Strawberry Custard Tart | GF
Gluten free and vegan strawberry custard tart made of an almond crust, a vanilla custard, and strawberries dusted with icing sugar.
How to make a vegan and gluten free custard tart
Be organized
You can make all of the components the day of, or prepare the crust and the custard the day before, and garnish the tart the day of.
If you start preparing the tart the day before, store the crust in an airtight container – or wrapped in plastic – at room temperature. And keep the custard in the fridge overnight.
If you’re making all of the components the day of, do the custard first, as it requires a couple of hours to cool down and set.
The Vanilla Custard
When making custard, measure all the ingredients first, because once you start the cooking process, it all goes pretty quickly.
The reason why you put some sugar in the milk is to prevent the milk from burning at the bottom of the pot when you bring it to a boil. Also, mixing some of the cold milk with the cornstarch and sugar will limit the risks of having lumps in your custard.
Once all of your ingredients are ready, bring the milk to a boil. When it starts boiling, pour part of it in the cornstarch mixture, mix together with a whisk, and pour everything back into the pot. Cook on medium heat until it boils again, whisking continuously, and cook for another minute from that point on.
Remove the pot from the stove, add the margarine, and stir until fully incorporated.
Pour the custard into a container, cover with plastic wrap directly on top, and allow to cool down at room temperature before refrigerating.
The Almond Crust
The dough is very easy to make, you simply have to combine all the ingredients together. You can do it by hand, or with your stand mixer using the paddle attachment.
I used a Ø 6-6.5 inches/16 cm cake ring to bake the crust. There’s no need to grease it, just place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Press down the dough evenly into the ring, and bake for 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 300°F – 150°C.
Once baked, wait for about five minutes before unmolding, and allow to cool down.
Garnishing a strawberry custard tart
Rinse and dry the strawberries, remove the stems, and cut in half.
Beat the custard to loosen it up and place in a piping bag with a round tip. Pipe it on top of the crust, leaving the edge empty.
Arrange the strawberries in circles, starting from the outside edge. Dust with icing sugar.
About the ingredients
You can either use vegan butter or margarine, I usually use the Becel unsalted margarine. If using vegan better for the dough, you might have to bring it to room temperature if it’s too hard.
I tested the custard recipe with both oat milk and almond/coconut milk. I prefer it with oat milk, but the almond/coconut milk works well too. If using sweetened plant based milk, remove some of the sugar from the recipe.
If you want to use a vanilla bean instead of the extract, the best way to proceed is to cut it lengthwise, scrape it with a knife, and infuse it in the hot milk for at least 10 minutes before moving on with the rest of the recipe. For this quantity of custard, you would only need one third of a vanilla bean.
Dusting the tart with icing sugar is optional, but gives a nice gloss to the strawberries.
Variations and how to store a strawberry custard tart
You can play around a lot with this recipe, for example, replace the almond flour in the crust by hazelnut flour.
The custard can be flavored with cocoa or matcha powder (strain and mix it with the cornstarch), lemon zests (add at the end), etc…
Substitute the strawberries with other fruits, such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or cooked rhubarb.
It’s best to enjoy this tart the day of, and store it in air tight container in the fridge. Take it out of the fridge about 20 minutes before serving.
Strawberries don’t freeze well, therefore, I would recommend not to freeze this tart.
Other gluten free and vegan desserts
Coffee Panna Cotta with Chocolate Sauce
Pear and Almond “Bourdaloue” Tart
Strawberry Custard Tart | Vegan, GF
Equipment
- Ø 6-6.5 inches/16 cm cake ring
Ingredients
Vanilla Custard
- ¾ cup unsweetened plant-based milk – (175 ml)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract – (10 g)
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar – (40 g)
- 2 tbsp cornstarch – (18 g)
- 2 ½ tbsp unsalted margarine, cut in cubes – (40 g)
Almond Crust
- 4 tbsp unsalted margarine, cut in cubes – (62 g)
- ⅓ cup brown rice flour – (62 g)
- ½ cup almond flour – (62 g)
- ⅓ cup brown sugar – (50 g)
- ¼ tsp sea salt – (1 g)
Garnish
- 1 dz medium strawberries
- icing sugar – optional
Instructions
Vanilla Custard
- In a small pot, mix together about three quarter of the milk, half of the sugar, and the vanilla extract. Bring to a boil on medium heat.
- In a bowl, mix together (with a whisk) the rest of the sugar with the cornstarch. Add the remaining of the milk and mix together again until smooth.
- When the milk starts to boil, pour some of it in the bowl, mix well, and pour everything back into the pot.
- Cook on medium heat (stirring continuously) until it boils, and cook for one more minute from that point on.
- Remove the pot from the stove and stir in the margarine until fully incorporated.
- Transfer the cream in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream. Allow to cool down at room temperature before storing in the fridge until set.
Almond Crust
- Preheat the oven to 300°F – 150°C, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the cake ring on top (there is no need to grease it).
- In a bowl – you can use your stand mixer with the paddle attachment – mix together the margarine, rice flour, almond flour, brown sugar, and salt, until combined.
- Press the dough evenly into the cake ring with your hands, and bake for 30 minutes.
- Allow to cool down for five minutes before removing the ring gently.
Garnishing
- Beat the cream with a whisk to loosen it up, and put it in a piping bag with a round tip.
- Pipe the cream on the crust, leaving the edge empty.
- Rinse and dry the strawberries, remove the stems, and cut in half. Arrange them nicely on the cream and dust with icing sugar.
Notes
You can make all of the components the day of, or prepare the crust and the custard the day before, and garnish the tart the day of.
If you start preparing the tart the day before, store the crust in an airtight container – or wrapped in plastic – at room temperature. And keep the custard in the fridge overnight.
If you’re making all of the components the day of, make the custard first as it requires a couple of hours to cool down and set.
For the custard, the reason why you put some sugar in the milk is to prevent the milk from burning at the bottom of the pot when you bring it to a boil. Also, mixing some of the cold milk with the cornstarch and sugar will limit the risks of having lumps in your custard.
You can either use vegan butter or margarine, I usually use the Becel unsalted margarine. If using vegan better for the dough, you might have to bring it to room temperature if it’s too hard.
I tested the custard recipe with both oat milk and almond/coconut milk. I preferred it with the first one but the latter works well too. If using sweetened plant based milk, remove some of the sugar from the recipe.
If you want to use a vanilla bean instead of the extract, the best way to proceed is to cut it lengthwise, scrape the seeds with a knife, and infuse in the hot milk for at least 10 minutes. For this quantity of custard, you would only need one third of a vanilla bean.
Dusting the tart with icing sugar is optional, but gives a nice gloss to the strawberries.
You can play around a lot with this recipe: replace the almond flour in the crust by hazelnut flour ;
The custard can be flavored with cocoa or matcha powder (strain and mix with the cornstarch), lemon zests (add at the end), etc… ;
Substitute the strawberries with other fruits, such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or cooked rhubarb.
It’s best to enjoy this tart the day of, and store it in air tight container in the fridge. Take it out of the fridge about 20 minutes before serving.
Strawberries don’t freeze well, therefore, I would recommend not to freeze this tart.
Calories are per one serving (total calories for this recipe: 1766).