Gluten-free fruit tart with elderberry lemon curd

This gluten-free fruit tart surprises you with its flavor-rich taste of elderberries and lemon. Accompanied with almond crust and fruits on the top, this no-bake elderberry tart deserves your attention.

We are all back from the summer holidays and have been invited to our friend’s house to get together. I have been assigned to bring a dessert. With such a big responsibility in mind, I wanted to come up with something unique that would surprise others. Since I like to experiment with elderberries and live in a region where there are plenty, I thought to use them in my recipe. 

Elderberry pie is delicious, but one of my friends who has also been invited is allergic to gluten, so I searched for alternatives. I came up with the gluten-free fruit tart that was delicious and healthy, packed with the medicinal benefits of elderberries. If you have no access to elderberries, you can make this lemon curd instead.

Foraging Elderberries

To make this gluten-free curd tart, you will need to collect three cups of ripe berries, about 20-30 elderberry heads, depending on their size.  Make sure they are black-colored, as the unripped ones (red colored) are toxic.

Because it was the beginning of September, the season of elderberries had just started. 

To fasten the process of stemming the elderberries, you can freeze them for 30 minutes as frozen berries pop off the stems. Removing all the small pieces is impossible, so just don’t bother too much.

You can also buy dried elderberries, or make it with elderberry syrup or elderberry powder. 

Gluten-free fruit tart crust

To make this gluten-free fruit tart crust, you need just two ingredients –  almonds and dates. 

Depending on the hardness of the dates, you can leave them soaked in hot water for a while. In the meantime, place the almond with ½ teaspoon of Himalayan salt in the mixer and blend into breadcrumbs size pieces. 

Add dates with one tablespoon of water and pulse. Mix it so it is compact and can easily spread on the bottom of the tart base. 

Use parchment paper to line the cake tin, so it is easy to slide the tart out of the tin when needed.

Gluten-free fruit tart with elderberry lemon curd

First step

Place 3 cups of washed and cleaned elderberries in a saucepan with ½ cup of water and bring it to simmer. Cook the mixture for 20 minutes while you stir and smash the berries.

Second step

Strain the berries using a cheesecloth or filter and try to press the berries to get as much juice as possible. We will use 2 cups of this juice for the gluten-free fruit tart. You can discard the remaining seeds and skin.

Third step

Mix lemon juice and elderberry juice together in a small saucepan and place it over medium heat

Fourth step

Use a mixer to whisk eggs and egg yolks into the foam. While whisking,  add brown sugar to eggs to create a homogenous mixture or yellow color. It is time to slowly pour half of the hot lemon elderberry mixture into the egg mixture. Better to do it in a small stream.

Fifth step

Continue mixing till all is well incorporated. Then transfer the egg-lemon- elderberry mixture back to the saucepan with the remaining lemon-elderberry juice, place it over medium heat, continue stirring, and watch the mixture till you reach the desired consistency of runny yogurt. It might take 10-20 minutes.

If you are still not able to thicken the mixture at this stage, add one tablespoon of corn starch diluted in 1 tablespoon of water and continue stirring till the consistency is correct. 

Sixth step

Once it has thickened, add melted butter to the mixture. Mix it well and let it cool down before transferring it to the top of the crust.

Seventh step

Let it chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before decorating the top of the elderberry tart with fruits.

Fruits on the top

I like to use seasonal fruits, so I used blackberries, blueberries, and grapes from our local market. My friend brought me some figs from her garden to try out.

Feel free to use whatever you like, the creativity is up to you.