Image is for illustrative purposes only.
Sweet paste is the rich, biscuit-like pastry that sits under fruit tarts, cheesecakes, flans and cut pastry bases. It is made by rubbing cold butter into flour and sugar and binding it with a little egg, so it bakes short and crisp rather than flaky, with a clean buttery flavour lifted by vanilla and lemon.
The dough is made raw and rested, then rolled and baked when you need it. It keeps very well wrapped in the fridge or freezer, so it is worth making the full batch and keeping some on hand for tart shells, biscuit bases and lining rings for layered cakes.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
Note: The Recipe Calculator Tool is available to subscribers.
Weight Per Unit: 461
Number of Units: 4
Unit Size: 24 cm tart tin, base and sides
|
|
|
WEIGHT
(grams)
|
ALTERNATIVE METRIC
|
INGREDIENT
|
IMAGE
|
CONDITION
|
|
A
|
500 |
17.6 ounces
|
Sugar
Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.
caster
|
|
|
|
B
|
500 |
17.6 ounces
|
Butter
Butter is a solid dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk, to separate the butterfat from the buttermilk. It is generally used as a spread on plain or toasted bread products and a condiment on cooked vegetables, as well as in cooking, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water.
unsalted
|
|
cold, diced |
|
C
|
750 |
26.4 ounces
|
Cake Flour
Cake flour is a finely milled white flour made from soft wheat. It has very low protein content, between 8% and 10%, making it suitable for soft-textured cakes and cookies. The higher protein content of other flours would make the cakes tough. Highly sifted cake flours may require different volume amounts in recipes than all-purpose flour. Using the scoop and level method, well-sifted flour usually produces 125 g per cup. However, most American recipes are written with 140 g of flour per cup, so weighing and experimentation can be helpful in baking unfamiliar recipes. Small weight differences can greatly affect the texture. American Cake flour is bleached; in countries where bleached flour is prohibited, plain flour can be treated in a domestic microwave to improve the texture of the end product.
|
|
sifted |
|
D
|
75 |
1.5 Whole Eggs
|
Whole Egg
Eggs are one of the most common ingredients in a typical cake. Egg yolks and whole eggs store significant amounts of protein and choline, and are widely used in baking. Usually an eggs role in a cake is to add moisture and richness, act as a raising agent as well as a glue to bind the ingredients together.
|
|
lightly beaten |
|
E
|
7.5 |
0.3 ounce
|
Salt
Common salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in its natural form as a crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater, where it is the main mineral constituent; the open ocean has about 35 grams (1.2 oz) of solids per litre, a salinity of 3.5%. Salt is essential for animal life, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous of food seasonings, and salting is an important method of food preservation.
|
|
|
|
F
|
5 |
1 teaspoon
|
Vanilla Essence
Vanilla Extract is made with 100% pure vanilla beans. With a sweet, syrupy consistency, this Vanilla is ideal for use in icings, drinks and whipped cream as well as classic baking recipes. Vanilla Essence is commercially manufactured by chemicals and is more of a watery consistency as opposed to vanilla extract which is thicker and a lot fuller and richer in flavour. You can replace one with the other but use 50% more of essence. For example, for 1 teaspoon of extract, use 1.5 teaspoons of essence.
|
|
|
|
G
|
5 |
1 teaspoon
|
Lemon Flavouring
Lemon flavouring is a concentrated lemon essence or compound used in small amounts to give baked goods a clear citrus aroma. A little goes a long way; finely grated fresh lemon zest can be used instead, allowing about a teaspoon of zest for each teaspoon of flavouring.
|
|
|
|
|
1842
|
|
|
|
|
Recipe Calculator Tool
Using this tool, you can alter this recipe for your own requirements. Use the two fields below to generate new weights for the ingredients above.
STEP 1. Enter your Custom Weight Per Unit
The 'Custom Weight Per Unit' is already loaded with the weight per unit for this recipe but can be changed if required. If all you wish to do is change the number of units (or servings), just leave the current weight per unit.
STEP 2. Enter your Custom Number of Units
This is the number of units (or servings) you want this recipe to yield.
STEP 3. Click Calculate
The new weights for your adjusted recipe will be displayed in the table above.
Method
|
STEP
|
ACTION
|
DETAIL
|
CONDITION
|
|
1 |
Prepare |
Have B (butter) cold and diced, and weigh out everything else before you start. Line a tray with baking paper or have cling film ready for wrapping the dough. |
Butter firm but not rock hard |
|
2 |
Rub |
Rub B (butter) into C and A (cake flour and caster sugar) with your fingertips, or mix on low speed with a paddle, until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs. |
No visible lumps of butter, mixture still dry and sandy |
|
3 |
Mix |
Whisk D, E, F and G (whole egg, salt, vanilla essence and lemon flavouring) together, then add to the crumbed mixture. |
Salt dissolved into the egg |
|
4 |
Combine |
Bring the dough together with as little working as possible, pressing rather than kneading. |
Dough just holds together in a smooth mass; stop as soon as there is no dry flour |
|
5 |
Rest |
Flatten the dough into a slab about 2 cm thick, wrap well and rest in the fridge. |
At least 1 hour, or overnight; firm and cold right through |
|
6 |
Roll |
Roll the rested dough on a lightly floured bench to 3–4 mm thick, line your tin or ring and trim the edges. Chill the lined tin again before baking. |
Pastry cold and firm so it does not shrink |
|
7 |
Bake |
Blind bake at 180°C (355°F) for about 15–20 minutes, then remove the weights and bake a few minutes more to dry the base. |
Even golden colour, base dry and crisp |
|
8 |
Cool |
Cool the shell completely in the tin before filling. |
Fully cold and firm |
Important Notes
The quarter batch makes about 1,840 g of raw dough, enough to line roughly four 24 cm tart tins at 3–4 mm thick, or several smaller flan rings and cut bases. The spreadsheet gives no method or notes, so the working method here is the standard one for this kind of pastry. Rest the dough properly before rolling, and chill the lined tin again before baking, or the sides will slump. Raw dough keeps wrapped in the fridge for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 3 months; thaw in the fridge before rolling. Baked shells keep crisp in an airtight container for a few days.
Tools & Arrangements
Scales, mixing bowl or stand mixer with paddle attachment, whisk, cling film or baking paper, rolling pin, tart tins or flan rings, baking tray, baking paper and baking weights or dry rice for blind baking, cooling rack
