The menu

Three French tarts

The Tart Studio makes three French tarts: dark chocolate ganache, raspberry almond bakewell, strawberry custard. Each is about 2.75" across, made by hand in Allen, Texas. Boxes hold six for $35 or twelve for $70 — all one flavour, or any two split evenly.

Three is a deliberate number. Each one uses a different technique — an emulsion, a baked almond cream, a cooked custard — so a mixed box gives you three genuinely different things rather than three variations on one idea. More are in development; the menu grows slowly.

Chocolate

Dark Chocolate Ganache

A dark chocolate ganache poured level with the rim of the shell and left to set to a mirror. Bittersweet rather than sweet, and the one that tends to disappear first.

How it is made

Ganache is an emulsion: hot cream worked into chocolate until it turns glossy and stable. It is poured while still fluid, level with the rim of the shell, and then left completely undisturbed to set. Any movement in that window leaves a permanent ripple, which is why a properly made one has a surface flat enough to reflect the light above it.

How it eats

Bittersweet rather than sweet. The shell is where the sugar is, so the filling can stay dark without the whole thing becoming cloying.

Worth knowing

The most stable of the three. If your box has to sit for a few hours, or travel to the far edge of the delivery area, this is the one that holds up best.

Half dozen · $35Full dozen · $70

Boxes and prices →

Raspberry

Raspberry Almond Bakewell

Baked almond frangipane with crushed raspberry sunk level through it, finished with a scatter of pale almond flakes. Tart, nutty and properly old-school.

How it is made

Frangipane — butter, sugar, egg and ground almonds — is baked inside the shell rather than added after. Crushed raspberry is sunk level through it before it goes in the oven, so the fruit cooks into the almond cream instead of sitting on top of it. Pale almond flakes go on at the end, scattered rather than arranged.

How it eats

Tart and nutty, the most old-fashioned of the three. The raspberry cuts the richness of the almond, which is the whole point of a bakewell.

Worth knowing

This is the tart that contains nuts. If anyone eating from the box has a nut allergy, order the other two.

Half dozen · $35Full dozen · $70

Boxes and prices →

Strawberry

Strawberry Custard

Butter-yellow crème pâtissière under two or three large strawberry halves, set cut-side down so the seeded skin domes upward. Clean, fresh and not overly sweet.

How it is made

Crème pâtissière is a custard set with egg and starch, and it has to be properly cooked out — brought up to a boil and held there — or the starch stays raw and the set turns loose. Done right it is firm enough to hold a shape and tastes of vanilla and butter. Strawberry halves go on cut-side down, so the seeded skin domes upward.

How it eats

The freshest and least sweet of the three. Closest to a classic tarte aux fraises, and the one that most obviously reads as fruit.

Worth knowing

The most heat-sensitive. Keep it cool and out of direct sun, and eat it the day it arrives rather than the day after.

Half dozen · $35Full dozen · $70

Boxes and prices →

Every box you can order

six combinations, each in a six or a twelve. One flavour throughout, or any two split evenly — a box holds two at most, so all three is two boxes.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

$35 for 6 · $70 for 12

Raspberry Almond Bakewell

$35 for 6 · $70 for 12

Strawberry Custard

$35 for 6 · $70 for 12

An open box of six French dark chocolate ganache and raspberry almond bakewell tarts, seen from above

Chocolate & Raspberry

$35 for 6 · $70 for 12

An open box of six French dark chocolate ganache and strawberry custard tarts, seen from above

Chocolate & Strawberry

$35 for 6 · $70 for 12

An open box of six French raspberry almond bakewell and strawberry custard tarts, seen from above

Raspberry & Strawberry

$35 for 6 · $70 for 12

Mixed, or one flavour

A mixed six is three of each; a mixed twelve is six of each. Mixed is the most-ordered option by a wide margin, which is why it is the default rather than an afterthought. Any box can also be a single flavour throughout if you already know which one you want.

Every box is made to order with 48 hours notice — nothing sits in a case waiting for a buyer. If you want to know exactly what happens in those two days, the full process is written out.

Allergens

All three contain wheat, butter, eggs and dairy. The raspberry almond tart contains nuts, and everything is made in a kitchen where nuts are handled — so no tart can be guaranteed free of cross-contact, including the two that contain no nuts themselves.

If you are ordering for someone with a serious allergy, ask before you order rather than after.