Does anyone else hear Michael Scott’s voice when you see “tiramisu”? You really can’t go wrong with homemade lady fingers (which are basically cookie air), fresh mascarpone whip, and all the juicy mixed berries. This omits the coffee completely - YAY - and makes it a perfect warm-weather treat.

Pastry cream or créme pâtissèrie (sometimes lovingly called “créme pât”) is the base of a lot of your favorite tarts and danishes. You can place it in a piping bag and fill out the bottom of a pastry crust or even spread it flat in the fridge and use a cutter to slice discs out for various fillings. As it sits in the fridge it thickens, making it the perfect component for so many pastries.

These mini fruit tarts are made up of four elements: pastry crust, raspberry sauce, creme patisserie, and fresh fruit. As an optional add-on, you can paint the top with an apricot glaze to give your tarts a glossy finish. All in all, they are magic and the perfect treat for a party or just a solo weekend.

I love raspberries. Give them to me in basically any form and it’s heaven. On a tart? Yes. In a parfait? You betcha. Reduced to sauce? Ermahgod.

This recipe is what I’d classify as quick and painless. You can use it to add some flavor to your piped whipped cream, squeezed into the swirls of cream patisserie between a sliced choux bun, layered between cakes, drizzled straight into your mouth… the list goes on.

Perfectly paired with whipped cream, topping a pavlova, layered between two cake rounds, or simply on toast. So whip out your pan and impress people with your compote-ing skills.