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alemon tart coveredwith fresh fruit and edible flowers.

Easy Lemon Tart

Amy Treasure
This stunning Lemon Tart has a sweet shortcrust pastry base and is filled with bright and zesty lemon curd. Topped with fresh berries and beautiful edible flowers it's a showstopper dessert.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 6 minutes
Chilling time 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 6 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine British, French
Servings 10 servings
Calories 333 kcal

Equipment

  • 23cm pie tin
  • parchment paper
  • ceramic baking beans or dry, uncooked rice
  • a medium-size saucepan and heatproof bowl (for the bain-marie)

Ingredients
 

For the shortcrust pastry

  • 200 g plain flour
  • 50 g lard or Trex
  • 50 g unsalted butter
  • 25 g caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp cold water

For the lemon filling

  • 170 g unsalted butter
  • juice of 4 lemons
  • zest of 2 lemons
  • 150 g caster sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 large egg yolks

Instructions
 

To make the shortcrust pastry

  • Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC Fan/Gas 4/350ºF
  • Add the flour, butter and lard (or Trex) to a large mixing bowl and use your fingertips to rub the fat into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the caster sugar.
  • Add the ice-cold water and use a butter knife to cut the mixture together.
  • Lightly flour a surface, then bring the mixture in the bowl together with your hands and tip it out on to the floured surface. Knead it a few times until it forms a dough. Wrap it in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  • Turn the chilled pastry out on to a lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll it into a circle bigger than your pie tin. Transfer the pastry into the pie tin. Repair and tears with spare pastry. Use a sharp knife to trim the edges of the pastry. Use a fork to prick the pastry all over.
  • Cut a circle of parchment paper slightly bigger than your pie tin. Place it on top of the pastry and fill the tin with baking beans or uncooked rice. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

To make the filling

  • Fill a medium-sized saucepan with approximately 4 inches of water and bring it to a simmer. Place a heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan, but make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water.
  • Add the butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, caster sugar and eggs into the bowl. Whisk until the mixture thickens and is holding its shape. This will take around 10 minutes using a bain-marie or 2-3 minutes if you have a heavy-based saucepan over direct heat.
  • Place a sieve over a clean bowl, pour the lemon curd into the sieve pushing it through with a rubber spatula. This creates a silky smooth filling.
  • Pour the lemon curd into the baked pastry case and put it back in the oven for 6 minutes. Put the lemon tart into the fridge for two hours, this will allow the filling to completely set in the tin before removing to decorate and slice.

Video

Notes

  • The pastry is very short and crumbly and not the nicest pastry to work with but it can be easily patched up with spare pastry if it tears. 
  • If you have a very heavy-based saucepan then you don't have to use a bain-marie although please be warned that if your eggs overheat this will cause them to scramble. So use a saucepan with caution!
Keyword french lemon tart, lemon tart, tarte au citron