Caramelised Brown Sugar Tart
Caramelised Brown Sugar Tart
It’s hard to describe the flavour of this caramelised brown sugar tart recipe until you’ve tried it – but wow it is good!
It’s a sweet pastry pie crust filled with a brown sugar custard, which results in the smoothest, softest tart you’ve ever tried.
This recipe is a great alternative to a chocolate tart if you fancy trying something a little different. It’s best served on the same day and pairs perfectly with whipped chantilly cream, or a dollop of ice cream.
Follow my video and step-by-step recipe to make this showstopper tart.
If you love this tart, check out my Pear and Almond Tart recipe!
Ingredients
Method
Cube the butter and leave it at room temperature for 5/10 minutes to slightly soften.
Beat the butter and icing sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for 2-3 minutes until it forms a smooth paste, scraping down the sides as needed.
Add in the egg yolks and beat again for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl to ensure the butter is fully incorporated.
Tip in the flour and mix on a low speed until the dough comes together, about 30 seconds.
Scoop it out of the bowl and shape it into a rough disc using your hands. Wrap it tightly with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour (an overnight rest is better as it allows the dough to fully relax)
Once chilled, leave it at room temperature for a few minutes to soften slightly. Lightly flour the work surface and roll the dough out relatively thin using a rolling pin, roughly 2-4mm thick.
Carefully lift the pie dough into a 9” fluted tart ring with a removable base. Use your hands to press the dough into the edges, then trim off any excess dough with a knife. Place the pastry in the freezer for 20 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 175C/345F Non-Fan Assisted.
Pour the cream & vanilla into a medium saucepan and place it over a medium-low heat until it is steaming. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl whisk together the egg yolks & salt.
Add the sugars into a medium saucepan, and over a medium-low heat, gently melt them, stirring the pan just very occasionally. They should melt together nicely. Once they have melted, continue to cook for another 30 seconds. It should smell slightly burnt.
Slowly pour the hot cream over the sugars and use a whisk to quickly stir this together, cooking for 1 minute. It is important both the cream and caramel are hot here, or the caramel will seize and stick to the whisk. If this happens, just keep whisking and it should gradually dissolve in about 1-2 minutes. If you have any undissolved bits left, just use a hand blender to give it a quick blitz.
After 1 minute of cooking the cream, very slowly pour it over your egg yolks, whisking constantly to temper the eggs.
Pour the entire mixture through a sieve into a fresh bowl. Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate while you finish the pastry.
Remove the pastry case from the freezer and line it with a scrunched-up sheet of parchment and fill it to the brim with baking beans. Blind bake for 25 minutes, then remove from the parchment and baking beans and bake for another 5 minutes.
Remove it from the oven and whisk together the egg wash ingredients. Brush this over the tart, and bake for a further 10-12 minutes, or until the pastry is a deep golden brown (not burnt!)
Lower the oven to 130C/265F Non-Fan Assisted.
Remove the brown sugar cream from the fridge and scoop off any bubbles on the surface with a spoon. Sieve the mixture into a tall jug.
With the tart shell in the oven, carefully pour the filling right to the top of the tart shell. Use a blow torch to get rid of any bubbles. Bake it for 55 minutes or until there is a slight wobble, about 1” in the centre.
Remove it from the oven, and cool to room temperature on a wire rack for 45 minutes, then chill uncovered in the fridge for 3 hours.
Garnish with flaked sea salt and serve immediately. Only garnish with the salt when serving or it will melt onto the tart.
The tart can be stored in the fridge overnight, but the texture will be slightly firmer, and not have the custardy texture.
This tart is a little complicated but DELISH, although before you start you should have a plan for what you’re going to do with almost TWENTY spare egg whites. (If meringues aren’t your thing, make friands.)
Oh, and if you want to ‘bake it better’™ I recommend adding a crunchy burnt toffee layer on top (like on a crème brûlée).
Glad you liked it Greig! Love the recommendation for the topping.. a bit like this one? https://mattadlard.com/recipes/vanilla-creme-brulee-tart/
Hi Matt.
Love the videos you do, keep up the amazing work.
I made this tart yesterday, truly delicious! Will be making this again as well as more of your desserts.
Thanks for making the world of internet recipes a better place.
Thank you so much!
Hi Matt,
Can I adjust the sugar ratio if I want the tart to be a little sweeter?
Yeh!
Hi Matt,
is it on purpose that there is no salt in the pastry recipe?
Thank you!
You can add 2g! Make’s a very very minor difference
Flavio to make the dish a little sweeter, don’t change the filling – just add a burnt crunchy toffee layer on top, a-la crème brûlée.
Just made this tart, it’s setting in the fridge as we speak. Tried a bit of the custard mixture before pouring it in the tart and it’s so good! 🤭
Het some mixture left so I made 2 creme brulee’s with that. Oh my lord, it is amazing!!!!!!
As we would say in Dutch: Erg lekker!!
I think I am your number one Dutch fan 😁
Thank you!!
I made this yesterday, and my guests absolutely loved it.
That said, I found the directions and ingredient quantities to be wrong. In fact, rather than light brown like in your photos, mine came out straight yellow (I have a photo) — like a quiche (without the browned top). And both the crust dough and filling made wayyyyy more than needed. In fact, I made a second 8-inch tart out of the leftovers.
Now, I live outside of Boston, and my tart pans are only an inch and a half tall, so that may account for why I had so much extra, if your tart pans are say 2″ (5 cm) or more.
In the future I will bake in a deeper dish, double the caramel, and perhaps cut back on the quantity of custard and crust that I make.
But again, my guests LOVED the dessert, and I will gladly make it again.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! The pastry recipe definitely gives you a little room to play with but the filling will be spot on for the tin! Sounds like your tin just might be a little bit smaller, but two tarts is always better than one ha! Did you use muscovado sugar? That should give it the dark colour!
No muscovado sugar. (This is the US! We don’t know no muscovado sugar!) I usually use white sugar plus molasses.
Just founds lots on amazon US + walmart! Have a look and it will make a difference to the colour 🙂
There’s muscavado sugar readily available in the US