Here’s a really easy-to-make tart with a lovely rich filling in sweet crispy pastry.

Makes: 1 large tart (maybe 12 – 15 slices)

Level: reasonably easy

Time: Pastry: 45 – 50 min. + chilling time. Filling & decoration: 25 – 30 min + more fridge time

Need: A 23cm/9in loose-bottomed, fluted tart tin. I used a food processor for the pastry but it can be made by hand.

Pastry Ingredients

(Makes about 500g – more than enough for a 23cm tart)

275g plain flour
75g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
150g cold butter (cut into cubes)
1 large egg (beaten) plus 1-2 tsp ice-cold water if needed

Filling Ingredients*

300g white chocolate, broken into pieces
100g butter
250ml double (heavy) cream
200g crème fraîche (or Greek yogurt or quark)
2 bananas, mashed (preferably ripe)

* The above ingredients give a loose, but not runny, mixture. For something much firmer reduce or even omit the crème fraîche.

To decorate

Chocolate shavings or coarsely grated chocolate or dried banana chips

Method

1. Combine the flour, icing sugar and salt in a food processor; pulse to mix.

2. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

3. Add the beaten egg (and water if necessary) and pulse briefly until a dough just starts to form..

4. Lay out a sheet of cling film on your work surface then tip the dough out onto it. Gather into a ball then flatten into a disc. Wrap in the cling film and chill for at least 30 min.

5. Five minutes before bringing the pastry out of the fridge, turn the oven on to fan 180°C. Put a tray in to heat up. You could also use this time to mash the bananas if you haven’t already done so. The finer you mash them, the smoother your filling will be.

6. Roll the pastry out to about 3mm thickness in a circle big enough to fill the bottom and sides of your tin. Ideally you should chill it again for 30 min before baking to prevent shrinkage, but if you don’t have time, skip this bit.

Tip: Use cling film under and over your pastry when you roll it out. Then remove one sheet and use the other to invert the pastry into the tin. Keep the upper sheet of cling film and use it to hold the baking beans in place when you blind bake.

7. Bake blind for 12 min then remove beans and bake again for 15 – 18 min – until the pastry is golden brown. Cool then trim edges

8. Put the chocolate, butter, double cream and mashed bananas in a large heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir gently until the mixture is smooth and runny. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little, then stir in the crème fraîche.

9. Pour the mixture on top of the pastry base and chill for a minimum of 2 hours, or ideally overnight, until set.

9a. An alternative filling method is to put a layer of banana slices onto the pastry then pour over the main mixture.

10. Decorate the tart using grated chocolate, chocolate shards or dried banana chips. Remove the tart from the tin and place it on a cake stand or serving plate.