This gorgeous Easter Cream Tart in the shape of a giant Easter egg is very easy to recreate at home. All you need is shop-bought shortcrust pastry, vanilla buttercream and oodles of Easter chocolate goodies to decorate with.
As some of you might remember I made a Biscoff Puff Pastry Tree at Christmas. It went absolutely bonkers on my Facebook page and I'm told that people loved it because it was so easy.
Last year for Easter I made this Easter Egg Cheesecake so instead of going down the cheesecake route I went for a showstopping dessert.
I wanted to make something just as fun and easy as the puff pastry tree you all loved and had a brainwave to use ready-rolled shortcrust pastry and turn it into a giant and colourful Easter egg.
Cream tarts are pretty trendy these days. You might also have seen them called cookie tarts, letter cookies or letter cakes. I've made a couple of letter cakes in the past- this Number 18 Birthday Cake is one of my most popular recipes and this E is for Easter Letter Cake has been recreated a lot.
A cream tart is basically a shape made from a pastry or biscuit base and filled with buttercream. They are decorated with small food items such as macarons, mini meringues and fresh fruit.
All you need to make this Easter Pastry Cream Tart is...
- 2 sheets ready-rolled shortcrust pastry
- a batch of vanilla buttercream
- a selection of Easter-themed chocolate
I hope you'll agree it looks pretty impressive, I mean who wouldn't love an over-the-top cream tart bursting with all things Easter?
As always, if I can pull this out of the bag. You can too. I promise never to make over-complicated recipes that you can't recreate at home.
When it came to an Easter Cream Tart it was always going to be in the shape of a bunny, chick or Easter egg.
I went with an Easter egg as felt this was the easiest option to demonstrate shape-wise, but you could absolutely make this cream tart any Easter-themed shape you like!
Again, for the sake of ease, I've used two sheets of ready-rolled shortcrust pastry.
Oh and by the way, did you know you can buy sweet shortcrust pastry now?
I couldn't find any in the shops but if you do see it I think it would work even better than the standard shortcrust that I've used here.
If you don't fancy using pastry you could make a huge vanilla biscuit instead. I am totally in love with baking with anything pre-rolled though. I'm so pleased with how it turned out.
For the buttercream filling, I made an easy vanilla buttercream. As you need quite a lot I would not recommend buying it ready-made in the tubs because I think it would work out too expensive.
For decoration, you can really go to town. I raided the seasonal aisle and bought lots of different Easter goodies like Cadbury Creme Eggs, Malteser Bunnies and loads of different types of Mini Eggs: Smarties, Cadbury and Galaxy.
I also found some really cute macarons in the chilled section of Asda and for a final flourish, I added some edible flowers because any excuse to use these in my baking and I'm there!
How to make the egg shape
Carving out a giant Easter egg shape is really easy. You will need:
- 2 sheets ready-rolled shortcrust pastry
- a small bowl
- a dinner plate
- a knife
Amy's tip: Please use the images and watch the step by step video to help you.
Step One: Unroll the shortcrust pastry and place a small bowl at the top. Use a knife to cut around the top curve of the bowl.
Step Two: Put a plate at the bottom end of the shortcrust pastry sheet, use a knife to cut around the bottom curve of the plate.
Step Three: Remove the bowl and plate. Cut a line between where the bowl was and where the plate was. You should end up with an egg shape!
Step Four: Lay out the other sheet of shortcrust pastry and use the egg shape you have already cut out as a template. Carefully cut around the outside of the egg shape on the second sheet of pastry.
Step Five: Place the cut-out egg shapes on baking trays, prick them all over with a fork. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is a pale golden brown.
Amy's tip: Keep an eye on the oven, you may notice the pastry is bubbling up while it cooks. If this happens, simply open the oven door and pop the bubble with a sharp knife.
Vanilla buttercream
You can use a stand mixer or handheld electric whisk.
The pastry cream tart is quite large so there is a lot of buttercream needed to cover the two layers. If you don't have a large mixing bowl, you may find it easier to do it in two batches.
Step One: Put the softened butter into a mixing bowl and beat it until it's smooth and creamy.
Step Two: Add the icing sugar a little at a time (otherwise you'll end up in a cloud of icing sugar!) beat well in-between each addition. This will take several minutes with an electric whisk.
Step Three: Add the vanilla and double cream or milk. Beat until smooth and creamy.
Amy's tip: Buttercream should be the consistency of spreadable butter. If it's too runny add icing sugar a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the correct consistency. If it's too thick, add milk or double cream a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.
Step Four: Transfer the vanilla buttercream icing to a large piping bag fitted with a round open nozzle.
Step Five: When the shortcrust pastry has baked and cooled, pipe circles of buttercream over the first egg shape. Then carefully add the other egg shape on top - sandwiching the two together - and pipe buttercream over the top.
How to decorate
Next comes the fun part!
I used matchsticks to make a zig-zag pattern in the middle. I then added mini eggs and chocolate Easter bunnies in rows.
To fill in the gaps, I placed Cadbury Creme Eggs that I'd sliced in half. I added macarons, fresh fruit and edible flowers where I could find space.
Love incorporating Cadbury Creme Eggs into your baking? Check out my Creme Egg Duffins!
You can be really creative with how you choose to decorate. I hope you love this recipe for an Easter Cream Tart and I would love to see some pictures of yours if you make this!
Easter Cream Tart
This gorgeous Easter Cream Tart in the shape of a giant Easter egg is very easy to recreate at home. All you need is shop-bought shortcrust pastry, vanilla buttercream and oodles of Easter chocolate goodies to decorate with.
Ingredients
- 2 sheets ready-rolled shortcrust pastry, at room temp
- 375g (1.5 cups) unsalted butter, softened
- 750g (3.25 cups) icing sugar
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 tbsp double cream, or milk
Decoration
- Easter chocolate: Cadbury's Creme Eggs, Mini eggs, Malteser Bunnies
- Fresh fruit
- Matchsticks
- Macarons
- Edible flowers
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC Fan/Gas 4/350ºF Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
- Unroll the shortcrust pastry and place a small bowl at the top. Use a knife to cut around the top curve of the bowl.
- Put a plate at the bottom end of the shortcrust pastry sheet, use a knife to cut around the bottom curve of the plate.
- Remove the bowl and plate. Cut a line between where the bowl was and where the plate was. You should end up with an egg shape!
- Lay out the other sheet of shortcrust pastry and use the egg shape you have already cut out as a template.
- Place the cut-out egg shapes on baking trays, prick them all over with a fork. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is a pale brown.
- To make the buttercream, put the softened butter into a mixing bowl and beat it until it's smooth and creamy.
- Add the icing sugar a little at a time (otherwise you'll end up in a cloud of icing sugar!) beat well in-between each addition. This will take several minutes with an electric whisk.
- Add the vanilla and double cream or milk. Beat until smooth and creamy.
- To decorate, make a zig zag pattern in the middle of the egg with the matchsticks, place the mini eggs in lines, fill in the gaps with fresh fruit, Cadbury Creme Eggs, macarons and edible flowers.
Notes
- Please use the images and watch the step by step video to help you.
- Remove the shortcrust pastry from the fridge 1 hour before you plan to use it so it doesn't crack when you unroll it.
- Keep an eye on the oven, you may notice the pastry is bubbling up while it cooks. If this happens, simply open the oven door and pop the bubble with a sharp knife.
- Buttercream should be the consistency of spreadable butter. If it's too runny add icing sugar a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the correct consistency. If it's too thick, add milk or double cream a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.
- If you'd like to print this recipe, you can toggle the images off before you do so.
- To convert the recipe to cups, please use the toggle next to the ingredients list.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 477Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 6mgCarbohydrates: 63gSugar: 61gProtein: 1g
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