Voulez-vous de la Tarte aux Fruits, Coco?

I'm a big fan of tarts, pies, galettes! Anything with a pie crust. Fresh or baked, I like them all. A Fruit Tart is a good interplay of flavors and textures. The fruits give you the sweet and sour flavors, the smooth pastry cream taming the tartness of the fruits , and a crumbly crust of pate sucree add texture into every bite. 

So when I learned that we were doing a high tea catering for a fancy fashion label CHANEL I said to myself I have to make the pastry looking fabulous! Not to mention downright delicious! They wanted Madeleines, a coffee cake, tea sandwiches and fruit tarts. 

For this blog post I'll make emphasis on the fruit tarts. Assembling the fruits at the closest time of serving is ideal. This way, some cut fruits don't bleed or dry out, and worse, looking like it's been there over a long period of time. But if you want to make the fruits look fresh for over a day, use whole fruits, do not slice them. And to make it more luscious looking lightly brush it with a clear mirror glaze or strained apricot jam. This gives it shine and hold the fruits in place. Another tip I could share with you is how to make the pastry cream hold when cut from a big tart pan - add softened gelatin sheet to the pastry cream as soon as it's cooked. Cover the surface of the cream with clear plastic wrap to prevent it from forming a skin. Cool it to room temperature before using. Once cooled. Spread the cream evenly on a pre-baked tart shell and put it in the freeze uncovered. Once the pastry cream has set proceed with brushing the surface with the mirror glaze and arrange a layer of fruits on top. brush the fruits with the mirror glaze and then chill before serving. Easy enough, right? Well for your next tea party or for any occasion make a fruit tart and for sure it's going to be a hit!