Happy almost summer! I took my summer vacation a little early and just got back from a gorgeous week-long cruise to Alaska. I can’t wait to share with you all, but before I do that I wanted to post the last thing I made before I left on my trip: this berry tart with cheesecake pastry cream. It was meant as a Memorial Day dessert, but I think it’ll serve just as well to celebrate the start of summer.

The idea for this tart, which is a bit of hybrid of a traditional cheesecake and a Parisian fruit tart filled with pastry cream, came from my parents’ visit. My mom loves cheesecake, and I wanted to make a lighter version that didn’t need baking in the oven. The inspiration struck to make a fruit tart, but with cream cheese added to the filling to give it that cheesecake flavor. How did this experiment pan out?

The filling for this tart is a traditional pastry cream made with milk, butter, and vanilla, with cream cheese folded in at the end. It’s noticeably thicker and richer than a regular pastry cream, and has the satisfying tang of cream cheese which sets off fresh berries beautifully. Like many pastry creams, it’s soft and more fluid when just made, and sets to a firmer consistency after refrigeration. So if you’re looking for a denser, more cheesecake-like texture, you can leave this tart in a refrigerator overnight. Once brought to room temperature, it will become softer and more creamy.

I originally tried out a press-in cookie crust, but in the end I found I preferred a sturdier pate brisee tart crust: since the pastry cream is softer than a baked cheesecake, having a more robust crust worked better as a contrast. I also spread a layer of fresh strawberry coulis on the bottom, since I can’t resist strawberry season. However, it did make it considerably trickier to pour in the cheesecake pastry cream without mixing the two components together. If you omit the strawberry coulis, it’s much easier to pour in the pastry cream and spread it around. Use my lessons learned and combine the different parts of this tart as you will!