Gluten Free Passion Fruit Tart

Passion fruit was one of those mysterious, enticing fruits that I never saw in the grocery store in tiny, semi-rural Eagle Point, Oregon as a kid. The first time I got up close and personal, and proceeded to eat an abundance of the strange, wrinkly, impossibly satisfying tangy fruit was when I got to travel to Australia at age 13. I’d applied for and gotten into a People to People Student Ambassador Program in 7th grade, and spent the year raising money for the program cost and studying the various peculiarities and fascinations of the great southern island. When we finally got there, all 20-something of us 13 year olds (with some very patient teachers as program coordinators), it was a series of unending glorious feasts for the sense: exploring the fringes of the outback with a host family on a “station” (a ranch, essentially), eating crocodile soup on a crocodile farm, learning the rules of rugby from another host dad after a day of picnicking under trees filled with lorikeets, surfing down sand dunes and gingerly feeding wild dolphins, holding koalas and snapping photos of kangaroos on the side of every road. And the FOOD. It was a culinary awakening if there ever was one: burgers with beets, eggs, and pineapple! Marshmallows that blew my mind with their silky, non-American texture. Koala and frog chocolates that I still always get when I visit Sydney or thereabouts. And passion fruit! Passion fruit out the wazoo! They were in practically every hotel breakfast, always available in stores (in contrast to the $10 bananas – there had been a big storm that cut giant swaths of banana production out of commission) and I was THERE for it.

So now, years later, I’m still in love with Australia and still in love with passion fruit, and so I just had to make this gluten free passion fruit tart. It’s a good one – filled with one of my favorite creations of all time: pastry cream (why we don’t have shops dedicated to making and selling all varieties of scoops of pastry cream instead of ice cream I’ll never understand). And topped with the tangiest, silkiest passion fruit ganache and TONS of fresh passion fruit goop. There’s something so magical about the brightness, sweetness, and alluring complexity of passion fruit. The crunch of the seeds. The thrill of sunshine and adventure that seem to be promised in every burst of it’s punchy flavor. This tart takes me back, and I hope it’ll inspire some of you to plan a trip down under (whenever we’re allowed to – I heard a heartbreaking prediction today that Australia may not allow tourists back in until 2024…), or just to make this a second or third time. I recommend getting yourself a back of the passion fruit chocolate I mention in the recipe – it truly is one of a kind – we’re not sponsored at all by Valrhona but their passion fruit inspiration feves are truly, well, an inspiration.

So far, this gluten free passion fruit tart is the only passion fruit dessert on the blog, but I’ll be fixing that in a jiffy. If you’re looking for more tropical flavors, our guava cheesecake cupcakes are a DREAM, or these piña colada cupcakes, or this kiwi lime tart, or this pineapple whipped cream cake, or this mango panna cotta!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Gluten Free Vanilla Passion Fruit Tart

This heavenly gluten free passion fruit tart is filled with vanilla pastry cream and topped with passion fruit ganache and fresh passion fruit!

Prep Time1 hour hr

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Chilling time4 hours hrs

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: gluten free, passion fruit, pastry cream, tart, tropical, vanilla, vanilla bean

Servings: 10 people

Calories: 400kcal

Author: Amelia Farber

Equipment

• 10-inch tart pan
• Small saucepan
• Parchment paper
• Pie weights or sugar or rice
• Pastry bag or ziplock bag
• Wax paper

Ingredients

For the pastry crust:

• 1 1/2 Cups gluten free 1-1 flour mix with xanthan gum added (if it doesn't have xanthan gum, add 1 teaspoon xanthan gum)
• 1/4 Cup plus 2 Tbsp arrowroot starch
• 1/3 Cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup cold salted butter cubed
• 2 cold egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the pastry cream:

• 2 Cups whole milk
• 1 Cup heavy cream
• 1/2 Cup white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 Cup corn starch
• 5 large egg yolks
• 4 Tbsp salted butter room temp
• 1 whole vanilla bean

For the passionfruit ganache:

• 1/2 Cup heavy cream
• 10 oz passionfruit inspiration by Valrhona (essentially, passionfruit chocolate) if you can't find this, you can use white chocolate and add passionfruit extract

For the construction:

• 1/4 Cup good quality white chocolate
• 2-3 whole passionfruit

Instructions

To make the pastry cream:

• First, make your pastry cream – this will need to chill for 2-3 hours in the fridge. In a small saucepan, heat your whole milk and the heavy cream and 1/4 cup of the sugar and heat over medium low, stirring frequently, until it comes to a simmer. While the milk mixture is heating, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, cornstarch, salt, and five egg yolks in a medium bowl until thick and smooth.
• Finally, once milk is simmering, remove from heat, and, whisking constantly, pour 1 cup of the mixture slowly into the egg yolk bowl to temper your egg yolks. Once tempered, put the saucepan back over low heat and whisk in the tempered egg mixture. Whisk constantly as the saucepan mixture continues to thicken over low heat. Once thick, remove from heat and whisk in the 4 Tbsp salted butter, and slice the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out all of the vanilla seeds and whisk into the pastry cream then scoop the pastry cream into a bowl, place plastic wrap directly on top of the pastry cream, and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours (can make ahead if you'd like).

To make the crust:

• While the pastry cream is chilling, make the pastry crust. In a food processor, pulse the flour, arrowroot starch, powdered sugar, salt, and cubed cold butter until crumbly and butter has been combined. Separately, whisk the two egg yolks and vanilla until smooth, then, while pulsing food processor, slowly pour in the cold egg yolks and pulse until the dough comes together in a ball. Scrape out of the food processor and form into a 6-inch flat circle, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours.
• Once the dough is chilled, remove from fridge and let sit on the counter for a few minutes (10-15) to soften. Then using a floured surface and floured rolling pin, roll out dough into a 12 inch circle and carefully line tart pan with the dough, pressing into the side grooves. Cut off the edges that extend beyond the top of the tart pan. Refrigerate the formed crust again for 30 minutes before baking. While chilling, preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Once chilled, remove from fridge and poke a series of small holes into the base of the crust with a fork for venting, then bake with pie weights for 15 minutes. Then remove the pie weights, tent the edges of the crust with foil so that they don't get too brown, and continue to bake for 15 minutes until golden (crust should be fully blind baked because you won't be baking the filling). Let crust cool completely before filling.

To construct the tart!

• Make your passion fruit ganache. This recipe works best if you use the actual Valrhona passion fruit inspiration feves (not sponsored, there just ins't any other product out there like this!) so I highly recommending getting a bag via that link. If you absolutely cannot find those, then you'll need to use good quality white chocolate and add either fresh passionfruit juice or passionfruit extract (subtracting the same amount of liquid from your cream that you use for juice so you still only have 1/2 cup of liquid). Heat the cream in a heatproof bowl in the microwave for a minute then pour over the bowl holding the chopped up Valrhona passion fruit inspiration chocolate pieces. Let sit 1 minute then whisk until smooth and fully melted together. Let sit to cool slightly before using.
• Once the crust and pastry cream have cooled, scoop your pastry cream into the baked, cooled crust and smooth to the edges. Then carefully pour your passionfruit ganache over the top of the pastry cream, smoothing to the edges so that you have a silky top.
• Finally, scoop out the pulp of 2-3 fresh passionfruit and spread over the top of your tart. Then melt your extra white chocolate in the microwave until smooth and then pour into a pastry bag and cut a small opening at the tip, then pipe lines/lattice of white chocolate onto a piece of waxed paper. Freeze for 10-15 minutes and then carefully peel off the white chocolate lattice and place on top of your tart. Chill for at least an hour before serving!

Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your tart!

Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber