brûlée, scrape the seeds from the vanilla pods and add to the cream. Warm the cream to 60°C, while you whisk together the sugar and egg yolks in a separate bowl. Pour the warmed cream over the yolks and mix well, then strain through a fine sieve into a 14cm spring-form tin lined with clingfilm
  • 2 vanilla pods
  • 300 double cream
  • 40g of sugar
  • 75g of egg yolks
6
Cover the tin with clingfilm and place into a bain marie. Cook for 25–30 minutes until the brûlée is just cooked, then transfer to the freezer to set
7
Roll the puff pastry out very thinly, to a thickness of 3mm and dust liberally with icing sugar. Place between 2 sheets of baking parchment and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes. After this time place into a sandwich press (still in the baking parchment) and toast until golden brown
  • puff pastry, scraps
  • icing sugar, for dusting
8
To assemble, place the frozen brûlée on top of the Sablé Breton and leave to defrost gently in the fridge, this will take around 45 minutes. Once defrosted remove from the fridge and generously dust the surface with icing sugar and caramelise with a blowtorch. Repeat this process again to give a crispy caramelised top
9
Place the strawberries around the border of the tart and garnish with the broken shards of the caramelised puff pastry, some edible flowers and white chocolate decoration (if using)
First published in 2015
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Graham Hornigold’s expert pastry skills have been refined in some of the best restaurants and hotels in London, effortlessly adding delicate, refreshing touches to dessert menus. Today, he runs gourmet doughnut brand Longboys, which has three sites and stocks the likes of Harrods and Selfridges.

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