This tart is filled with all kinds of goodness: a shortcrust pastry and an array of jams and jellies that look like a stained glass window. This Victorian Epiphany Tart was once a traditional British dessert served to celebrate Epiphany, which is on January 6th. This Christian holy day is thought to be the date when the 3 Wise Men finally reached the manger with baby Jesus after following the Star of Bethlehem. While this holiday isn’t as popular in the modern era, you can still celebrate with this colorful (and tasty) tart.

The crust for this dessert is a simple shortcrust pastry. How much you end up using depends entirely on how your pie pan is shaped and what types of designs you make. The recipe below made just slightly more than I needed for these designs. Better to have too much dough than too little.

We have to make little wells in the dough for the jams to sit and the more the better. I did a sort of captain’s ship wheel design, then covered the seams with some diamond shapes I made with cookie cutters.

This is essentially a larger and more complicated version of a jam tart, a simple dish that rose to popularity during the reign of Queen Victoria.

The jams you choose are totally up to you! I used apricot, seedless raspberry, strawberry, black currant, and lemon curd. And for one special compartment I mixed several together! Marmalades, jams, jellies, curds, and even mincemeat would all work in this tart.

This is a fancy-looking tart, but it’s also a good way to use up those last little bits of jam lurking in the bottom of jars scattered around the fridge. “Waste not, want not” as they used to say!

Some common themes for this tart are stars and triangles, but you can make this in a design that speaks to you. Originally the number 13 was included in either the design or the number of jams used. This is a reference to Jesus and the 12 Disciples. And, while this tart is traditionally made for Epiphany it looks so festive that it could just as easily be made in December to celebrate Christmas, too. And, it works for a 12th Night celebration, too!

In terms of flavor, appearance, and getting rid of almost-empty jam jars this tart is a smashing success. Plus the process of making the spaces for the jam was really fun. While making this tart I got flashbacks to molding dinosaur fins in Play Dough as a kid. It was great to get hands on with this dessert.

If you don’t want to mold the wells you can also roll out some dough and cut it into strips, then twist them to create height and dimension and lay them across the crust. Regardless of which designs you choose the flavors will be a delightful surprise since you can’t always tell which types of jam you’re getting in each slice, which only adds to the fun!