Mango Tart with Coconut Cream

If you love mango sticky rice, you'll LOVE this mango tart with coconut cream! It features all of the delicious flavors of the traditional Thai dessert in pastry form.

This mango fruit tart with coconut cream was inspired by two of my husband's favorite desserts -- a European-style fruit tart and the traditional Thai Mango Sticky Rice. It features a buttery pastry crust filled with sweet coconut cream that's topped with ripe mangoes. There's no sticky rice in this fruit tart, but just one bite will take you back to that famous Thai dessert. In addition to being delicious, its beautiful presentation makes this mango tart an impressive dessert to serve at Thai-inspired dinner parties.

Four Parts to the Mango Tart

This mango tart with coconut cream comes together fairly quickly and easily. You can make the pastry crust, coconut cream, and sweet and salty coconut drizzle sauce ahead of time, then assemble the mango topping right before serving.

1. Make Ahead Pastry Crust
2. Sweet Coconut Cream
3. Fresh Mango Topping
4. Sweet and Salty Coconut Drizzle

1. Make Ahead Pastry Crust

With only four ingredients, this pastry crust is super easy to put together. Start by creaming the butter and sugar, then add the egg and mix until it's incorporated. Finally, add the flour and mix until a soft dough is formed. To help the dough hold its shape better, you'll want to stick it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes at this point.

Once chilled, press the dough into the tart pan and allow to chill for another 10-15 minutes so that it doesn't shrink or loose its shape while cooking. Bake at 400 degrees for 16-18 minutes until golden brown. The crust can be made a day or two in advance, if you like. If making it ahead of time, it can be stored covered on the countertop until you're ready to fill it.

1. Cream the Butter and Sugar

2. Add the egg and mix until incorporated.

3. Add the flour and form into a dough.

4. Freeze, roll out and fill the pastry pan, then freeze again before cooking.

2. Sweet Coconut Cream

This sweet coconut cream is based off of a European-style pastry cream, using coconut milk instead of cow's milk. You'll start by mixing the sugar and egg yolks in a heat-proof bowl, then adding the flour and cornstarch and mixing until smooth. The coconut milk should be heated, then poured slowly into the egg mixture while stirring constantly. Once everything is mixed well, it should be poured back into the saucepan and heated again, stirring constantly for another minute or two until the mixture thickens slightly.

The coconut cream should be poured into a bowl, covered, and cooled to room temperature. If you're not using it right away, it can be saved in the refrigerator for several days.

1. Mix egg yolks with sugar.

2. Add flour and cornstarch.

3. Add hot coconut milk to the mixture.

4. Cook pastry cream until it thickens slightly. Cover and cool.

3. Mango Topping

Arranging ripe mango slices in a rose pattern makes for a stunning presentation. Start by peeling the mango and slicing its two halves from the central seed. Lay the halves flat on a cutting board and make diagonal slices, just as you would if you were making Mango Sticky Rice. Then, go back and add a few more diagonal slices in between to achieve thinner slices.

To make a rose pattern, curl a mango slice into a circle and place it in the middle of the filled tart. Press slightly into the coconut cream until it can stand on its own. Then place another mango slice around it. Continue placing the mango slices around and around, until the entire tart has been filled.

Making a rose pattern requires approximately four mangos, depending on their size. If you are short on mangoes, you could make an alternative floral pattern that uses two mangoes. The mangoes should be cut in thin slices, in the same way as for the rose pattern. Instead of curling them, simply place them down flat, one piece slightly overlapping the other. Work from the outside of the tart, then make another overlapping layer on the inside.

4. Sweet and Salty Coconut Drizzle

To bring out the coconut flavor, a sweet and salty coconut sauce can be drizzled on top of the tart, if you like. This is the same coconut sauce used to make Mango Sticky Rice, and it really adds a lot of flavor to the tart. Combine coconut milk, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar and salt crystals are dissolved. Serve next to the mango tart for your guests to drizzle on top of their piece.

To Serve

This Mango Tart with Coconut Cream lends itself to preparing ahead of time. You can make the crust a few days before serving, and store it covered on the kitchen countertop. The Coconut Pastry Cream and Sweet and Salty Coconut Sauce can also be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for several days.

When you're ready to serve this dessert, give the coconut pastry cream a quick mix to ensure that no lumps have formed while it was resting. If lumps have formed, press it through a mesh filter so that it's completely smooth. If it's become too thick, you can add a bit more coconut milk to thin it out. Then simply arrange the fresh mango slices on top in a rose or floral pattern and serve with the sweet and salty coconut sauce on the side. Your guests are sure to be impressed!