First up, let’s start with poaching our rhubarb so we can give it plenty of time to achieve that lovely pink coloured finish by the time we get to constructing the tart. You can do this step up to 5 days in advance - I pushed mine as far as 7 to really work on the colour and test when the rhubarb began to break down and whilst I have used a mandolin to get strips of the rhubarb to get uniform strips to plait, you can alternatively use a sharp knife to cut into strips OR completely ignore my madness and opt to cut into batons (you can try a tessellated pattern if you want something that still looks aesthetically arty but I am aware this requires a good chunk of time so do whatever works for you).

If you are using a mandolin, you want the ribbons of rhubarb to be approx. 3 to 4 mm thick to ensure they don’t break down when poaching. You ideally want to use rhubarb stems that are at least 30 cm long, just to make it easier to achieve a seamless plait so any shorter stems, reserve, make jam with, or freeze.

Cut off the ends of the rhubarb and carefully slice, like I have done here. I found it easier to place my mandolin (which annoyingly doesn’t have a stand to prop up) between two equally heighted chopping boards and carefully feeding each strip through, pulling the strip underneath the blade to coax through.

If you are after the alternating-coloured rhubarb, divide the strips between two large saucepans like the below. The logic behind this is ensuring the poaching liquor covers all the strips to ensure everything cooks at the same speed and time.

Pour 70 g of sugar and 400 ml of water into each pan and add a few (about 8 buds) of butterfly pea flowers to one and a few hibiscus buds to the other and place over a medium heat. Gently cook until lightly simmering for 5 minutes and remove ribbons to two large trays. You want each strip to be semi translucent by the time you remove them from the heat – they should be holding their shape well whilst being soft if pressed with gentle force. NOTE: The rhubarb will continue to cook as it cools down so I would recommend trialling a few strips at the start to understand your timing sweet spot. Better to ruin a few strips as opposed to the whole amount ya know? Which fyi, we have poached more than we need to also account for breakages and mishaps, so expect a surplus at the end.

Reserve the hibiscus poaching liquid. To the Butterfly Pea pan, add a good squeeze of lemon and mix – this should turn the water from a deep blue to a more purply colour.

Allow both liquids to cool until just warm. Carefully pour into its corresponding rhubarb tray – along with the flower buds. Once cool, cover with clingfilm and pop into the fridge for at least 24 hours but ideally 48 minimum. In that time, the colour will deepen, and the ribbons will take on a pink and purple hue.

Move onto making your pastry – again this can be made up to 5 days in advance and any leftovers can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Start by adding the butter and sugar to a bowl and creaming together until light and fluffy – this will take at least 5 minutes on a medium speed using a stand mixer.

Add in the beaten eggs (keep as close as possible to 100 g to avoid making the dough too wet) and mix until everything is fully emulsified. This will be a bit of a process where it will go from being separated to looking curdled to finally smooth – if it takes over 5 minutes, don’t stress – you are doing it right.

In a separate bowl, add the salt, flour and grated tonka bean. Mix well to integrate all the ingredients before transferring to the mixer bowl.

Mix until all the ingredients have come together, and you are left with no visible streaks of flour.

It will look like it is too wet and needs more flour – DO NOT ADD MORE FLOUR. Lay out some clingfilm on your worktop, dust with flour and scoop out the dough. Press down and shape the dough into a rough disc and flatten with your hands before wrapping tightly in clingfilm and popping in your fridge to sit for about 30 to 45 mins. Don’t skip this step of waiting as we want that butter to begin to solidify.

Once the dough has chilled, lay down a silicon mat on your worktop and dust liberally with plain flour.

Roll out the pastry to approx. 3mm thick and carefully transfer to your tart tin (no need to grease). Gently nestle in and use a scrap bit of pastry dusted in flour to help you press into the nooks and crannies (don’t use your fingertips as the pressure will be too much and your nails will inevitably catch on the pastry).

Trim any excess pastry off the sides (reserve all scraps and pop into the fridge for 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months), use a fork to dock the pastry base (basically lightly poke some holes in) and place the lined tart tin into the freezer for at least 1 hour. Super important this is frozen through before baking to minimize pastry shrinkage.

Preheat your oven to 180C Fan/200C/390F.

Once frozen, crumple up some baking paper and sit in your frozen tart case. You want to ensure the baking paper covers all bottom and sides. Pour in your baking beans (or dried rice/pasta) and place in the oven for 40 minutes. If you haven’t left your tart in the freezer for longer than an hour, then bake for 30 minutes but WHY HAVE YOU NOT LISTENED TO ME AND LEFT IT TO FREEZE FOR LONGER?! Note: placing your tart tin onto a baking sheet will help you place in and transfer from the oven easier throughout the entire bake.

Remove from the oven and carefully remove the baking beans and baking paper. Pop the tart case back in the oven for a further 10 minutes until the base begins to turn golden.

Once baked, remove from the oven and reduce the heat to 130C NO FAN/265F.

Get cracking with the custard filling. Pour the double cream, coconut cream and vanilla into a pan and place over a gentle heat.

In another bowl, add the egg yolks and sugar. Use a balloon whisk to mix until smooth.

Once the cream begins to lightly warm, pour half over the egg yolks and mix well. Return all the cream back into the pan and gently heat until the mix reaches about 45C/115F – this helps us to begin cooking the custard mix before it gets in the oven and also prevents you scrambling the custard.

Pour the custard filling into the baked tart case and place back into the oven for 40 to 45 minutes. The top should be lightly set but with a wobble.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool at room temp for 2 hours. Pop into the fridge once cool overnight to completely set.

Whilst that is cooling, make your roasted strawberries for your jelly. Heat the oven to 180C Fan/200C/392F.

Add the frozen strawberries to a large oven proof dish. Drizzle over the golden syrup/maple syrup, add the vanilla and give everything a good mix. Pop the dish into the oven for 15 minutes. Remove, give everything a good mix and pop back into the oven for a further 15.

When you remove, the strawberries should look darker in colour, jammy and pooling in a syrup. Leave to cool. When cool, blitz using a hand blender till you are left with a smooth, thick puree.

Now that most of the components to the tart is done, let’s move onto plaiting our rhubarb. Ideally you want to work with strips that are about 1.5 to 2 cm in width and about 30 or more cm in length.

Grab a strip (doesn’t matter from which tray), place onto a chopping board and grab a sharp knife. You want to start a few mm below the top of each strip (having a connected top will help anchor your plait) and carefully slice all the way down to the bottom of the strip, dividing into 3 strands.

Place something heavy at the top of the strip, where the strands are all connected (I opted for a heavy knife end). Gently braid the rhubarb – you do this by starting with an outer strand (doesn’t matter from which side) and placing over the middle strand. Grab the outer strand from the other side and lay over the middle strand. You want to continue doing this until you have reached the bottom. I don’t think I have described that well and for those in any doubt on how to plait, see below.

Place your finished braid in a straight line (or whatever pattern you want to make) onto a large tray (but small enough to pop into the freezer) lined with either a silicon mat or greaseproof paper.

Grab a rhubarb strip, but this time from the other tray and repeat the braid. Place tightly next to your first braid on your tray.

Repeat this process, alternating strips for that two tone colour effect, layering each plait next to each other on the tray.

Use the base of your tart tin to guide you on how many plaits/braids you need to make to ensure the entire top of your tart will be covered.

When you have done enough to cover, pop the tray into the freezer and allow to fully freeze. Keep any remaining poached rhubarb strips for later.

In the meantime, make the strawberry jelly by adding the puree into a pan and placing over a medium heat.

Whilst that is gently heating, grab a bowl of cold water and add your gelatine sheets to soak for 5 minutes. Once softened, drain and squeeze out any surplus water.

When your puree is hot (but not boiling), remove from the heat and add the softened sheets. Mix well to dissolve and allow to cool at room temperature until lukewarm but not set.

Carefully pour the jelly mix on top of your set custard top, level out using the back of a spoon or offset palette knife and pop into the fridge to set – this will take about 2 hours.

Once your plaited rhubarb has frozen through, grab your tart base once again. Gently lay it on top of the rhubarb and use a sharp knife to cut around the edge. Once you have a rough guide, remove the base and rescore the cut with your knife.

Remove any bits of rhubarb from the outer edge, leaving just the plaited disc. Pop back into the freezer.

Once your jelly has set, carefully peel the rhubarb disc away from the silicon mat and carefully place on top of the jelly.

If your edges are uneven or if you haven’t place the disc right in the middle, grab some of your leftover poached rhubarb, plait a few extra strands and position as a border on the other edge of your tart for a neat finish.

Your braided beauty is now complete – you can pop the tart into the fridge until serving. What I would recommend is popping the tart back into the freezer for about 15 minutes before you slice to allow the rhubarb to gently freeze again, making it easier for you achieve a neat finish. Sharp knife, run under hot water, wipe clean, frozen rhubarb, a bit of gentle sawing action to cut through each strand, followed by a straight down cut to get through the jelly, custard and pastry.