Chocolate Strawberry Tart (vegan)

Published: Aug 5, 2024

Chocolate strawberry tart - make the most of strawberry season with this incredible vegan tart! With crisp chocolate shortcrust pastry, creamy chocolate pastry cream and juicy fresh strawberries, this tart is rich yet refreshing.

It is not too difficult to make but tastes amazing and it looks so pretty too! The perfect Summer dessert.

A side shot of vegan chocolate strawberry tart on a white plate with bowls of pastry cream, strawberries and apricot jam.

One of my absolute favourite types of dessert is a tart filled with crème pâtissière and topped with some sort of fruit. It is simple but oh-so-satisfying.

This version takes things up a notch with both a crisp chocolate shortcrust pastry and a rich, creamy, silky smooth chocolate pastry cream; all topped off with juicy fresh strawberries and an apricot jam glaze.

It is delicious (because really, you can't go wrong with chocolate, strawberries and crisp pastry) but it is not so sweet and rich that you can't manage a second slice...

A labelled photo of the ingredients needed to make chocolate strawberry tart.

Ingredient Details:

Chocolate pastry cream: You will need 1 batch of my vegan chocolate pastry cream (crème pâtissière), chilled.

Strawberries: Fresh not frozen. Raspberries would also work well instead.

Dark chocolate: This is optional, but brushing the baked pastry case with melted chocolate before adding the filling stops the pastry from soaking up any moisture and keeps it crisp for longer.

Vegan butter: It is important to use a block butter/margarine, not the spreadable kind in a tub. I use Naturli Vegan Block or Flora Plant Butter.

Plain flour: Just plain (all-purpose) flour is best.

Vodka: Vodka is my (not-so) secret trick for crispy pastry. Because it has a lower water percentage than well, water; using a bit of vodka rather than water to bind the pastry makes for crispier pastry as the alcohol burns off when it cooks.

You can't taste it at all and you can absolutely use water instead if you prefer, but if you happen to have a bottle of vodka lurking in the cupboard I urge you to give it a try!

Cocoa powder: Ideally Dutch processed rather than natural.

Icing sugar: You will need icing/powdered/confectioner's sugar for the pastry.

Apricot jam: Warmed, sieved apricot jam is brushed over the strawberries to give them a beautiful shine. You can omit it if you want.

A slice of chocolate strawberry tart on a white plate with a forkful removed.

How To Make Vegan Chocolate Strawberry Tart:

(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)

Step 1: To make the pastry, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, icing sugar and salt. Add the cold butter and rub in using your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs and no lumps of butter remain.

Step 1, the dry ingredients for the pastry with the butter rubbed in.

Step 2: Add the vodka and enough cold water to bring the pastry together into a ball. Refrigerate until firm enough to roll out.

Step 3: Roll out the pastry thinly on a floured surface and transfer it to a 23 cm/9 in round pie dish or tart tin.

Step 3, the rolled out pastry in the tart tin.

Step 4. Line the pastry case with baking parchment, then fill with baking beans. Blind bake.

Step 4, the pastry case lined with baking beans.

Step 5: Brush the cooled, baked pastry with melted chocolate.

Step 5, the pastry case brushed with chocolate.

Step 6: Fill the tart shell with the chocolate pastry cream.

Step 6, the tart filled with the pastry cream.

Step 7: Top with sliced strawberries, brush with apricot jam glaze and serve.

Close up of the strawberries on top of the tart.

Top Tips:

All of my recipes are developed using grams, and as with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup coversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!

For the best, crispy pastry, make sure that you don’t overwork it or let it get too warm. Freezing the tart shell prior to blind baking it helps to make the pastry crisp and stops it from shrinking too much.

Brushing the blind baked pastry case with melted chocolate helps to create a barrier between the pastry and the filling to stop the pastry from going soggy.

Both the pastry case and the pastry cream made up to two days ahead of serving; so this chocolate strawberry tart is great if you want something that can be prepared in advance as it only takes about ten minutes to assemble.

You will need 1 batch of my vegan chocolate pastry cream.

This tart would also be amazing using fresh raspberries instead of the strawberries.

FAQ's:

How should I store it?

Ideally this tart needs to be served very shortly after it has been assembled. It will keep, covered, in the fridge for a day but the sooner it is eaten the better.

Can I make it in advance?

The pastry case can be made and blind baked (and glazed with chocolate) two days in advance. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

The pastry cream can also be made two days in advance and stored covered in the fridge.

Once the tart is assembled it needs to be eaten as soon as possible.

Can I freeeze it?

No, I do not recommend freezing this tart.

More Vegan Fruit Tarts:

Vegan chocolate strawberry tart on a white serving plate with bowls of strawberries, chocolate pastry cream, chocolate shavings and apricot jam glaze.

If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess

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