Tamal Ray's recipe for berry mousse tart

In pre-Covid times, on the rare occasion I found myself with a midweek day off, I loved to amble around London, exploring. Sometimes, my daydreaming would guide me to a little bakery I’d not seen before, its window full of pastries, cakes and tarts laden with berries. It’s been a while since I’ve had such a day, but even without wandering and daydreaming, I do still have time in my life for tart.

Berry mousse tart

Frozen berries would also work well inn this filling, although in that case you may need to add a little sugar – they tend to be more sour than fresh ones.

Prep 1 hr
Cook 40 min + 3 hr cooling time
Serves 8

For the mousse
400g summer fruits (eg, a mixture of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries)
100g granulated or caster sugar
2 large egg yolks
3 leaves gelatine, soaked in cold water
200g double cream

For the pastry
150g plain flour
3 pinches table salt
40g icing sugar
75g unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 large egg, separated

For the jelly
150g fruit coulis (reserved from the mousse – see method)
1 leaf gelatine, soaked in cold water

To decorate
A couple of handfuls of mixed summer berries

To make the pastry, blitz the flour, salt, sugar and butter together in a food processor to a breadcrumb consistency.

With the motor still going, add in the yolk, followed by a little of the white, until the mix starts to clump together – you will not need all of the white. Knead into a ball, then cover and rest in the fridge for half an hour.

Grease a 23cm round, loose-bottomed tart tin with butter. Once the pastry has chilled, dust a rolling pin and worktop with flour, then roll out the dough to 3mm thick. Roll the dough up over the rolling pin and unroll over the tin. Press into the edges and trim the excess. Prick the base all over with a fork, then chill for 30 minutes.

When you’re ready to bake, cover the pastry with greaseproof paper, pour in some baking beans (or any dried grain or pulse) and bake for 12 minutes. Remove the beans and greaseproof paper, bake for a further 10-12 minutes. until the pastry is golden brown, then leave to cool.

To make the filling, blitz the berries in a food processor, then simmer in a covered saucepan for five minutes. Pass the cooked pulp through a sieve, discarding the seeds. Return the juice to the saucepan, stir through the sugar and bring to a boil for five minutes. Set aside 150g of this juice for the jelly layer.

Leave the remaining juice to cool a little, then whisk in the egg yolks. Cook on a gentle heat for two to three minutes, until it starts to thicken. Stir in the drained soaked gelatine leaves and leave to cool to room temperature.

When lukewarm, whisk up the double cream until airy but still pourable (if you over-whisk to soft peaks, then stir though a little more cream until liquid again). Fold the cream through the fruit mix until just combined, then pour into the pastry case. Chill in the fridge for three hours, until set.

Warm the remaining fruit juice and stir in the last strained gelatine leaf. Leave to cool to lukewarm, pour over the mousse and chill again, to set. Arrange the fruit over the tart and serve.