This sweet pastry recipe by top pastry chef Graham Hornigold will quickly become your go-to method for any sweet tart. Sweet pastry (or pâté sucrée) differs from a traditional shortcrust in that the softened butter is creamed with sugar before adding eggs and flour. This may seem counter-intuitive, especially if you’re used to making shortcrust which sees fridge-cold butter gently combined with flour to form a breadcrumb-like mixture. However, the crumbly nature of shortcrust can make it tricky to work with, which can cause problems when lining a tart tin. Sweet pastry avoids this issue because the creaming of butter and sugar at the beginning allows air to be incorporated, creating a nice light texture that is also slightly easier to work with than standard shortcrust.

As with any pastry, chilling it in the fridge before rolling it out is key – the longer the better. Resting overnight will minimise shrinkage during baking the most, but if you’re short on time just make sure it’s in the fridge long enough to firm up properly and become nicely chilled (at least 30–60 minutes).