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Home » Cakes, Cookies and Desserts » Impossible Christmas tart – a new twist on Christmas pudding

Impossible Christmas tart – a new twist on Christmas pudding

Author: VJ Published : October 2021 Modified : December 2021 / Be the first to comment!

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If you want something a little different for dessert this Christmas, why not try this impossible Christmas tart. It’s a quick and easy one-bowl mix that forms a delicious layer of pastry mixed with Christmas fruit mincemeat, covered with a layer of creamy custard, and topped off with a thin layer of soft cake.

A slice of impossible Christmas pie on a plate with a dessert fork.
You can see from the picture how the mixture separates into three separate layers as it bakes.

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Table Of Contents
  1. What is an impossible tart?
  2. A great alternative to traditional Christmas pudding
  3. How to make an impossible Christmas tart
  4. Variations
  5. What to do
  6. Get ahead
  7. Pin for later
  8. Other recipes to try
  9. The recipe
  10. Impossible Christmas tart

What is an impossible tart?

An impossible tart is so named because it seems impossible that one bowl of batter baked in the oven can separate into three distinct layers.

But it’s true. You just mix all the ingredients in one bowl and pop it in the oven. And what you end up with is a tart with a layer of soft pastry at the bottom, followed by a layer of custard, and topped off with a thin cake-type layer.

Some people call impossible tarts magic cakes. And with the magic season (aka Christmas) fast approaching, I thought it appropriate to share my impossible Christmas tart with you.

If this isn’t quite what you are looking for, why not give this easy coconut tart a try. It’s based on the same principle – a one dish mixture that separates into three layers as it bakes.

Close up of a slice of impossible Christmas pie showing the pastry on the edge.
Another close up so you can see the pastry layer that forms on the base and sides of this impossible tart.

A great alternative to traditional Christmas pudding

If you are anything like me, then you will always stuff yourself to bursting point at the Christmas dinner table and then not have room left for any Christmas pudding.

This impossible Christmas tart get round that problem nicely. It’s not at all stodgy, and served ice cold from the refrigerator, it makes a light an refreshing alternative to the traditional heavy puddings that are served at Christmas.

The custard is soft and creamy, and the pastry layer is filled with just enough fruit mincemeat to give this tart enough of a Christmas taste without being too stodgy.

What’s more, it only takes a few minutes to mix before it goes into the oven. And because it’s best served ice cold, you can make it the day before and just store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat it.

If you want to go all out you could serve it covered with custard or brandy sauce, or even top it with a scoop of icecream. To be perfectly honest though, I think it’s fine just served by itself.

And of course, this impossible Christmas tart isn’t just a Christmas pudding. A slice of this tart makes a great tea-time treat instead of the normal Christmas mince pies.

How to make an impossible Christmas tart

***You can print off the complete recipe for this impossible Christmas tart from the recipe card at the end of this post***

You will need a few simple ingredients:

Ingredients for impossible Christmas pie.
We’ve got flour, fruit mincemeat, sugar, milk, eggs, butter and vanilla essence.
  • Flour – this should be plain all-purpose flour not self-raising flour. There’s no baking powder in this recipe.
  • Fruit mincemeat – I used the supermarket own brand because this particular one doesn’t have mixed peel in it (I’m not a love of mixed peel). Use your own favourite brand.
  • Milk – either full fat or semi-skinned is fine.
  • Sugar – this recipe calls for less sugar than a normal cake to compensate for the sweetness of the fruit mincemeat. For this recipe I’ve allowed half a cup of sugar (that’s 100 grams). If you would prefer it a bit sweeter add a little extra sugar, but I wouldn’t go above three-quarters of a cup in total (150 grams).
  • Eggs – I used 4 medium-sized eggs
  • Butter – if you use salted butter then don’t add any salt to the mixture. If you have unsalted butter then you might like to add half a teaspoon of salt.
  • Vanilla essence – for extra flavour – you can leave it out if you don’t have any in your pantry.

Variations

If you want to turn this into a boozy version, you could swap out some of the milk as follows:

  • 50 ml of milk for 50 ml Baileys Original Cream Liqueur; or
  • 1 tablespoon of milk for 1 tablespoon of brandy

What to do

Start off by mixing the flour, sugar, milk, eggs and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl.

Flour, eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla essence mixed in a mixing bowl.
Keep mixing until there are no lumps left.

The next step is to melt the butter either in the microwave or in a pan on the stove.

Melted butter added to the flour, milk and eggs.
Let the butter cool slightly and then mix it into the egg, milk and flour mixture.

Finally stir in the fruit mincemeat. You will find that the mincemeat changes the colour of the batter slightly, but don’t let this worry you. It will still taste delicious.

Stir in the fruit mincemeat.
This is a very runny mixture – about the consistency of pancake batter. Don’t worry – it will set once it gets into the oven!

Grease a 10-inch round baking dish with a little melted butter.

Pour the mixture into the greased baking dish.

If you are worried about the tart overflowing in the oven, just place the baking dish on a baking sheet before placing in the oven.

Batter for an impossible Christmas pie in a baking dish.
The little white dots you can see in the mixture are tiny pieces of suet from the fruit mincemeat mixture.

Bake

Bake in a medium oven (175C / 350F) for 1 hour.

Ovens can vary so keep your eye on it. You may find that your tart is cooked after 50 minutes.

The pie baking in the oven.
The edges of the tart will puff up as it bakes, but they will sink down again as the it cools.

Don’t expect the entire tart to puff up. It will only puff around the edges.

The tart will be cooked when it feels firm to the touch and no longer ‘jiggles’ if you shake the dish. If your tart starts to brown too much before the centre has set properly, just cover the edges with a strip of tinfoil.

This is a close up of the finished tart.

Close up of the finished pie.
I accidentally left it in the oven a little bit longer than necessary and the tart started to catch around the edges so I just trimmed the darker bits off with a knife 🙂

The top of the tart will be quite moist and sticky. This is due to the sugar in the fruit mincemeat rising to the top and forming a slight syrupy texture on the top.

Remove it from the oven and allow to cool completely before covering with tinfoil or plastic wrap and storing in the refrigerator.

The final photo shows the texture of the underside of the tart.

The underside of the pie showing how the mincemeat has combined with the pasty layer.
As you can see, most of the fruit mincemeat has sunk to the bottom and combined itself into the pastry layer. It looks a bit like a fruit cake from this angle.

Even though there is a layer of custard in this impossible tart, the texture is quite firm. Once the tart has cooled in the refrigerator you will be able to cut it into slices and pick it up in your fingers. It will hold its shape nicely.

When you are ready to serve, dust the tart with icing sugar. Don’t do this too far in advance because the top of the tart is quite moist and the icing sugar will just dissolve.

If you’d like to be notified of any new recipes, why not subscribe to my newsletter. As a thank-you gift, you will receive a free recipe e-book containing some of my most popular cakes and desserts.

Get ahead

Unfortunately this tart is not suitable for freezing.

However you can make it up to three days in advance and store it in the refrigerator covered in tinfoil or plastic wrap.

Pin for later

If you would like to try this impossible Christmas tart for yourself, why not pin it to your Pinterest board so you can find it easily. Just click on the image below.

Other recipes to try

Perhaps you’d like to try some of my other festive baking ideas

  • No-bake Baileys chocolate truffles
  • Festive florentines
  • Walnut crescent cookies (Vanillekipferl)
  • Boozy black forest trifle
  • Dom Pedro cocktail
  • Peppermint crisp fridge tart

The recipe

A slice of impossible Christmas pie on a plate with a dessert fork.

Impossible Christmas tart

If you want something a little different for dessert this Christmas, why not try this impossible Christmas tart. It's a quick and easy one-bowl mix that forms a delicious layer of pastry mixed with Christmas fruit mincemeat, covered with a layer of creamy custard, and topped off with a thin layer of soft cake.
Recipe by: Veronica
Baking
British
Calories 329
Prep 10 minutes
Cook 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 1 x 10″ tart
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5 from 2 votes

(Click the stars to rate this recipe)

Equipment

  • Mixing bowl
  • 10" loose-bottomed round flan dish

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup / 105 grams plain all-purpose flour
  • 4 medium eggs
  • ½ cup / 100 grams caster sugar add 1 tablespoon extra if you prefer it sweeter
  • 14 ounce / 410 grams fruit mincemeat that's 1 medium-sized jar
  • 4 ounces / 115 grams butter melted (plus a little extra to grease the baking dish)
  • 2 cups milk full-fat or semi-skimmed
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence optional
  • ½ teaspoon salt optional

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 175°C / 350°F
  • Grease a 10" diameter baking dish with a little extra butter
  • Mix the flour, sugar, milk, eggs, salt and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl until all the lumps have been removed.
    ¾ cup / 105 grams plain all-purpose flour, 4 medium eggs, ½ cup / 100 grams caster sugar, 2 cups milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, ½ teaspoon salt
  • Melt the butter (either in the microwave or on the stove) and allow it to cool slightly.
    4 ounces / 115 grams butter
  • Mix the melted butter into the flour mixture until well combined
  • Stir in the fruit mincemeat
    14 ounce / 410 grams fruit mincemeat
  • Pour the mixture into the greased baking dish and place it in the preheated oven.
  • Bake for 1 hour until the mixture no longer jiggles when you shake the dish. Keep your eye on it and cover the edges of the tart with a strip of tinfoil if it starts to brown too much.
  • Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Then cover the tart with tinfoil or plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill. Serve cold, dusted with icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)

Notes

If you are worried about the tart overflowing in the oven, place it on a baking sheet before baking.
Don’t dust the tart with icing sugar until you are ready to serve it  This tart has quite a moist surface and the icing sugar will dissolve quickly.
Use plain flour (not self-raising) – there is no need for any raising agent in this tart.
If you are using unsalted butter then I would recommend adding half a teaspoon of salt to the flour mixture.
Nutrition has been calculated on cutting the tart into 10 slices, and is per slice.

Nutrition

Calories – 329kcal | Carbohydrates – 46.1g | Protein – 5.3g | Fat – 13.4g | Saturated Fat – 7.6g | Cholesterol – 94mg | Sodium – 230mg | Potassium – 66mg | Fiber – 0.8g | Sugar – 36.4g | Calcium – 72mg | Iron – 1mg

I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.

Unless otherwise stated, a cup is the standard US cup containing 240 ml. In all my recipes this cup is assumed to hold 140g of flour. For help converting other ingredients between cups, grams, ounces and other measures, see my recipe conversion calculator.
All my recipes are developed and tested at sea-level. For tips on adjusting recipes for high altitudes see my post on baking at high altitudes.
Tried this recipe?If you made this recipe I’d love it if you could leave me a comment and let me know how it went!
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Filed Under: All Recipes, Cakes, Cookies and Desserts

About VJ

In my previous life, I was an IT Consultant. Now that I've swapped an office for a kitchen I have a lot more time to spend on things that interest me such as trying out new recipes. Most of my cooking is based around quick and easy meals, and you'll probably find a little South African influence creeping in due to the many years I spent there.

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