Banana Cream Tart
 
Banana cream tart with vanilla pastry cream, whipped cream, edible flowers, and toasted pecans.
Ingredients
For the pastry cream:
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 50g sugar
  • 20g flour
  • 20g cornstarch
  • 390g milk
  • 1 vanilla bean
For the tart shell:
  • 90g butter, softened
  • 70g icing sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 30g ground almonds (i.e. almond flour)
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 50g all-purpose flour
  • 150g cake flour
To assemble:
  • A few tablespoons of melted white chocolate
  • 350g whipping cream, whipped with ~3 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 bananas, sliced thinly into rounds
  • 3 bananas, sliced lengthwise
  • Edible flowers (optional)
  • Toasted & chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
Method
Prepare the pastry cream:
  1. Beat together the egg yolks and sugar in a medium-sized bowl until smooth.
  2. Add in the flour and cornstarch and beat until combined.
  3. Meanwhile, place the milk in a medium-sized pot. Scrape out the insides of a vanilla bean (vanilla caviar). Add the vanilla bean and vanilla caviar into the pot and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat.
  4. Slowly pour the milk into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.
  5. Transfer the mixture back into the pot and, over medium-low heat, whisk regularly until thickened and smooth. Remove vanilla bean.
  6. Transfer to a container, cover with plastic wrap (make sure it touches the cream), and let chill in the fridge overnight.
Prepare the tart shell:
  1. Combine the butter and the icing sugar until smooth, using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer if you have one. Do not beat rapidly. The goal is not to incorporate air when making the dough.
  2. Add in the food colouring and beat until combined.
  3. Add in the egg, and beat to combine.
  4. Add the almonds, salt, and all-purpose flour. Beat to combine.
  5. Add the cake flour. Beat to combine.
  6. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and place to chill in the fridge until cold (around an hour).
  7. Roll out the dough to the thickness you desire (being careful not to go to thin or the tart will collapse), and line a buttered tart pan.
  8. Place in the freezer to chill for at least half an hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.
To assemble:
  1. Spread the white chocolate on the bottom of the tart shell. Place in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to allow the chocolate to harden.
  2. Meanwhile, whip the pastry cream on high speed until smooth (2 minutes or so) and fold together with the whipped cream.
  3. Fill half the tart with the pastry cream-whipped cream mixture. Add sliced bananas. Cover with the remaining cream to the top of the tart shell.
  4. Decorate with sliced bananas, edible flowers, and the nuts.
Recipe by IronWhisk at http://www.ironwhisk.com/2017/07/banana-cream-tart/