Jaci Hicken, our seasoned journalist and trained chef, shares her wealth of knowledge on growing, cooking, and preserving homegrown produce. This week, Jaci is baking the tart case for the coming French fruit tart.
Are you following along, baking a French fruit tart with me?
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This week we are baking the tart case.
You will need the batch of sweet short-crust pastry we made last time.
If you are keeping it in the freezer, make sure you got it out yesterday to defrost overnight in the fridge.
Remove the sweet short-crust pastry from the fridge two hours before you start baking, so it can come to room temperature.
To bake this tart case, you will need a 23cm fluted tart/flan/quiche tin with a removable base.
This is the standard-size tart tin that you can pick up from your favourite cooking utensils store.
Tart case recipe
Ingredients
1 batch of sweet short-crust pastry
Extra butter
Method
Step 1: Place the base of your tart tin on a sheet of baking paper and trace around it with a pencil. Cut the circle out.
Place the base back in the tart tin and, using a little extra butter, grease very well.
Place the circle of baking paper in the base of the tart tin.
Step 2: Place your batch of pastry between two sheets of baking paper.
Roll out the pastry until it is 2 to 3 mm thick.
Remove the top sheet of baking paper.
Step 3: Using the bottom piece of baking paper, place the pastry gently over the tart tin.
Remove the baking paper.
Gently press the pastry into the sides of the tart tin, then, using a palette knife, trim the pastry, leaving a 2cm overhang.
Place the tart case in the fridge to rest for 2 hours, or in the freezer for 20 minutes if you are in a hurry.
Step 4: Pre-heat your oven to 180C.
Remove the tart case from the fridge (or freezer) and place it on a baking tray.
Place a sheet of baking paper in the tart and fill with cooking weights. If you don’t have cooking weights, you can use something like rice to do the same thing.
Once the oven has heated to 180C, bake for 20 minutes.
Step 5: After 20 minutes, remove from the oven and remove the cooking weights.
Return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
Step 6: Remove from the oven and allow to fully cool.
Once the tart case has cooled, use a small knife to trim the overhang to the top of the case. This is to give you a smooth, even, tart case edge.
At this point, you have made your tart case.
I like to remove it from the tart tin now, to make sure it comes out, then put it back in the tin until it is needed, to keep it safe and stable.
It will take us until the end of July to assemble the French fruit tart, so save this column and bake your tart case then.
In the next Jaci can cook column, we will be making the diplomat cream, which is really just a fancy way of saying custard.
Enjoy
– Jaci
Are you following along, baking a French fruit tart?? Do you have a photo of your creation to share? Share it with Jaci at jaci.hicken@mmg.com.au.
Anyone who shares a photo of their French fruit tart with The Riv and McPherson Media Group will be in the running for a gift box of Jacican preserves valued at $30 (plus $10 postage).
All photos of French fruit tarts must be received by MMG by Friday, July 31, 2026, at 1 pm, at jaci.hicken@mmg.com.au.
The winner will be chosen at the discretion of MMG on Friday, July 31, 2026, at 4 pm and published in The Riv on Tuesday, August 4, 2026.