Photographer: John Paul Urizar. Stylist: Michele Cranston.
This impressive passionfruit tart makes a stunning surprise for birthdays, afternoon teas or balmy weekend entertaining. It’s sweet, smooth and perfectly tangy, with a classic buttery pastry. Serve with extra passionfruit and a dollop of whipped cream.
Ingredients
Method
For the pastry, place flour and salt in a medium bowl. Rub in butter with your fingertips until almost combined but leaving small lumps of butter. Add iced water; mix gently with a butter knife to a streaky dough. Turn out onto bench and press into a disc. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 45 minutes.
Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to about 3mm thick and large enough to line a 24cm loose-based fluted tart tin. Ease the pastry into the base and side of the tin; trim edge. Freeze for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan-forced). Place tart tin on a heavy-based oven tray. Line pastry case with a large double layer of foil. Fill tart with baking weights or dried beans or rice. Bake on lower shelf for 25 minutes. Carefully remove foil and baking weights. Reduce oven to 170°C (150°C fan-forced), bake for a further 15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and cooked thoroughly on base. If sides begin to overbrown, shield them with strips of foil.
Whisk sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl until combined. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved (about 10 minutes).
Meanwhile, push passionfruit pulp through a coarse sieve over a bowl, reserving 2 tablespoons of seeds.
Stir passionfruit juice, reserved seeds, lemon juice and cream into egg mixture until well combined.
Pour egg mixture into cooled pastry case. Bake for about 35 minutes or until set. Cool for 3 hours or overnight before serving with extra passionfruit spooned over.
Not suitable to freeze.
Test Kitchen tip
Passionfruit tart filling tips
To avoid spilling the filling when putting the tart in the oven, half-fill the tart case with the egg mixture, then place tart (on the tray) on the oven shelf, ensuring it’s level. Fill to the rim with remaining filling (you may have a little left over).
What is blind baking?
The key to blind baking is to cook the pastry thoroughly, until it’s evenly golden brown because once you add the filling the pastry won’t cook any further.
How to choose and store passionfruit
Wrinkly doesn’t mean ripe; choose plump, smooth passionfruit that is heavy for its size. Keep passionfruit in a plastic bag in the fridge and it will last up to a month; in the fruit bowl it will last two weeks.
