Why you’ll love it
From your first bite of Cornflake tart, you’ll be hooked. It’s caramelly flavour, crunch and touch of gooeyness just can’t be beat. This British school dinner classic will be nostalgic for many and it’s so easy to make at home. For those of you who don’t know it, it’s such a treat you’re really going to love.
It’s such a simple pudding that kids and adults alike will enjoy. Cornflake tart is a bit of fun, deliciously sweet, has a wonderful texture and tastes amazing.
You’ll love these honey joys too!
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What is Cornflake tart?
Cornflake tart is a retro British dessert originally served up for school dinners. It has a sweet shortcrust pastry shell, with a layer of jam inside, topped with a mostly crunchy and slightly gooey mixture of cornflakes, butter and golden syrup.
Cornflakes tart is often served with a helping of runny custard or cream.
Ingredients for Cornflake tart
This is such an easy tart, even the homemade pastry is seriously simple to throw together.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
- Flour: Just plain flour for the pastry (aka all purpose flour).
- Butter: I just use unsalted butter for the pastry.
- Icing sugar: Also known as confectioners sugar or powdered sugar, icing sugar makes up part of the pastry recipe.
- Egg: Just one large egg for the pastry.
- Cornflakes: The classic Kelloggs Cornflakes cereal known across the world has become more than just a breakfast food.
- Light brown sugar: The cornflake mixture contains some brown sugar for added caramelly flavour.
- Golden syrup: This one is really hard to subsitute but more and more stores around the world are stocking it. It can also be purchased online. You may be able to find recipes to make your own or you could try corn syrup though it’s a very different flavour. Honey is the right consistency but a totally different flavour. You could try maple syrup but it is much thinner than golden syrup.
- Jam: Strawberry jam or raspberry jam are the most common jams used. I use raspberry for mine but you could use other flavours too. While they’re a stretch from the classic recipe, I’ve also seen Cornflakes tart made with a dulce de leche base and Nutella would be lovely too.
Do I have to make the pastry from scratch?
Absolutely not. You can use store-bought ready-rolled shortcrust pastry if you prefer but homemade does taste better and this pastry recipe is just so easy, why not make it from scratch?!
How to make Cornflake tart
Even making the pastry shell for this Cornflake tart recipe is so simple. It only needs 45 minutes resting time in the freezer which you do not want to skip and other than that it’s pretty quick to create. The cornflake filling literally takes 3 minutes on the stove, so what are you waiting for?!
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
Make the shortcrust pastry shell
- Make the pastry dough: In a food processor, blitz together flour, icing sugar and cold butter until the butter is just very small pieces about half the size of a lentil. Add the egg (photo 1) and process that in, continuing until the pastry dough starts forming large clumps (photo 2).
- Roll and shape the pastry: Pull the pastry together, then roll it out on a lightly floured surface to an 11-inch circle (photo 3). Lay it into your tart tin and press the edges downwards into the corners of the pan and up against the sides (photo 4).
- Chill the pastry: You must chill the pastry so that it doesn’t shrink as soon as it goes into the oven. Do this in the freezer for 45 minutes before proceeding.
- Blind bake the pastry case: Trim the overhanging pastry off the top of the tart, then poke the base all over with a fork (photo 5). Lay a sheet of baking paper into the pastry shell, then fill it with pie weights, baking beans or just rice (photo 6).
- Bake for 20 minutes, remove the weights and paper and bake another 15 minutes.
Though I own ceramic pie weights, I always use rice. It costs very little and can be used over and over again every time you make a tart shell. I’ve been using the batch you see above for about 4 years now. Lentils work too.
Make the Cornflakes tart filling
- Mix and melt: Once the tart shell is ready, heat butter, sugar and golden syrup (photo 7) in a pan until fully combined.
- Add the cornflakes and salt and mix it up really well until the cornflakes are evenly coated in the golden syrup mixture (photo 8).
- Fill the tart: Spread the jam into the base of the tart shell (photo 9), then top with the cornflakes mixture (photo 10). Bake for another 7-8 minutes.
Tips and tricks
- Transferring the pastry to the tin: The easiest way to move the pastry from the work surface to the tart pan is by laying the rolling pin across the middle and folding one side of the pastry over the top. Now just lift your rolling pin and lay the pastry down carefully into your pan. Done!
- Weigh the flour: It’s so important to use weights when they’re provided in a recipe. It will give you the most accurate result. Many ingredients will be just fine measured using cups but flour and sometimes sugar are not. Always use a kitchen scale.
- Mix the cornflakes well: Make sure to mix up the cornflake mixture really well so that they’re all coated in the golden syrup mixture. If they don’t all get evenly coated the won’t stick together properly.
Storage
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. You can also freeze this old school cornflake tart for up to 3 months.
FAQs
Cornflake tart originated in England in the mid 1900’s and became a popular school dinners dessert in the 70’s and 80’s.
Cornflake tart, sometimes called cornflake cake, will keep for 4-5 days in the fridge, however it will soften over time and be less crunchy.
If you don’t mix the cornflakes through the golden syrup mixture really well some of the cornflakes may remain dry and won’t stick together causing the topping to fall apart. It may also be that you didn’t bake the tart long enough, so the coating didn’t have time to caramelise and stick it all together.
Did you try this cornflake tart recipe?
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Ingredients
SHORTCRUST TART SHELL
- 225 g plain flour (all purpose flour) (8oz)
- 100 g unsalted butter, cold and cubed (7 tablespoons / 3.5oz)
- 40 g icing sugar (powdered sugar/confectioners sugar) (⅓ cup / 1.4oz)
- 1 large egg, cold
FOR THE CORNFLAKE FILLING
- 4 cups Kelloggs Cornflakes (145g / 5oz)
- 60 g unsalted butter (¼ cup / 2oz) (notes)
- ¼ cup light brown sugar (50g / 1.8oz)
- ½ cup golden syrup
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅓ cup raspberry jam
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- 9 inch fluted tart pan with removable base
Instructions
- FOR THE TART SHELL:Add the flour, icing sugar and cubed butter to the bowl of a food processor. Process until it looks a bit like breadcrumbs and the butter is cut into very small pieces (like half the size of a lentil).
- Add the egg and process on low until the mixture starts forming large clumps.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and pull it together into a smooth ball with your hands (making sure not to handle it too much) then press it out into a 1 inch thick disk.
- Lightly flour your work surface and dust the top of the dough with just a little flour. Gently and gradually roll the pastry out, turning it often, to about 4-5mm (⅙ inch) thick or about 11 inches in diameter.
- Place the rolling pin in the middle of the dough and fold one side of the pastry over the top. Lift the rolling pin so the pastry is hanging over it, and lightly dust off any excess flour from underneath. Carefully lay it into a 9 inch round tart pan with removeable base.
- Press the dough down into the corners from the sides (not from the middle), then press it up against the sides of the tart pan. Leave the overhang standing upright and place the tart pan into the freezer for 45 minutes or the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours. You can make this up to 3 days ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until required.
- BLIND BAKE THE TART SHELL:Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) / 350F.
- Use a fork to prick the pastry base all over. Use a small sharp knife to trim off the excess pastry.
- Line the tart shell with a sheet of baking paper and fill with pie weights or rice. Fill it quite full and making sure it’s pressed up tight against the edges.
- Bake for 20 minutes. You can proceed with making the filling while it bakes.
- After 20 minutes. Carefully remove the baking paper and rice (or weights) and bake a further 15 minutes. Set aside while you make the filling
- FOR THE FILLING:Don’t make until the tart shell is ready. Combine the butter, sugar, golden syrup and salt in a large saucepan and heat over medium, stirring until melted and well combined.
- Remove from the heat and quickly but carefully stir in the cornflakes, so they are evenly coated. If your saucepan isn’t large enough, just mix it in a large bowl.
- Spread the jam over the tart shell base, then top with the cornflake mixture. Bake for a further 6-8 minutes until the cornflakes look a little toasty on top.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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