Custard Tart
A pastry case filled with set egg custard and grated nutmeg. Nothing to hide behind, which is why it is the tart pastry chefs are judged on.
Photograph credit: Custard tart emerging from wrapper (image of custard tart on Wikidata Q2307239) by Shanti, shanti · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Seal the blind-baked case with beaten egg and give it two minutes back in the oven before the custard goes in. That thin cooked film waterproofs the pastry, and it is the only thing standing between you and a soggy base. Then bake it low — 140°C / 285°F — and take it out when the centre still has a distinct wobble, because custard carries on setting for a good twenty minutes out of the oven. A custard baked until firm in the tin will be rubbery and weeping by the time it is cold.
Quick Answers
How long does Custard Tart take to make?
35 minutes of preparation and 1 hour 15 minutes of cooking, plus 3 hours 20 minutes of chilling the pastry and cooling the tart to set, so allow 5 hours 10 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 8.
How to Make Custard Tart
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Rub the butter into the flour, add the icing sugar, yolk, water and salt and bring to a dough. Wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
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Roll out and line a deep 23 cm tart tin, leaving the pastry overhanging. Chill 20 minutes.
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Blind bake at 180°C / 355°F fan / 200°C / 390°F / gas 6 for 20 minutes with beans, then 8 minutes without, until pale gold and dry.
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Brush the inside with beaten egg and return it to the oven for 2 minutes to set the seal.
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Warm the cream and milk together until steaming, not boiling.
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Whisk the yolks, whole egg, sugar and vanilla, pour the hot cream over whisking, then strain.
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Skim off every bubble from the surface — bubbles bake into pockmarks.
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Set the case on the oven shelf, pour the custard in to the brim and grate nutmeg generously over.
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Bake at 120°C / 250°F fan / 140°C / 285°F / gas 1 for 45 minutes, until set at the edges with a distinct wobble at the centre.
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Cool for 2 hours, then trim the pastry edge flush and slice; refrigerate what is left.
Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Pan and tin size.
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Tips That Matter
- Seal the baked case with egg. It is what stops a soggy base.
- Skim the bubbles off the custard before it goes in.
- Take it out wobbly. It sets as it cools.
Serve It With
Nothing · A cup of tea · Poached rhubarb, at a push
Leftovers and Storage
Refrigerated for 3 days, though the pastry softens. Do not freeze.
The Numbers per Serving
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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