Plum and custard tart

I don’t bake and make dessert often enough, so I’m consciously trying to make more of an effort with this. I love this plum custard tart, and I think this would also be excellent with other fruits, such as figs. This is currently one of my favourite things I’ve been making quite a lot.

Pastry
200g plain flour
1 tbsp caster  sugar
1 tsp baking powder
125g butter, plus a samll extra piece for greasing your baking tray
1 egg
2 tbsp double cream
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400g fresh plums
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Filling
170ml double cream
1 egg
75g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence

1. Prepare the plums by quartering them. Discard the stones. I find the easiest way to get the stones off is to cut the plums with a knife placing the knife on top, pushing it in as far as it goes until it reaches the stone, then running it around the full way, until you reach where the knife started from. Do the same again in a way that it makes a cross at the top. This way the cut will be quartering the plums. You can then twist the pieces off, and cut the stone off the piece it has stuck to.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 356°F (fan). Grease your baking tray with butter.

3. Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder together in a bowl, then rub in the  butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

4. Mix the cream and egg together, then add to the dry ingredients. Stir together until mixed into a dough.

5. Place the dough into the baking tray, and shape it equally to cover the tray. Arrange the plums on top of the pastry.

6. Bake for 25 minutes. During the the baking time, beat together the cream, sugar, egg and vanilla essence.

7. After the 25 minutes baking time, remove from the oven. Pour the liquid over the plums and bake for a further minutes until set.

8. You can serve the tart warm or cold.