Prep 15 mins
Cooking 10 mins
Makes 6 Large or 12 Small Tarts
An iconic Australian bakery favourite, the Neenish tart is a quintessential pastry filled with mock cream and raspberry jam, finished with its distinctive half pink, half white icing. Sweet, nostalgic and instantly recognisable, it’s a classic treat that never goes out of style.
The story dates back to 1913 in the New South Wales town of Grong Grong, when local baker Ruby Neenish ran out of cocoa while preparing for afternoon tea. Improvising, she iced the tarts half white and half chocolate — creating the signature look that became known forevermore as the classic Neenish Tart.
Perfect for afternoon tea, celebrations or retro baking days, these individual pastries deliver the ideal balance of creamy filling, tender pastry and sweet icing in every bite.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
In a blender, combine flour and sugar for the tart cases. Add chopped cold butter and pulse until it resembles wet sand. Gradually add the water while the blender is running until a dough forms.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough and cut it to either fit 6 x 12cm tart cases, or 12 holes of a standard muffin tin.
Press the dough into your chosen cases and bake immediately for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
When tart cases have cooled, make the mock cream by creaming the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. While still beating, gradually add the boiling water and hot milk until it is smooth.
Spread the tart cases with a layer of jam, and then top with a layer of mock cream.
To make the icing, combine the icing sugar and hot milk and mix until smooth. The icing needs to be quite thick, so add more icing sugar if runny.
Divide the icing into 2 bowls and add pink food colouring to one.
Top each tart with half white icing and half pink icing.
