Cumquat Tart with Candied Cumquat Peel and Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
225g plain flour
45g pure icing sugar
125g chilled unsalted butter, diced
2 egg yolks (from 59g eggs)
Eggwhite
Filling
1/2 – 3/4 cup preserved cumquats pureed with cumquat syrup
6 Eggs (room temperature)
250g caster sugar
150-200ml pure pouring cream (min 35% fat)
To Serve
Candied cumquat peel
Pure icing sugar to dust
Extra caster sugar for carmalising the top
Vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or thick double cream
To make the pastry, place flour and icing sugar in a food processor and process to combine. Add butter and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg yolks one at a time and process until the dough comes together in a smooth ball.
Press into a flat disc and wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 15 -30 minutes to rest or until firm enough to roll out.
Grease a 24cm x 3cm deep tart loose-based tin with softened butter.
Remove dough from the refrigerator, roll out on a lightly floured bench to a thickness of 3-5mm.
Carefully lift the pastry using your rolling pin and line the tart tin with the pastry. Gently press the pastry along the sides to ensure you have an even thickness. Trim excess dough. Left over dough is handy for any small repair jobs required!
(Alternatively you can trim some excess dough leaving an extra 1-2cm dough overhanging. When the pastry is baked, there will be some shrinkage and the excess pastry can then be trimmed after it is cooked by slowly and gently rolling the rolling pin over the tart tin to cleanly remove the excess pastry).
Prick the pastry base all over with a fork, cover with cling wrap and return to the fridge for a further 15-30 minutes to rest and allow butter to become cold and solidify.
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Remove pastry shell from the refrigerator, line with baking paper and fill with raw rice or pastry weights ensuring the rice is flat and pushed up against the side of the tin. Blind Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
While the pastry is baking, prepare your filling. Break 6 eggs into a large bowl and using an electric whisk, start whisking the eggs until well combined then gradually add the sugar and whisk until you have a pale, thick mixture. Whisk in the cumquat puree then the cream.
Remove rice and paper and return tart shell to the oven and cook for a further 5-10 minutes to dry out the pastry until it is firm to touch and is golden brown. Be careful not to overcook the pastry otherwise it will over brown and crack. You can combine reserved eggwhite with some cold water and brush the inside of the pastry and return to the oven for another 5 minutes. This will seal the pastry.
Remove the pastry shell from the oven. You can at this point set aside the pastry shell to cool in the tin to use the next day if preparing the pastry shell ahead of time.
Reduce oven to 150 °C.
Place the tart shell on a baking tray and carefully pour the cumquat custard into tart shell and bake for at least 25 minutes or until just set. It will continue cooking when removed from the oven. Don’t worry if it has separated into two layers (noticeable when it is cut). Set aside to cool. If preparing this ahead of time, refrigerate until ready to serve.
Remove tart from tart tin. Cut into serving portions. Sprinkle the top of each slice with caster sugar and use a kitchen blowtorch to cook the sugar until it bubbles, then caramalises and forms a shiny, hard tortoiseshell surface.
Place each slice individually on a plate sprinkled with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream or cream and candied cumquat peel.
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