A Bloody Good Raspberry Tart from Master of Pastry Anneliese Brancatisano
It's a Guest Special with @_peacheslacreme__ AKA Melbourne's queen of dessert!
If there’s a dessert-dedicated corner of the internet that gets me sugar-frenzied, it’s Anneliese Brancatisano’s feed. You may know Anneliese as @_peacheslacreme__ on Instagram. Anneliese was the pastry chef at Hector’s Deli in Melbourne, and master of their otherworldly doughnuts, which Charles and I overdosed on on our visit last year. Her creations, from peach tarts to passionfruit sponge, cherry pie to croquembouche, are things of exquisite beauty. So I am OVERJOYED to bring you a recipe direct from Anneliese today: it’s Raspberry Tart with Rye Pastry, Vanilla Custard and Salted Cream. When I cooked this, everyone who ate it exclaimed how terrific it was. It is truly a gorgeous invention.
I keep saying I will try to taper out my sweet tooth, and then I keep getting sidelined by something extraordinarily delicious. When you’ve tasted Anneliese’s Raspberry Tart with Rye Pastry, Vanilla Custard and Salted Cream I believe you will understand. Anneliese no longer makes the famous doughnuts at Hector’s, but now works for herself, and luckily for residents of Reservoir (or Rezza as it’s affectionately known) she is heading up desserts at La Pinta. A restaurant I will definitely visit on our next Southern Hemisphere trip. The woman is a pastry maestro, and I’m in awe of her skills and pairing of flavour profiles. This tart, with its nutty rye pastry, vanilla custard, salted cream and berries on top is a pudding that has it all. Thank you for bringing it into our lives Anneliese!
I had only made custard once before (as a child) so I was nervous when making this, but following the recipe and seeing it finally thicken up after dutiful whisking was a moment of true satisfaction. I hope you will find it equally thrilling. It's a good idea to start this recipe the day before you want to eat the tart (or early in the morning) for the easiest experience, as you need the tart and custard to set together in the fridge, before topping with the cream and fruit.
Anneliese says:
I love this Raspberry Tart because the salted savoury cream with the nutty rye base and sweet custard compliments the tart/sweet raspberries so well. It's indulgent, but not excessive.
She’s so right!!
Anneliese’s Raspberry Tart
For the shortcrust pastry
200g plain (all-purpose) flour
50g rye flour
80g caster sugar
2g fine salt
160g butter, cold and cubed
1 egg yolk
60g double cream (pouring or thickened cream in Australia)
1 egg yolk and milk, for brushing tart base
For the custard
473g of whole (full cream) milk
1 vanilla bean
6 egg yolks (around 15g-20g each)
135g caster sugar
37g cornstarch (sifted)
15g butter
For the salted vanilla cream
200g double cream (pouring or ‘thickened cream’ in Australia)
30g sour cream
80g caster sugar
5g vanilla
Flaked salt (to your liking)
Raspberries (500g)
1x 28cm loose tart tin
For the rye shortcrust, combine the flours, sugar and salt together. With your hands, rub in the cold diced butter, until the flour is coated and the mixture is like coarse almond meal.
Combine the cream and egg yolk, then add to the mixture and distribute until all is coated. Bring the dough together carefully into a disc, and be mindful not to overwork it. Wrap it in plastic wrap and fridge it for 15 minutes. Lightly flour your surface, then roll your pastry out 1mm thick (this may sound unfathomably thin, but it’s not a typo! Just get it as thin as you can). Place in your tart tin, making sure the pastry evenly fills the grooves and that there are no cracks. Lightly pierce the bottom with a fork all over. Cover the tart in foil, pressing into the tart and making sure everything is covered. Freeze for 40 minutes.
Whilst the tart is resting, start your custard. Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise then use a spoon to scrape seeds out. Add the milk and vanilla bean to a medium sized saucepan, then place over medium heat and bring just to a boil. Turn off the heat and set aside for 15 minutes to infuse. When there is 5 minutes left of infusing time, in a standmixer or by hand, mix the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the sifted cornstarch and whisk until there are no lumps.
Whisk in ¼ cup of the warm milk to the eggs and temper the mixture. Follow with the remaining milk. Pour the mixture through a sieve back into the saucepan. Place back over a medium-high heat, whisking constantly for about 3 minutes, until thickened and slowly bubbling on the surface. (You might think it isn’t going to thicken up but trust in the process and be patient!) Once it starts bubbling, cook for 1 minute longer, constantly whisking to cook out the cornflour. Take off the heat, add the cold butter and whisk it in.
The custard, and salted cream taken to medium peaks Push the mixture through a sieve into a heatproof bowl. Now, either place the the bowl in a bigger bowl filled with iced water, and whisk every 5 minutes until the custard comes down to room temperature. Or, you can cover the custard bowl with glad wrap (clingfilm) to avoid a skin, and just bring it down to room temperature in the fridge (if you are time poor). You want the custard to be just at room temperature and not have completely set, as you want it to set initially in your tart shell. If you choose to set it in the fridge, make sure to give it a whisk so it has no lumps, and to break it up.
With 10 minutes to go of pastry-cooling time, preheat your oven to 180°C (convection) and place a tray in it that the tart will fit on. When ready, take your tart out the freezer and fill it with baking weights. Bake the tart shell for 30 minutes, covered.
After 30 minutes, take the pastry out and remove the foil and baking weights carefully. Brush your tart base all over with egg wash (1 egg yolk, +1 tsp milk whisked), evenly and thinly. Place back in the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes, uncovered. Remove the tart base from the oven and place the tin on a cooling rack, and allow it to cool completely. Once the tart shell is cool, and your custard is brought to room temperature and loose, pour the custard into the tart shell and smooth it out. Let it set for a minimum of 3 hours or preferably overnight (cover it in the fridge with glad wrap (clingfilm) not touching the custard, or in a container).
For the salted cream, place all the ingredients in a stand mixer bowl (or large bowl with electric whisk), and whisk until you see medium-firm peaks, like the image above. This should take between 1-2 minutes of whipping, be careful not to over whip. Place the cream on top of the tart and smooth it out. Arrange your raspberries upside-down on top (from the centre in a circular pattern) and place the tart back in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving. Deeeelicious!
“Now, what will I do with all those egg whites?” You ask…
You could do as I did and make a rather lovely egg white omelette or two, by adding a splash of leftover cream to the whites, whisking and seasoning and cooking in a small frying pan. Add a touch of butter, then pour in the egg and move it from the edges to the centre of the pan with a spatula in a clockwise motion at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock. Move the pan around with a gentle move of your wrist to fill all the gaps. You’ll see you’ve created a ripple effect in the centre. I added kimchi and cheese to ours and cooked for a further minute, before rolling out onto the plate. It was really great!
Otherwise you could opt for meringue (maybe give Stroma’s stack a go?), or freeze them for some day in the future.
I will end with an image of an Anneliese (Hector’s) doughnut we ate last November. I think of these weekly…
Huge thanks again to Anneliese for sharing her glorious recipe. You can now find all the Guest Special recipes in one place here. Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you later in the month!