Passionfruit tart

An exquisite dessert with the tropical flavour of passionfruit and the creamy richness of mascarpone. Once tried, this tart become one of your all time favourite recipes. It is best to bake the pastry, make the filling, and then pour the filling into the still-warm pastry shell to cook.

• serves

  8

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  50 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

Pastry

225 g (1 ½ cups) plain flour

55 g (¼ cup) caster sugar

pinch of salt

175 g diced soft butter

1 egg yolk

Passionfruit Filling

6 medium eggs

125 g (½ cup) mascarpone

220 g (1 cup) caster sugar

250 ml (1 cup) passionfruit pulp, approximately 12–15 passionfruit (see Note)

finely grated rind of 2 lemons

80 ml (⅓ cup) lemon juice

 

extra mascarpone, to serve (optional)

Chilling time: 1 hour

Standing time: 30 minutes

Instructions

To make the pastry, place flour, sugar and salt in a wide bowl. Rub in butter to form a breadcrumb texture. Add egg yolk and mix until it forms a pastry. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured bench to 3 mm thickness. Pastry with high butter content is said to be very short; this will produce a stunning eating experience but can be difficult to roll in one piece. If this happens simply push pieces together to line a 25cm greased flan tin and chill for a further 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180ºC (fan-forced).  Line pastry shell with a large piece of foil, enough to cover all the edges and ensure they do not brown too much. Fill with baking beans or rice and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and cook for a further 5–10 minutes to brown pastry slightly. 

To make the passionfruit filling, beat eggs, mascarpone, sugar, passionfruit and lemon rind and juice together. Allow to stand for 30 minutes before straining to remove passionfruit seeds.

Pour strained filling into still warm blind-baked pastry shell and reduce oven to 140°C. Cook for 30 minutes. This is for a fan-forced oven (a non fan-forced oven will take 5–10 minutes longer). By this stage the filling will be just set on top. This is the time to remove it from the oven for a perfect consistency. Allow to cool, during which time it will finish setting.

We find this tart needs no accompaniment, but, if preferred serve it with a small spoonful of mascarpone. 

Note

Passionfruit with skin that is dry and becoming crinkly will have a more intense flavour and will produce a better tasting tart.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.