Filling for a fruit tart - which one?

[phaelon56]

Flush with the thrill of my first successful fruit tart I'm ready to make a couple more. The filling I used for the first one consisted of a can of sweetened condensed milk, 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice zest of a lemon, 8 oz cream cheese and 1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract. I mixed with a hand blender, allowed to firm up in the fridge and filled the tart. My guest loved it but it was a trifle sweet for my taste and it tends to soften up quickly when not chilled.

The tarts I'll be making later this week will most likely need to be filled in the morning of or even the night before the day on which they're served. I've seen recipes for pastry cream and some other possibilities that look good but am curious about how well they'll survive a 2 - 2 1/2 hour trip in an airconditioned car if they're not stored in an ice chest.

Also - would it help to do something like a light egg wash if I'm doing a prebaked shell? Will that help the bottome crust stay drier and flakier for longer before it starts absorbing liquid from the filling?

[Genkinaonna]

Are you just thinking of a non-baked filling? If not, I'd say go with frangipane and either apple or pear on top (or berries mixed in). It should keep beautifully and will definately survive a 2 hour car trip. As for keeping the crust from getting soggy, painting it with white or dark chocolate (depending on the filling) will stop the icky gummy crust phenomenon we all know and don't love. You wouldn't need to do this with a frangipane filling, but any other creamy filling that won't be baked would work with chocolate underneath.

Now that I think about it, peach might go pretty well on top too.

[jackal10]

or strawberries...

[Wendy DeBord]

Phaelon, you can make almost any tart and travel with it in an air conditioned car. Technically out of the refidgerator you have a 4 hour window before you need to worry about food posioning. Granted it's only logical to choose something that isn't easy to spoil.........but this still gives you tons of options.........like too many to list.

What do you like? What sounds good to you?

[phaelon56]

Actually... I really liked the cream cheese filling mentioned above but I found it to be just a trifle too sweet. The zing of the lemon zest and tartness of the juice complented the taste of the cream cheese and the sweetness of the fruit. The problem was the sweetness level of the sweetened condensed milk. I love sweet stuff but the sweetness of the filling interfered with its ability to contrast properly with the tart/sweet nature of the fruits.

[Bond Girl]

Now that summer is here, you can basically concoct a cobbler like filling and put crumbs on top of it and stick it in the oven until the topping is golden brown.

[Swisskaese]

I always use pastry cream or curd. But, if you are going to travel with it, I would assemble it onsite. Put the fruit and pastry cream in plastic containers and you won't have to worry about a soggy tart.

My base is my grandmother's butter crust. It is simple and doesn't need an egg wash.

Edited July 23, 2004 by Swisskaese (log)

[Wendy DeBord]

Your filling with the condensed milk and cream cheese is basicly equal to a no bake cheesecake type filling. Since you like that flavor I'd seek out a another no-bake cheesecake recipe and then set it in your crust.

Heres a recipe from Philadelphia Cream Cheese cookbook "Cheesecakes"

1 envelop unflavored gelatin

1/4 c. cold water

bloom together

soften in mixer:

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 c. sugar

then add:

3/4 c. milk

1/4 c. lemon juice

Heat gelatin to melt, incorportate into you cheesecake batter. Fold into that:

1 c. whipped cream

This should be pretty similar to what you already have done. You can add some lemon zest or orange zest if you like. You could cut back a little more on the sugar if you want, just make sure your cheese is smooth before adding your liquids.

[phaelon56]

Thanks Wendy. I think I'll try that no-bake recipe on the next one and just cut back on the sugar. I'm actually just back from a visit to North Carolina and made the tarts when I was down there. My crust is getting really, really good and flaky thanks to all the tips here. I opted for a cheescake style filling from this Epicurious recipe

Cheesecake Tart with Tropical Fruits

I substituted seasonal fresh fruits and used the same sweet pastry crust recipe I'd been using previously. I think that glazing the prebaked shell with a thinned out jelly (I used apricot preserves for all of the glazing as it's all I had on hand) did help keep it dry and flaky on the bottom. I baked these at about 10 or 11 AM, cooled in the fridge for a few hours and then had them in the car for a three hour trip. The tart went back in the fridge at our destination and was served at about 10 PM. It was very well received (eGulleteers slkinsey and bergerka were among the tart recipients). Everyoen seemd to love it but I thought the baked cheescake filling was just a trifle dry. I cooked it about five minutes less than recommended but have to winder if a bain marie around the tart pan would have helped. I'm also think that due to the removable bottom of the tart pan there might have been water seepage into the crust if I'd adopted this method. Any thoughts on that?

[Wendy DeBord]

Everyoen seemd to love it but I thought the baked cheescake filling was just a trifle dry. I cooked it about five minutes less than recommended but have to winder if a bain marie around the tart pan would have helped. I'm also think that due to the removable bottom of the tart pan there might have been water seepage into the crust if I'd adopted this method. Any thoughts on that?

You definately don't want to bake this in water. Even well wrapped in foil it's common for water to find it's way in.

A couple things. Sometimes it's the recipe and perhaps your recipe was off (sorry I haven't looked at your link yet) making it seem dry or dense. You really can't follow times written, your better to know what your looking for as a signal that it's done.

For cheesecakes a slight knocking of the pan to see if the center is fairly set or still very jiggilly (thats underdone) is how most of us judge. Cheesecakes are like custards and continue to cook after they are out of the oven until they start loosing their internal heat. So we are better to under bake a little then over bake. Wet cheescake batter is shiney, as it bakes it becomes dull. Look across the surface of your cake is it all mat or is the center still shiney?

Typcially a cheesecake does rise a little in the pan. If your observant and lucky you'll catch that signal. When you see that it's risen, it's done. If you take it much past that risen point it will start to crack. Sometimes it's develops hairline cracks around the outter edges while still in the oven. It's over done, or in too hot of an oven.

To increase your odds of making a good cheesecake put a pan of boiling hot water on the bottom of your oven to create a humid enviroment. Place it (the cake) in the bottom 1/3 of your oven. Also never bake a cheesecake filling in an oven hotter then 325, no matter what a recipe tells you. It's a custard and your better off baking it at a low temp. for a long time then a hot temp. in a shorter time.

HTH

[phaelon56]

Okay - cool. A pan of boilng water and a lower temp it is. IIRC they called for 350 degrees. The surface had puffed a bit in the center, had a slight bit of jiggle and had just two tiny spots that started to get a tad golden brown (each spot about the size of a dime - that was on one of the two tarts - the other had not spots. I did not see any cracking nor did I see pulling away from the edge but it was baked in my GF's electric oven. She lacks an oven thermometer (she doesn't even have a sharp knife in the house but I love her anyway ) - it may have been a tad hotter but I'm not sure. The balance of sweetness to cream cheese flavor was waht I was looking for - I just needed creamier texture. I'll be making a few more on August 12 for a party and will report back on results.