This tarte aux fraises is the perfect summer dessert! A delicious tart filled with pastry cream and then topped with fresh strawberries.
Get a taste of France at home with this easy-to-follow French strawberry custard tart recipe!
I've been meaning to make a tarte fraise (French strawberry pie) for a while. This is a classic French strawberry tart recipe, but I've managed to make it a little simpler for home bakers.
I love French fruit tarts! They are so delicious, especially with seasonal fruit.
If you've always been looking for an easy strawberry tart recipe completely from scratch, you've come to the right place!
This particular French strawberry tart recipe (aka recette tarte aux fraises in French) is heavenly and uncomplicated.
I think you will also love this traditional French dessert as much as I do!
Love tarts? Try my Apple Rose Tart with Dulce de Leche, my Apple Crumble Tartlets, or my Fresh Fig Crumble Tart.
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What makes this strawberry tart with pastry cream stand out from other recipes
- The French pastry cream is practically foolproof. This vanilla pastry cream (or crème pâtissière) is so easy to make.
- No need to temper the eggs & no thermometer necessary. Traditionally, the eggs are always tempered when making the pastry cream. Some chefs also use a thermometer for this, but I have a hack that completely avoids this!
- You only need a few ingredients. This French tarte, or strawberry pie, has a few simple ingredients that are really easy to find.
- Simple sweet pastry crust. The tart shell (aka pâte sucrée ) is really easy and not time-consuming.
- It tastes delicious. Nothing can compare to homemade desserts! This strawberry tart recipe tastes absolutely amazing!
What does this tarte aux fraises taste like?
This tart has a wonderful sweet shortcrust pastry that's crunchy and tender. It's filled with an incredible rich crème pâtissière (aka French pastry cream filling) that's not too sweet and perfect with fresh fruit, especially strawberries.
Ingredients
Ingredients for French pastry crust (pâte sucrée)
- Flour: I use all purpose flour.
- Salt: I use a little to enhance the crust.
- Sugar: I use regular granulated sugar.
- Butter: I use unsalted butter.
- Egg yolks: You'll need one egg yolk.
- Ice water: You'll also need a little ice water.
Ingredients for French pastry cream & garnish
- Milk: I use fresh, whole milk for this recipe. I haven't tried this recipe with plant-based milk.
- Vanilla: I use pure vanilla extract.
- Cornstarch: This helps thicken the cream.
- Egg yolks: I use egg yolks from medium eggs.
- Butter: I use unsalted butter.
- Sugar: I use granulated sugar.
- Salt: I add a little salt to enhance all the flavors together.
- Strawberries: You'll need a few fresh strawberries to garnish the dessert.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for quantities.
Equipment you'll need
- large saucepan
- a 9-11 inch (23-28cm) tart pan with a removable bottom
- parchment paper
- dried beans, rice or pie weights
How to make French strawberry tart
This steps involved for this recipe are made of 3 parts:
1) making the tart shell and blind baking it
2) making the pastry cream
3) assembling the tart right before serving
Step-by-step Instructions
First, make the sweet shortcrust pastry.
In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt and sugar until everything is combined.
Then add the cubes of butter, a few at a time, and pulse until the dough looks like coarse crumbs.
Slowly add the egg mixture and pulse until the dough comes together.
You should be able to hold a piece of dough between your fingers.
On a lightly floured surface, bring the dough together and roll it into a ball.
Then shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap it with some plastic wrap. Refrigerate it for half an hour.
After chilling the dough, you're ready to roll it out and blind bake it.
How to blind bake a tart shell
Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper.
Remove the top parchment paper and flip the dough over the pan and remove the other parchment paper. Then gently lift and press the dough into the pan.
Use the rolling pin on top of edges of the pan to remove any excess dough. You could also use a knife.
Prick the base of the dough with a fork, but don't go all the way through the dough. You just want to prick the surface. Put the dough in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.
Scrunch a piece of parchment paper (make sure it's big enough to cover the bottom and the sides), unroll it and put it inside the pastry. Fill the pastry with dried rice or pie weights, spreading them out evenly. Bake the tart shell for 15 minutes. After that, remove the pastry crust from the oven and then remove the parchment paper with the rice by lifting it out.
Then put the pastry back in the oven and bake it for another 10-12 minutes or until it's light golden brown. Let it cool completely before filling.
Now make the French pastry cream
In a medium saucepan, add the sugar, salt and cornstarch and whisk everything together really well.
In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks with the milk until they're fully incorporated.
Place the saucepan with the flour mixture on medium heat. Slowly add the egg/milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk continuously to avoid lumps from forming.
Then add the butter and keep whisking.
While whisking continuously, bring it to a boil and let it bubble up for one whole minute. Then whisk in the vanilla extract.
Take the saucepan off the heat and put the mixture through a strainer over a bowl. Stir it well with a rubber spatula in the sieve and scrape the bottom of the sieve, too.
Cover the cream with plastic wrap and press it onto the surface. This will prevent a skin from forming on the pastry cream.
Put the pastry cream in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. You can also make it up to 2 days in advance. Right before using, stir the pastry cream really well with a spatula to loosen it up a bit.
Then pour the pastry cream into the prepare tart shell and even it out, making sure to push it out to the edges, too.
Add sliced strawberries on top and your tarte au fraise is ready!
Make-ahead Options
- You can make the dough and keep it in the refrigerator for up to about 4 days or in the freezer for up to about 2 months. Just form a disk and wrap it well in plastic wrap. Thaw it in the refrigerator overnight.
- You can easily make the pastry cream up to 2 days in advance and then assemble the tart on the day you are serving it.
- I don't suggest freezing the pastry cream, though, as it would lose its beautiful texture.
- Freezing the baked tart shell is also possible, although it tends to get a little less crunchy when thawed, so I don't suggest it.
Storage Tips & Variations
Store this strawberry tart tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to about 2 days.
- Make a lazy tart. If you're short on time or you don't want to make your own tart shell, you can buy a ready-made pie crust or tart shell. Then all you do is make the pastry cream and assemble the dessert.
- Make your favorite fruit tart. Berries and other seasonal fruit would be absolutely delicious with this recipe, too, especially summer fruit.
- Make mixed berry tart. Blueberries and raspberries would be amazing, too, and you can mix them all up!
- Make French strawberry tartlets. Easily make French strawberry tarts or strawberry tartlets with crème pâtissière, even if you don't have small tart pans. Follow my step-by-step instructions in my apple crumble tartlets recipe.
Tips for success
- Use a digital scale. I always weigh my ingredients before beginning for the best results possible.
- Don't overwork the dough. Be gentle and don't work the dough too much, or it'll get tough.
- Rest and chill the dough. You really need to be patient and give the dough time to rest before rolling it out. You also need to give it time to chill in the pan before baking so that it keeps its shape while it's in the oven.
- Don't stretch the dough. When placing the dough into the pan, don't stretch it to fit because it will most likely shrink while it's baking.
- Let the pastry case cool completely. The pastry cream will get runny and too soft if you put it on top of the tart shell that isn't completely cooled.
- Baking times vary. Every oven is different and baking times may need to be adjusted, too. Keep an eye on the tart shell until it's a light golden brown color.
Frequently asked questions
They're both quite similar, actually. However, I'd say that pate sucree, or sweet shortcrust pastry is a bit sweeter, as the name suggests. Also French sweet shortcrust pastry is crispier and more tender than American pie crust and not flaky.
Yes! I'd use a dough scraper or just my hands to gently knead everything into a dough. When you squeeze it, the dough should hold together (see pics above).
I've made the pastry cream and the dough a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator, although you could make it 2 days in advance. You can line the tart pan with the dough and keep it in the fridge a day before baking. Then you can bake it the following day and assemble the dessert.
Enjoy!
More tart and strawberry recipes to try:
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Let me know how this Tarte aux Fraises - French Strawberry Tart turns out for you in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you!
Recipe
Tarte aux Fraises (French Strawberry Tart)
Equipment
- a 9 -11 inch (23-28cm) tart pan with a removable bottom
- saucepan
- parchment paper
- mixing bowls
- dried beans, rice or pie weights
Ingredients
For the pâte sucrée (French pastry crust)
- 2 cups (8.8 oz / 250 g) all-purpose flour
- a pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoon (125g / 4.4oz) unsalted butter
- 1 egg yolk
- 4 tablespoons (1.8 fl oz / 50 ml) ice water
For the French pastry cream
- ½ cup (100g) sugar
- ¼ cup (30g) cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (500ml) fresh whole milk
- 4 medium egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Garnish
- about 15 strawberries (350g / 12.3 oz), washed, stems removed and sliced
Note:
For best results, please read through the full post before beginning the recipe.
Instructions
Make the pate sucree
- Add the flour, salt and sugar to a food processor and pulse until combined.
- Add the cubed butter, a few at a time (I do it in 3 batches), and pulse until the dough looks like coarse crumbs.
- In a small bowl, mix the egg yolk together with the ice water and slowly add it to the flour mixture. Pulse until the dough comes together. The dough is ready when you can hold a piece of it.
- On a lightly floured surface, bring the dough together and roll it into a ball.
- Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate it for half an hour. The dough really needs time to rest before rolling it out, so don't skip this step.
- Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper. Try and make it into a circle that's about ⅛ inch (3mm) thick.
- Remove the top parchment paper and flip the dough over the pan and remove the other parchment paper. Then gently lift and press the dough into the pan, but don't stretch or pull it, because this will cause it to shrink while it's baking.
- Use the rolling pin on top of edges of the pan to remove any excess dough. You could also use a knife.
- Prick the base of the dough with a fork, but don't go all the way through the dough. You just want to prick the surface. Put the dough in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375℉ / 190℃.
- Take the dough out of the freezer. Scrunch a piece of parchment paper (make sure it's big enough to cover the bottom and the sides), unroll it and put it inside the pastry.
- Fill the parchment paper with dried rice or pie weights, spreading them out evenly.
- Bake the tart shell for 15 minutes. Then take it out of the oven and remove the parchment paper with the rice by lifting it out.
- Put the pastry back in the oven and bake it for another 10-12 minutes or until it's light golden brown.
- Let it cool completely in the pan, on a wire rack.
Make the French pastry cream
- In a medium saucepan, add the sugar, salt and cornstarch and whisk everything together really well. (This will help prevent lumps in the pastry cream.)
- In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks with the milk until they're fully incorporated.
- Place the saucepan with the flour mixture on medium heat. Slowly add the egg/milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk continuously to avoid lumps from forming.
- Then add the butter and keep whisking.
- While whisking continuously, bring it to a boil and let it bubble up for one whole minute. Then whisk in the vanilla extract.
- Take the saucepan off the heat and put the mixture through a strainer over a bowl. Stir it well with a rubber spatula in the sieve and scrape the bottom of the sieve, too.
- Cover the cream with plastic wrap and press it onto the surface. This will prevent a skin from forming on top of the pastry cream.
- Put the pastry cream in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
Assemble the tart
- Right before serving, take the pastry cream out of the refrigerator and stir it really well with a spatula to loosen it up a bit.
- Pour it into the baked tart shell and even it out with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Make sure to spread it out evenly to the edges.
- Slice or chop the strawberries and place them on the top of the pastry cream.
- Enjoy!
Sarah
What a gorgeous dessert!
Voula
Thank you!❤️