Raw Strawberry Tart with Cashew Custard Cream and Strawberry Sauce

Raw Strawberry Tart with Cashew Custard Cream and Strawberry Sauce

A walnut-and-date crust holds a silky cashew-coconut custard cream, topped with fresh peak-season strawberries arranged in a spiral pattern, finished with a glossy strawberry sauce

Makes one 9-inch tart (10–12 slices)

30 min active · 4 hr 30 min total

Midday or early evening

Spring / Summer (peak strawberry)

Cuisine: Modern Raw / Living Foods

Ingredients

Base

• 1 cup raw walnuts (sprouted if available)

• 1 cup medjool dates, pitted

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut shreds

• 1 tbsp coconut oil

• pinch Himalayan pink salt

Custard cream filling

• 2 cups raw cashews, soaked at least 2 hours and drained

• 1 cup full-fat coconut milk (refrigerate overnight for thicker consistency)

• ½ cup pure maple syrup or raw honey

• ¼ cup coconut oil, melted

• ¼ cup cacao butter, melted

• juice of 1 lemon

• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

• pinch sea alt

Strawberry sauce

• 1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved

• ⅓ cup filtered water

• ¼ cup raw honey or pure maple syrup (or 2–3 medjool dates)

• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Garnish

• 1 pint fresh strawberries, de-stemmed and sliced thinly into petal-shaped pieces

Method

1. Base. Process all base ingredients in a food processor until a crumbly, cohesive ball forms when pressed. Press evenly into a parchment-lined 9-inch tart pan.

2. Filling. In a high-speed blender, blend all filling ingredients on high 1–2 minutes until completely silky-smooth. Pour over the base and smooth the top.

3. Freeze 4 hours minimum.

4. Strawberry sauce. In a saucepan over low heat, simmer all sauce ingredients 15 minutes, breaking down with a fork or immersion blender to a chunky-saucy consistency. Cool completely; refrigerate until ready to serve.

5. Garnish. Once the tart is set, arrange sliced strawberries in a spiral pattern across the top. Drizzle with strawberry sauce just before serving (or serve sauce alongside).

6. Allow tart to thaw 15–20 minutes before slicing with a hot dry knife.

ENHANCEMENT SUGGESTIONS — make this irresistible

1. Vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract. Use the seeds of 1 fresh Madagascar vanilla bean — dramatic flavor depth that vanilla extract cannot match.

2. Layer strawberries with thin basil leaves. Tiny basil leaves tucked between strawberry slices — the classic Italian fragole con basilico pairing. Adds aromatic complexity that elevates this from sweet-only to sophisticated.

3. White balsamic glaze drizzle. A small drizzle of white balsamic reduction (¼ cup white balsamic reduced 5 min until syrupy) over the strawberries before serving. The acidity-sweetness balance is structurally restaurant-quality.

4. Pistachio crust upgrade. Replace ½ cup of the walnuts with ½ cup raw pistachios. Adds green color contrast to the cross-section and Sicilian flavor profile.

5. Lemon curd swirl in the filling. Make a quick raw lemon curd (½ cup lemon juice + 2 egg yolks + 3 tbsp honey + 2 tbsp coconut oil whisked over low heat); swirl into the cashew filling before setting for marbled effect.

6. Black pepper on strawberries. A few cracks of fresh black pepper across the strawberries before serving — sounds strange, structurally elevates the strawberry flavor (the same principle as strawberries with balsamic).

7. Strawberry-rose water sauce. Add 1 tsp rose water to the strawberry sauce. Persian-Levantine flavor profile that pairs exquisitely with strawberries.

8. Edible flowers for garnish. Calendula, violet, nasturtium, rose petals scattered across the strawberries — restaurant visual elevation.

Sourcing: Fresh strawberries from a local pick-your-own farm or farmers' market at peak season — small-farm varieties (Tristar, Albion, Pink Pearl) carry significantly more flavor than commodity supermarket strawberries; backyard strawberry patches are easy to grow. Raw walnuts: Texas Pecan Shop sprouted or Living Tree Community sprouted walnuts. Medjool dates: Bautista Family Organic Date Ranch or Joolies (small Coachella Valley); skip Terrasoul for dates specifically, as the smaller producers are dramatically fresher. Coconut shreds and coconut oil: Big Tree Farms, Nutiva. Coconut milk: Native Forest Organic Simple (guar-gum-free, the gold standard widely-available). Native Forest Organic Simple is the genuinely high-quality option. Raw cashews: One Degree Organic Foods or Big Tree Farms. Pure maple syrup from local sugarbush, Crown Maple, or Runamok. Raw honey from local apiarist within 30 miles, or Really Raw Honey shipped. Cacao butter: Sunfood, Navitas Organics, or Big Tree Farms.