A Tart

Tarts and vicars, the seemingly indelicate pairing, set up quite nicely at a church potluck. But how do tarts and ladies manage? Just yesterday a friend, modest as anything, had her wedding shower, and I brought tarts, complementing the bows and lace as best I could.

Browsing the grocery store in the morning I decided on mangos and cherries as my flavors and set in to make what would become a bridal tart. With a simple sweet pastry shell, following directions perfectly, I began. Then I realized that although I meant to follow a recipe, I had none for my subsequent ideas and began off-roading into gelatin mayhem.

Cherry gelee, mango mousse, and fresh fruit were my objectives and I got them all on board. Using a form of gelatin that was available, but that I had never used before, I forged new trails into pastry knowledge and vision. I also ended up with some pretty stiff gelee! That stuff will not be melting or even sliding without express written consent from Knox.

The mousse was quite delicious and plenty moussey, perfectly mangoey. Knowing what I do now about the gelatin I was using, I would have omitted more. However, the end result was just the kind of texture that my Grandma would consider dreamy.

Now that I had my components I began to hem and haw about how this would actually come together. So I took a walk and set it aside. When I came back I did what you see: a tart shell, its base replete with cherry gelee, set off by a slice of fresh mango, half filled with a swirl of mango mousse, and a tiny salad of diced mango beside a gelee covered cherry on top. Just the thing to eat while trying on lingerie, no?