Dr Mobeus
Gypsy Tart
Gypsy tart is the legendary Kent school pudding, and its recipe sounds like a mistake: a whole tin of evaporated milk, whipped with dark brown sugar and absolutely nothing else, poured into pastry and baked. The sugar and milk set into something like a soft caramel mousse, dark and deeply sweet, for a total ingredient cost of about £1.15. It disappeared from school menus for being too sugary, which only made people want it more. This is the home version, blind-baked pastry and the classic two-ingredient filling, and it is one of the most reliable cheap puddings in the book.
Gypsy Tart
Ingredients
Method
- Rub the butter into the flour and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs, add the water and bring it together into a dough. Press into a 20 cm tart tin, working it up the sides, then chill for 20 minutes.
- Prick the base all over with a fork, line with baking paper and baking beans or dried rice, and bake blind at 180C (160C fan) for 12 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake 5 minutes more until pale gold and dry.
- Meanwhile, pour the evaporated milk into a large bowl. Add the muscovado sugar and whisk with an electric hand whisk for 5 to 8 minutes until the mixture is thick, mousse-like and roughly doubled in volume. By hand with a balloon whisk it needs a good 15 minutes.
- Pour into the warm case and level the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the filling is set at the edges with a slight wobble in the middle.
- Cool completely in the tin before slicing. The filling firms up as it cools and cuts much more cleanly cold. Cut into 8 slim slices, it is very sweet.
Tips and Variations
The filling needs a proper whisking; under-whisked milk makes the tart weep in the tin. Soft brown sugar works if muscovado is unavailable, though the flavour is a little lighter. The tart keeps well covered in the fridge for up to 4 days and is actually better on day two. Small slices are the tradition, served with strong tea.
