This gluten-free fruit tart has fresh seasonal berries, rich vanilla cream, on top of a sweet almond flour crust making a show-stopping dessert!
What exactly is a fruit tart? A fruit tart traditionally is made with a thick shortbread crust, filled with vanilla pastry cream filling, and finished with a variety of fruits.
My version is both gluten and dairy-free, with a paleo option, depending on your needs. It’s the perfect Summer dessert!
Gluten-Free Vanilla Cream Fruit Tart Ingredients
Almond Flour Crust
This tart crust is super easy! Requires one bowl with no chill time and pairs lovely with the vanilla cream. There is much variety amongst the ingredients you can use, producing the same results.
Almond Flour: Helps bing the ingredients.
Oil: You can use melted butter, ghee, or refined coconut oil.
Honey: You can use maple syrup, coconut sugar, or regular sugar.
Egg: Helps bing the ingredients.
Salt: For Flavor.
Vanilla Cream
This dairy-free vanilla cream is made with full-fat coconut milk, giving it a silk-like texture. Not a fan of coconut? You can also replace coconut milk with regular whole milk or heavy cream. Using other milk alternatives such as almond milk is not thick enough and will not work in this recipe.
Milk: Full-fat canned coconut milk, whole milk, or heavy cream.
Sugar: Maple Syrup, Coconut Sugar, or Regular Sugar will all work.
Egg Yolk: This will help enrich the custard.
Gluten-Free Flour: This will help thicken the custard.
Butter: Butter-flavored coconut oil, unsalted butter, dairy-free baking sticks, or ghee will all work.
Vanilla Extract: Use a high-quality vanilla extract or vanilla bean for the best results.
Almond Extract: Optional, but cuts the taste of coconut.
Salt: For flavor.
What Fruits To Use
In this recipe, I used a variety of berries, but you can experiment with multiple fruit options including:
- Red Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Black Raspberries
- Kiwi
- Mandarin Oranges
- Banana
Tips For Making The Best Dairy-Free Vanilla Pastry Cream
This vanilla pastry cream has a pudding-like texture with a sweet vanilla flavor.
Here are some tips for making the best pastry cream:
- Whisk the custard continuously for a full 2-3 minutes to help thicken the cream.
- The milk must come to a complete boil for at least 1 minute in order to properly thicken.
- Once the cream has formed, pour the cream into a glass container and then place a piece of saran wrap directly over the top of the cream. This will help to avoid the skin from forming.
- Set the cream in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours.
- Fill the tart with the cream 1 hour before serving.
For More Tasty Desserts Check Out These Favorites Below:
The BEST Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie (Dairy-Free)
Gluten-Free Pecan Pie (Dairy-Free) No Corn Syrup!
Vanilla Bean Citrus Fruit Cups
Gluten-Free Vanilla Cream Fruit Tart
Ingredients
Almond Flour Crust
- 2½ cups almond flour (250grams)
- 1/3 cup melted unsalted butter, ghee, or refined butter flavored coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Vanilla Cream
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/3 cup sugar, coconut sugar, or maple syrup
- 1/4 cup gluten-free flour
- 1½ cups full-fat coconut milk, or whole milk
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, ghee, or refined butter flavored coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Fruit Topping
- 1/3 cup strawberries
- 1/3 cup raspberries
- 1/3 cup blueberries
Instructions
Almond Flour Crust Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 9-inch tart pan and set it aside.
- In a large bowl stir together the almond flour, honey, melted oil, egg, and salt.
- Press down the mixture into the tart pan, making sure to fill in any holes or gaps. Then place a piece of parchment paper over the top of the tart, pressing the crust into the pan to help create an even layer.
- Prick the bottom of the crust several times with a fork, then place the tart pan onto a baking sheet and into the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust turns a light brown. Allow the crust to completely cool before filling.
Vanilla Cream
- In a large bowl or Kitchenaid Mixer, add in the egg yolks and sugar. Mix at high speed for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Then add the flour to the bowl, mixing for another minute.
- Pour the coconut milk into a medium-size saucepan and bring the burner to low heat. Once the coconut milk begins to produce steam, remove it from the burner.
- Turn your mixer onto the lowest speed setting and very slowly pour the steamed coconut milk into the egg mixture. Make sure to pour slowly or you risk the eggs curdling. Once all the milk is added, pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan, bringing the heat to a medium setting.
- Whisk the custard for around 2-3 minutes until thickened. Once the custard has thickened, turn off the burner and remove the pot from the heat, whisk in the butter, vanilla, almond extract, and salt.
- Pour the custard into a glass bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic is touching the cream to help prevent the skin from forming. Refrigerate the cream for a minimum of 4 hours. For best results store overnight.
- Pour the custard into the fully baked crust, then top with your favorite choice of fruit. Place the tart back into the refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving.
Could I add lemon juice and or zest to the cream to make it lemon floured? How would I do that?
Hi there!
You could probably add lemon zest to the boiling pot with a few tablespoons of lemon juice. I would add a tablespoon or more flour to the recipe, and then strain the pudding of any zest at the end with a sieve. Also, if you love lemon-flavored desserts, I would recommend my lemon tart recipe. 🙂
Becca