Sweet Gingerbread and Plum Tart

‘Taking the tart from the tin was a dream, the pastry held together and looked very professional… when I cut a slice the rest of it stayed intact, this is marvellous.’
Ann S, Cumbria; Black Labrador Member

✨ Before We Begin…

Gingerbread pastry base topped with baked plums — a winter tart with warmth and brightness.

‘Must be best food offer, of any genre, in Kendal. Hugely accomplished cooking and very much recommended.’
Tony P, Kendal; Food Customer

The Cook’s Mind

What This Recipe Helps You Practise

• Making spiced pastry dough.
• Balancing tart fruit with sweet base.
• Timing bake for set filling.

Make-Ahead

• Pastry can be made ahead.
• Tart holds a day or two.

Freezer-Friendly

• Freezes less well due to fruit.
• Best eaten fresh.
• The pastry shell, having been blind-baked, is the thing to freeze.

Key Substitutions

• Plums: swap for apricots or cherries.
• Spices: adjust with cinnamon or cardamom.

Cooking Parlance

• Blind bake: pre-bake crust.
• Reduce: cook fruit until syrupy.

Ingredient Focus

✨ Plums — tart, juicy, and seasonal.

To Ingredient Focus: Plum

Serving Suggestions

• Serve with plant cream.
• Dust with icing sugar.

Multi-Purpose Recipe

This recipe has more than one life…

• Make tartlets.
• Make just the filling and serve with yoghurt
• The filling would make a good sweet Wellington

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Spiced, fruity, festive.
• Balances sweet and tart.
• A winter showstopper.

Handpicked to Go With This One

A few recipes that play well together — flavour friends, not just neighbours.

• Charred Courgette with Spelt Tofu Medallions
• Chestnut Lasagne with Chestnut Mushroom Ragù and Porcini Cream Sauce

Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!

Got something spare — a handful, a spoonful, or the end of a packet? These tags help you find other ways to use it. It’s a small step toward cooking intuitively and wasting less ❣️

Sweet Gingerbread and Plum Tart Recipe

Sweet Gingerbread and Plum Tart

Julia Savory

Three kinds of ginger meet juicy plums in a tart that’s rich, spiced, and deeply satisfying. Crisp pastry holds it all together, making it as beautiful as it is delicious. A showstopper for ginger lovers.

No ratings yet

Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Blind baking 20 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Pudding

Cuisine British Home Cooking

Servings 10 servings

Calories/Seving 279 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Ingredients for the wholemeal sweet pastry

• 6 g ground flaxseed
• 60 ml cold water | added to flaxseed
• 210 g wholemeal flour
• 1 pinch turmeric
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground cardamom
• 40 g golden caster sugar
• 80 g Trex | cut into rough 2cm cubes
• 1 pinch salt

Ingredients for the fruit filling

• 500 g Bramley apples | unpeeled weight
• 250 g plums
• 30 g butter
• 35 g fresh ginger
• 45 g stem ginger | the ginger in syrup (3 blobs)
• 1 pinch salt
• 7 ml lemon juice
• 5 ml vanilla extract
• 15 ml treacle
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground clove

Ingredients for the crumble

• 75 g plain flour
• 40 g butter
• 1 pinch salt
• 40 g golden caster sugar

Other Ingredients

• slivered almonds | small handful

To Serve

• ice cream, cream or custard

Contact Julia Direct

Instructions

 

Make the pastry

• Mix the flaxseed with the water. Leave to stand.
  6 g ground flaxseed, 60 ml cold water
• Into the Magimix, put the flour and spices. Pulse to mix. Add the Trex. Mix to make small breadcrumbs. Kindly note that this wasn’t the way it was done on the video, but post-filming, I’ve decided this is the better way!
  210 g wholemeal flour, 1 pinch turmeric , ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp ground cardamom, 80 g Trex
• Add the sugar. Mix.
  40 g golden caster sugar
• Add the flaxseed and water, and mix.
• Knead to make a smooth ball of dough. Wrap in Wrap in clingfilm and put into the fridge. You want it properly chilled because you are going to grate it.

Start the filling

• Peel and chop the apple into chunks.
  500 g Bramley apples
• Chop the plums into slender wedges.
  250 g plums
• Cook the apples and plums in a pan with the butter.
  30 g butter
• Peel the ginger and grate into the pan. Chop the sticky stem ginger and add to pan.
  35 g fresh ginger, 45 g stem ginger

Add the other ingredients to the fruit

• Cook the fruit ensuring that the plums don't lose their bite. The apples will become soft.
• Add the ingredients listed, and stir gently. Remove from the heat.
  1 pinch salt, 7 ml lemon juice, 5 ml vanilla extract, 15 ml treacle, ½ tsp ground ginger , ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground clove

Make the crumble top

• Pulse the butter, flour and salt in a food processor.
  75 g plain flour, 40 g butter, 1 pinch salt
• Add the sugar, pulse a few times to mix and then put into the fridge until everything else is ready.
  40 g golden caster sugar

Line the tart tin; bake

• Preheat the oven to. 220℃ fan (240℃ conventional)
• Coarsely grate the cold pastry into a tart tin 23cm diameter (mine is a Masterclass one, from Amazon).
• With a light touch, make the sides by pushing the grated pastry into position.
• Look at the top of the walls… make sure they are even and neat.
• Once the walls are done, spread the pastry across the bottom of the tin and press down. I find it easy to have too thick a pastry where the ‘wall’ meets the base, which is not correct, so watch out for that.
• Prick the finished shell with a fork to keep it flat whilst it cooks.
• Carefully add tin foil and a layer of baking beans.
• Protect the edge of the pastry with the tin foil by gently covering the edge, and put into the preheated oven for 15 minutes.This is called blind baking.
• Take the tart shell out of the oven at 15 minutes, carefully remove the baking beans pulling the tin foil up first, so you don’t rip your edges!
• Take a moment to look see. See if any parts aren't cooked. If so, return to the oven for 5 more minutes…

  Remove from the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 180℃ fan (200℃ conventional).

Add the filling and topping

• Ensure the filling has been left to go cold; things get colder faster in metal bowls.
• Add the filling to the cooked pastry case, and push the filling mixture to the edge from the centre. Avoid touching the edge of the tart with the filling because the sugar will stain the edge.
• Add the crumble topping, leaving approximately 1cm around the edge; so you can see the filling (it's nice to see the filling)
• Return to the oven at 180℃ fan for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
• Five minutes before the end of baking, put on the almonds onto the top; return to the oven so the almonds get a little colour.
  slivered almonds

Out of the oven!

• Bring this delicious tart out of the oven and allow to cool so your palate can thoroughly enjoy all aspects of this wonderful Fruit Gingerbread Tart. Serve with ice cream, cream, custard, from a plate, or simply a handheld wedge!
  ice cream, cream or custard

Notes

• Multi-purpose: slices for packed lunches are great; good served with salad and maybe fries for a meal… or just a wedge standing up if short on time…
• Freezer-friendly: uncooked balls of pastry freeze really well…
• Make-ahead: this is a classic make-ahead recipe. This sits very happily in the fridge for a few days. I keep mine simply on a plate and covered with tin foil.

Nutrition

Calories: 279kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 3gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 237mgPotassium: 162mgFiber: 4gSugar: 18gVitamin A: 314IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 61mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on specific ingredients used. Nutrition is per serving. Information is for the main recipe, not optional accompaniments.

Keywords crowd-pleasing vegan recipe, fruit tart, gingerbread tart, Sunday lunch pudding, vegan pudding

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

COPYRIGHT

© The Golden Polar Bear, 2025. Recipes and photography by Julia Savory. If you share this, please pass it along with kindness and if possible share a link back to this site. #ForTheAnimals

Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.

Next Steps?

Wave a wand and learn how to cook well. When you become a member, you get a quiet, steady place to learn – with all your videos, recipes, and pathways organised so you can cook with confidence rather than guesswork. And when you’re stuck or unsure, you can ask me directly.
A calm kitchen. Real support. Your own rhythm.

Prefer a gentler rhythm? Sign up to The Magic Spoon mailing list and I’ll drop by your inbox now and then. No noise, no clutter – just the small, steady things I’m learning and ideas to make our cooking lives easier.