Best French Strawberry Tart (Tarte aux Fraises)

Fresh, sweet, summery, and fruity is what this French strawberry tart or tarte aux fraises highlights. Juicy strawberries, luscious almond cream, rich crème pâtissière, and a flaky puff pastry go well in this classic French dessert.

You cannot go wrong with this amazing strawberry tart or tarte aux fraises. If you look for a delicious strawberry dessert, this tart is your perfect pick.

Starting a strawberry season in early May, tarte aux fraises is sold in almost every bakery or boulangerie in France. Traditionally, sweet pastry crust is made with sandy crust or pâte sablée. Although, puff pastry to make a tart base is wildly used by French chefs as well.

A delicious vanilla pastry cream known as crème pâtissière is another component of French strawberry tart. It is usually used as a base for making different French desserts, especially fresh fruit tarts or tarte aux fruits.

Another wildly made layer of French strawberry and red fruit tarts is almond cream (crème d’amande) baked in a pastry shell.

And finally, seasonal strawberries glazed with apricot jam or a clear glaze are the stars of the dessert.

What is tarte aux fraises

Tarte aux fraises is a traditional French dessert made with a buttery tart crust, pastry cream, and fresh strawberries. Tarte aux fraises translates as strawberry tart in English, where "tarte" means tart and "fraises" means strawberries.

Why you should try this recipe

• This classic tart is a traditional French dessert. If you love French cuisine, this tart is a must-make.

• The French strawberry tart recipe is easy to make and has a make-ahead option that helps manage your time on the day of serving.

• It is a perfect summer dessert with a lovely taste that highlights a strawberry season.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for exact amounts and instructions. I recommend making the recipe as written for the best results.

• Puff pastry: Use frozen ready-rolled puff pastry or roll it between two parchment paper sheets.

• Butter: The recipe calls for salted softened butter (not cold butter) for the almond cream and unsalted butter to make the pastry cream. Opt for European-style butter with 82% fat content.

• Sugar: Use golden brown sugar to make the almond cream and granulated white or caster sugar for the rest of the dessert.

• Ground almonds: Grind slivered almonds yourself or use almond flour.

• Eggs: Use an egg separator to separate egg yolks from the whites. Then bring egg yolks and required whole large eggs to room temperature.

• Milk: The recipe calls for whole milk for the best results.

• Corn starch is used to make crème pâtissière. Replace it with all-purpose flour if desired.

• Vanilla bean: Use the most flavorful Madagascar vanilla beans. You can replace the vanilla bean (gousse de vanille) with 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste.

• Strawberries: Choose seasonal ripe strawberries sold in local farmer's markets or picked at farms. Hull the berries, but leave some of them with green tops. Sort strawberries according to their size to facilitate the tart decoration.

• Icing sugar and pistachios are optional: sprinkle the dessert with icing (powdered) sugar and chopped pistachios.

Recipe variations

Instead of making a large strawberry tart, you can make individual tarts (tartelettes individuelles) or French strawberry tartlets using small tart tins. Decorate them with halves, quarters, or thin slices of fresh strawberries, or use wild strawberries if available.

Here are a few ways how to decorate strawberry tart:

• Arrange fresh strawberries cut in half to place them spontaneously in different directions. It is the same technique used by French chefs Cyril Lignac and Benoît Couvrand to decorate their Tarte aux fraises.

• Arrange berries cut side up or side down, leaning strawberries up a little as you work along the edge or towards the center. Start from the outside of the tart, slightly overlapping strawberries.

• Slice strawberries into the thickness and decorate your tarte au fraise in a circular pattern, resembling a strawberry “rose” on top of the dessert. Or place strawberry slices about ⅓ inch/1 cm thick harmoniously on top of the tart to cover the pastry cream.

If you desire, cover berries with a fruit tart glaze or brush them with warm apricot jam. Sprinkle the top of the dessert with chopped pistachios, toasted flaked almonds, and decorate with fresh mint or verbena leaves.

How to make French strawberry tart

Making tarte aux fraises includes a few steps: making almond cream, puff pastry crust, crème patissière, and assembling the tart.

Make almond cream

Mix softened butter, ground almonds, and sugar in a large bowl with a rubber spatula.

Add the egg and gently mix to combine (photo 1). Cover it with a piece of plastic wrap in contact and refrigerate.

Make puff pastry crust

Preheat the oven to 355°F/180°C. Thaw the frozen butter puff pastry. Using a rolling pin, roll it out on a lightly floured surface or between two parchment paper sheets to ⅕ inches (5 mm) thick.

Line a 9-inch (23 cm) fluted tart pan, with a removable bottom, with the pastry, pressing it into the bottom and sides of the dish. Trim the edges of the pastry case with a sharp knife and prick the bottom with a fork (photo 2).

Blind bake the crust for 25 minutes (no need to use ceramic pie weights or dried beans).

Take the pastry out of the oven and lightly press the pastry base to flatten, using a paper towel.

Decrease the oven temperature to 300°F/150°C. With a spoon or a small bent spatula, spread the almond cream (photo 3).

Bake for a further 20 minutes. Remove it from the oven, and let it cool completely in the pan (photo 4). Then transfer the pastry base to a serving platter. 

Make pastry cream or crème patissière 

Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and scrape the seeds with the tip of a knife. In a mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch with a hand whisk (photo 5).

Pour milk into a medium saucepan, add scraped vanilla seeds, and the pot split in half, and bring to a boil. Remove the vanilla pod, and add hot milk while constantly stirring the egg yolk mixture.

Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook the cream over low to medium heat, stirring constantly.

Stop cooking when the cream thickens. Remove the pot from the heat, add butter to the thickened mixture, and mix (photo 6).

Pro tip: Learn how to make perfect French pastry cream.

Immediately transfer the pastry cream to a shallow dish, and cover it with cling film (aka plastic film) in contact. It should touch the whole surface of the cream. Let it cool at room temperature.

Assemble the tart

Whisk the vanilla pastry cream filling with a hand whisk and spread it on the baked almond cream.

Wash, drain, and hull strawberries. Leave a few of them with green tops for decoration. Cut strawberries in half lengthwise and arrange them on the layer of pastry cream (photo 7). Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

Serve  

Sprinkle the edge of the tart with icing (powdered) sugar. To highlight strawberry haves, take some, sprinkle them with little icing sugar, and place them back on the tart. Sprinkle the dessert with chopped pistachios (photo 8). Bon appétit!

Expert Tips

1. Do not overmix the almond cream; otherwise, it will swell during baking and overflow the tart. Use only a rubber spatula for this step.
2. Watch the color of the almond cream while baking: it has to be lightly brown.
3. Read for tips and tricks on how to make French pastry cream.
4. Cut fresh strawberries in two or four, depending on the size. Leave some of them with green tops.
5. Arrange strawberries on top of the tart in the way you desire.

Storing and freezing

To store - Keep the finished strawberry tart with pastry cream refrigerated for up to 24 hours.

Can you freeze strawberry tart? It is not recommended to freeze the assembled strawberry tart.

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The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was originally published on April 07, 2021. It has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.