Thousand-Layer Pastry Heart with Rhubarb and Cardamom Custard
Celebrate love, the kitsch, the cringe and the complexities of it all with a heart-shaped dessert that you’ll want to share with someone you love
- For the Pastry Hearts
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
- plain (all-purpose) flour, for dusting
- 1 ready-rolled sheet of all-butter puff pastry, about 350g
- For the Baked Rhubarb
- 3 rhubarb stalks, chopped into 2.5cm pieces
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1⁄4 tsp finely grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed orange
- For the Cardamom Custard
- 250ml whole milk
- 3 cardamom pods, crushed
- 2 egg yolks
- 45g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 1⁄2 tsp vanilla paste
Start by roasting the rhubarb. Heat the oven to 180C fan/Gas 6 and place the rhubarb in a baking dish. Sprinkle over the sugar, orange zest and juice. Roast for 15 minutes, until tender but it still holds its shape. Set aside to cool completely while you make the pastry hearts.
Turn the oven up to 200C fan/Gas 7 and line two baking trays with baking paper. Whisk together the egg and icing sugar to make an egg wash and set aside. Lightly dust the work surface with flour and roll out the pastry with a rolling pin into a long rectangular shape, about half the width of the original sheet and 4mm thick. Draw a heart shape, roughly 15cm in diameter, on a piece of paper and cut it out. Lay the paper down on the pastry and use a knife to cut around the paper to make a heart shape, then repeat to cut out a second heart shape. Roll the remaining pastry out again, if needed, to cut a third heart. Place the hearts on the lined trays and brush over the egg wash. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden and crisp. Remove the top layer from two of the hearts to make a flat base for filling. Leave to cool on a rack.
While the pastry hearts are baking, make the cardamom custard. In a pan, simmer the milk and cardamom pods on a low heat for 10 minutes. Whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar in a mixing bowl until pale and creamy. Add the cornflour and whisk again.
Strain the warm milk, discard the cardamom, and slowly add to the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Return to the pan and on a very low heat and whisk for 15 minutes, until the custard thickens to the consistency of thick Greek yogurt. Stir in the vanilla and let cool. Once cool, put in the freezer for a few hours to chill completely.
Assemble just before serving. Place one trimmed pastry heart on a plate and spoon over 4 tablespoons of the custard, then spread out evenly. Spoon over half of the rhubarb and syrup, then place the second trimmed pastry heart on top. Repeat with another layer of custard and rhubarb, finishing with the third pastry heart. Dust the top with icing sugar.
Extract taken from Table for Two: Recipes for the one you love by Bre Graham (DK, £20). Photography by Issy Crocker
