When I think of summer, wild berries and afternoons spent outside with family or friends come to mind. That’s why I feel like the beginning of June is the perfect time of year to share this incredibly easy wild berry tart.
Its crust is just sweet enough, wonderfully buttery, and slightly flaky and crispy. Its filling of simple, unsweetened berries is tangy, refreshing, and so effortlessly summery.
I won’t try to credit myself with inventing anything original – berry tarts are probably one of the most classic summer treats to serve at a garden party, during an afternoon outside, or as dessert on a warm evening. Nor does it require a lot of skill or time – the dough comes together in just a few minutes, and assembling the tart can easily be done in between other tasks or during a relaxed afternoon. But honestly, isn’t that the charm of it? I know it is for me.
When the weather is beautiful outside, I don’t want to spend hours working in the kitchen. I’d rather be outside in the garden on a picnic blanket, with my cat Molly next to me, reading a book I love, or by the river with my sisters, enjoying the cool water and the singing of the birds. And I don’t know about you, but to me there are few summer treats as nostalgic as a berry tart. It’s a beautiful seasonal tradition I know from childhood, when my mother used to bake with berries all summer long – be it a simple country-style mixed berry sheet cake, a beautiful blueberry tart with whipped cream, or strawberries and cream on an easy sponge cake. Needless to say, my sisters and I absolutely loved them, and even though my berry tart differs from the ones my mother used to make, it reminds me of the simple joys of childhood.
In this recipe, I used a very simple 3:2:1 dough – three parts flour, two parts butter, one part sugar. You can easily elevate it with a little vanilla, but you don’t have to. For the filling, it’s really just that – mixed berries. I used frozen ones, which helps prevent the dough from becoming too soggy, but you can always use fresh berries instead, especially if you’re picking them straight from your garden. I simply find frozen berries more convenient for this particular recipe.
You also don’t have to stick to mixed berries – although I think the tang of redcurrants among them is especially delicious. I like using mixed berries because they make the tart wonderfully rustic, like something to be enjoyed in a pretty cottage garden in the countryside. But you could just use one or two kinds of berries, whatever you enjoy most and happen to have on hand.
Serve the tart warm with a cup of tea and, if you like, a dollop of whipped cream melting beautifully into the warm berries. Or, on a particularly hot day, let it cool down completely and enjoy it with a cold, refreshing drink. Either way, I think it’s perfect for a summer day, no matter the occasion.
For the dough:
- 300 g flour
- 200 g cold butter, cut into small cubes
- 100 g fine sugar or icing sugar
- Optionally, ½ tbsp vanilla sugar or a little vanilla extract
- A little cold water
- Extra flour for rolling out the dough
For the filling:
- 400–500 g mixed berries, fresh or frozen (for example raspberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, blueberries, blackberries, or strawberries)
Make the dough
In a large bowl, combine the flour and sugar.
Add the cold butter and, if using, the vanilla sugar or vanilla extract. Rub the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. The quicker you work here, the better. The butter shouldn’t be perfectly incorporated into the dry ingredients – on the contrary. The mixture should still look more like a crumble than a dough.
Add 1–2 tablespoons of cold water and incorporate it with your hands until the dough just comes together. It should hold its shape now, but don’t knead it.
Wrap the dough tightly in cling film and place it in the fridge for at least one hour. You can also leave it overnight or for up to three days.
Assemble the tart
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out thinly on a lightly floured work surface. It should be about 4–5 mm thick.
Use the bottom of the tart pan or baking tin as a template to cut out a circle from the rolled-out dough.
Line the pan with parchment paper and transfer the circle of dough into it. Cut long strips about 2 cm wide from some of the remaining dough and use them to build up the sides of the tart.
Roll out the remaining dough again into a rough rectangle and cut strips about 1 cm wide.
Spread the berries evenly over the tart base.
Arrange the strips on top in a lattice pattern.
If you like, brush the lattice with a little beaten egg yolk to give it a shinier finish, but this is entirely optional – it’ll taste just as good without it.
Bake the tart
Bake for about 35–45 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.
Remove the tart from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 5–10 minutes.
Serve warm or completely cooled, but preferably on the same day to keep the crust nice and crisp. Enjoy with a cup of tea or a cold drink and a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream.
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