Seasonal Fruit Tart with Pastry Cream

The Seasonal Fruit Tart is the most beautiful dessert you can put on a party table — a golden, buttery pastry shell filled with silky vanilla pastry cream and crowned with the season's finest fruit in an artful arrangement. It is a showpiece that tastes as extraordinary as it looks.

Ingredients (makes one 10-inch tart, serves 8–10):

Pâte Sucrée (Sweet Pastry): - 1½ cups all-purpose flour - ¾ cup powdered sugar - 7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed - 1 egg yolk - 2 tablespoons ice water - Pinch of salt

Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière): - 2 ⅛ cups whole milk - 4 egg yolks - 3 ½ oz sugar - 1 ⅓ oz cornstarch - 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste - 1 oz unsalted butter

Toppings: - Seasonal fruit: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi, mandarin segments - 3 tablespoons apricot jam, warmed (for glaze)

Instructions: Pastry: Pulse flour, sugar, salt, and butter until breadcrumb texture. Add yolk and water, press into a disk, chill 1 hour. Roll thin, press into tart pan, blind bake at 375°F for 18 minutes until golden. Cool completely.

Pastry Cream: Whisk yolks, sugar, and cornstarch. Heat milk to steaming, temper into yolk mixture, return to heat whisking constantly until thick. Remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap touching the surface. Chill completely.

Assembly: Spread cold pastry cream in tart shell. Arrange fruit artfully. Brush with warm apricot glaze.

Pro Tips: The tart shell can be baked days ahead (store airtight). Pastry cream keeps 3 days refrigerated. Assemble maximum 4 hours before serving to prevent a soggy shell.