Tarte aux Fraises (French Strawberry Tart)

This classic French Tarte aux Fraises combines crisp, buttery sable pastry, smooth and creamy crème pâtissière and the freshest strawberries you can find. The result is an exquisite fruit pastry that's bursting with flavour and it's exactly what you'll find in the counters of your local Parisian pastry shop.

Authentic French tarts are some of my favourite to make. With the combination of basic ingredients, the result is flavoursome, eye-catching and satisfying. Think Apple Tart, French Pear Tart or Galette des Rois. All simple in their own right but with an element of refined elegance. So very French!

This Strawberry Tart is no exception. It's sensational! The pastry base is made using a pâte sablée which adds more richness and flavour to the foundation of the tart. This style of pastry is preferable when making tarts filled with a custard cream filling as a sweet shortcrust pastry (pâte sucrée), or all butter pastry can soften too quickly. It's the same pastry I use for my Sablé Breton Cookies and Strawberry Strawberry Sablé Breton Tart.

The filling is a traditional French vanilla custard, crème pâtissière, that's topped with sweet, juicy strawberries as the showpiece. In true French style, the fruit is brushed in an apricot glaze for even more flavour and shine.

🧾 Ingredients Needed

The range of ingredients needed for the pastry and the vanilla pastry cream are simple ingredients in themselves. However, I'm made some pointers below about specific ingredients and also any substitutions you can make.

Pâte Sablée (Rich Sweet Pastry)

• Butter - The traditional way of making this tart dough is with European-style salted butter. European butter has a higher butter fat content and a lower water content, making it richer in flavour. The salt counteracts overall sweetness in the rest of the dessert. In this recipe, I've used unsalted butter as the additional salt might not be for everyone. But you choose what works best with your palatte.
• Eggs - Use two large egg yolks. Save the egg whites to make meringue nests or simple Lingue di Gatto Cookies.

Crème Pâtissière & Strawberries

• Eggs - Large egg yolks provide flavour and structure when cooked to the right consistency.
• Milk - Whole milk is best over skim or half-half, as it provides a richer, more well-rounded flavour due to its high-fat content. Don't substitute for heavy cream or double cream, as we are already folding in whipped double cream later in the recipe.
• Corn flour - (cornstarch) is needed to thicken the pastry cream. It's perfect as it doesn't alter the flavour, which plain flour tends to do. The pastry cream is a little thicker than I would normally make it, and this is because whipped cream is being folded through, and we don't want it too 'loose'.
• Vanilla - this is the flavour that we want to taste predominantly. So use the caviar from a vanilla pod for a maximum, well-rounded flavour. You can use vanilla bean paste as a substitute or vanilla extract at a push.
• Strawberries - pick the ripest strawberries you can find with no bruises or blemishes. Under-ripe strawberries will lack flavour. They're the star of this stunning Tarte aux Fruits as every bite is loaded with strawberry flavour, so we want them to be perfect.

👩🏻‍🍳 How to Make Tarte aux Fraises

There are three main components to make your Tarte aux Fraise, they are the tart base, pastry cream and fruit topping, I'll guide you in the best order to make these elements.

The first component to make is the vanilla pastry cream as it needs the most time to cool and then chill in the refrigerator. Whilst that's chilling we use our time to make the tart base. And then we decorate it with gorgeous fresh strawberries.

*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*

Make the Crème Pâtissière

STEP 1. Heat the milk gently. Cut the vanilla pod in half and run the knife along the inside of both halves scraping the vanilla beans out (Image 1). Add the vanilla beans, pod, and milk into a heavy-based saucepan and set over low heat on the stovetop (Image 2).

Heat the mixture until it's steaming and you can see some bubbles appear around the edges of the saucepan. Whatever you do, don't boil it!!! Keep the heat on low and don't get impatient! Once warmed sufficiently then turn the stovetop off.

STEP 2. Whisk eggs and sugar then cornflour. In a separate bowl add your egg yolks and sugar and whisk them together until thickened and pale (Images 3 & 4). This takes about a minute, a little longer if doing it by hand. Then add the cornflour and whisk together.

STEP 3. Combine the two mixtures together. We're then going to temper the eggs now. What does that mean? The milk mixture is warm and if you add the eggs directly to that, it would basically scramble them. Disaster! So, we temper by adding a little of the milk mixture at a time to the eggs whilst continuously whisking which brings the temperature down of the milk and up for the eggs.

Remove the vanilla pod from the milk - this can be discarded now. Whilst whisking continuously, pour the hot milk slowly (Image 5) into the eggs until fully added.

STEP 4. Thicken the custard. Pour the combined mixture back into the saucepan (Image 6) and place back onto the stove at low heat. Carry on whisking whilst the custard heats and thickens. This can take about ten minutes. Don't be impatient and turn the heat up hoping for the thickening to happen soon. All you'll get is a split custard and bits of cooked egg.

Be patient and whisk constantly. The custard is ready when it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and when you run a pass-through it that doesn't join (Image 7).

STEP 5. Sieve, cool and refrigerate. To guarantee a smooth custard, take the pan off the heat and pass the custard through a sieve into a bowl (Image 8). Sometimes the egg can catch on the bottom of the pan - definitely don't want those bits in your custard! Add in the butter and whisk until melted

Cover the custard straight away with plastic wrap - but make sure the wrap sits touching and covering the surface of the custard (Image 9). This prevents a skin from forming.

Leave the bowl to cool for an hour and then refrigerate until cold - a minimum of 3 hours. It will thicken as it cools which is super important when it comes to assembling the tart.

Make the Pâte Sablée Tart Base

STEP 6. Cream together butter and sugar until pale. The butter has to be at room temperature for a good amount of air to be incorporated into the mixture. Cream for about 2-3 minutes until pale and thickened (Images 10 & 11).

NOTE: You can use a stand mixer or hand-held electric beaters for making the dough.

Add yolks and mix. The yolks should also be at room temperature to emulsify with the creamed butter (Images 12 & 13). Mix for a minute until well combined.

STEP 7. Add in dry ingredients. Sift in the flour and add in the salt. Then beat on low until the dough just starts to come together. You don't want to overbeat at this point; otherwise, the dough will be tough (Images 14 & 15).

Bring the dough together and refrigerate. Use your hands to squeeze the dough together, catching any dry bits in the bottom of the bowl.

Form the dough into a rough ball and shape it into a disc (Image 16). Wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to let the gluten rest (Image 17).

STEP 8. Roll out dough on a floured surface until the thickness of a coin and approximately 27cm (11-inches) in diameter (Image 18).

Lay the dough into your tart tin and use your fingers to push the pastry onto the sides of the tin and into the grooves. If the dough tears at any point, just use a little of the spare and press it in - this style of dough is versatile like that.

Using a sharp knife, trim off the excess pastry from the tin (Image 19). Refrigerate the prepared pastry shell for at least 1 hour to allow the pastry to relax further and butter to harden. 

STEP 9. Blind bake the pastry. Line the pastry with parchment paper and fill with baking beans (Image 20). Bake for 20 minutes then remove the baking beans by using the corners of the paper to lift them from the base (Image 21). You can read more about this technique in my How to Blind Bake Guide.

Assemble the Tart

STEP 10. Complete the tart base baking. Pop the tart base back into the oven for another 15-20 minutes until golden and baked through (Image 22). The tart base won't be going back into the oven with the filling, so it needs to be fully baked now.

STEP 11. Fill the base. Remove the pastry cream from the fridge and whisk until smooth. Then spoon into the tart base and level off with the back of a spoon (Image 23).

STEP 12. Top with strawberries. Wash the strawberries well, pat dry with paper towel and then hull and cut in half each strawberry, leaving one remaining whole (Image 24).

Place the whole strawberry in the centre and then place the cut strawberries, open side down, leaning at an angle around the central piece (Image 25). Continue placing the halved strawberries in a circular pattern until the tart is covered (Images 26 & 27). There is no need to press the strawberries down.

STEP 13. Apply the glaze. This is a very French way of presenting a fruit tart called nappage. Not only does it add a lovely sweetness, but it also prevents them from drying out. It also creates an eye-catching shine that makes them look jewel-like whilst also helping to preserve the strawberries for a little longer by preventing oxidation.

Mix the apricot jam in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon of boiling water and mix until smooth (Image 28). Then gently brush each strawberry with the glaze so as not to disturb the position of the fruit (Image 29). Refrigerate the tart for 15 minutes. You've now completed this Classic French Strawberry Tart Recipe. Well Done!

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