Passion Fruit Tart

Lemon tart may be one of the most popular baked-custard style fruit tarts and delicious as it is, there are some equally great contenders for the title of "the best." This passion fruit tart is one such dessert. It has a super fruity flavour with lots of zinginess. What's even better? It's so easy to make. If you are staggered by a number of eggs, butter, and sugar in this recipe which makes the tart so rich, do not worry, you only need a small slice (though you may want more).

Crust:
1 single pie crust (300 g)

Filling:
1 lemon, freshly squeezed
1 lemon, freshly zested
1 cup passion fruit pulp, without seeds
1¾ cups superfine sugar
6 large eggs
9 large egg yolks
10½ oz unsalted butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C/170°C fan, Gas Mark 5). Grease a 9" (23 cm) loose-bottomed tart tin with a little butter.

Roll out the pastry and line the tart dish, making sure there are no tears in the pastry. Prick the base of the dish using a fork. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Cover the pastry with a scrunched up piece of baking parchment and fill with baking beans, or use long grain rice. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, remove the parchment and beans or rice and bake for a further 10 minutes until the crust is golden.

Make the Filling:
To create the passion fruit pulp, halve passion fruits and scrape the all the pulp, seeds and juice into a sieve over a bowl. Rub the pulp through the sieve, discard the seeds.

Place the lemon zest, lemon juice, passion fruit purée, sugar, eggs and egg yolks into a large roomy saucepan. Over a very low heat, incorporate all the ingredients - you will find a whisk is best for this. Continue to whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Do not rush this process or you will scramble the eggs. Before you know it, the mixture will begin to thicken. It is ready when thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Remove the pan from the heat and place to one side. From time-to-time, whisk the mixture as it cools down. Once cooled, stir in the softened butter. Do not add too soon or the butter will simply melt making the tart greasy.

Raise the oven temperature to 450°F (230°C/210°C fan, Gas Mark 8).

Pour the mixture into the cooked pastry base, place near to the top of the hot oven and bake for about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven before the surface starts to brown. Leave to cool completely before serving, preferably overnight. Serve with whipped cream or crème fraîche on top.

Makes 8 servings.

Variations: You can also make this tart with a simple lemon filling for a proper grown-up dessert or with mango and passion fruit.