The joy of baking a French fruit tart

My virgin attempt at a French fruit tart to bring to a dinner party with friends. Recipe from Joy of Baking - good recipe with helpful instructional video for beginners.

But they did not teach me how to cut the tart! See my final verdict here on this tart after the dinner party.

Blackberries, gooseberries, strawberries, cherries and kiwi - all set for a Saturday home-made French  fruit tart by a virgin baker.

As a reluctant photographer, I am proud of this photo of the fruits taken in the afternoon sun.

Pastry cream that I made last night. Very easy and fun to do. Heat up 300ml milk, separately whisk together 3 egg yolks,  50gm sugar (I used 30), and very slowly pour hot but not burnt milk into the egg mix. Whisk quickly to prevent curdling. Then pour the mixture back into the hot pan that you used to heat the milk and stir constantly under medium
to low heat till it thickens to the consistency you want.

I was excited about making my own sweet pastry crust instead of simply buying one from the store. I'm amazed I can get some shape and that it doesn't crumble. It's far from perfect with obvious cracks but I'm really amazed a virgin baker like me can even get this to stand LOL! I'm anxious to see what will happen when we cut it later at a dinner gathering with friends.

Add pastry cream to crust.

Spread it out evenly. Easy and fun.

Lay out the fruits and then take lots of pictures!

My crust has an apricot glaze for the shine and also to prevent the pastry cream and fruits from making it soggy. Just heat up apricot jam, add 1 TBS water and remove when it's liquid. With a pastry brush, rub it all over the crust.