Lemon cream tart
I bake this when I have good lemons – good lemons, to me,
are misshapen, bumpy-skinned, aroma-before-appearance
fruit from a backyard or organic grocer. I like assertive and
sour varieties like Eureka or Lisbon. I adore Meyer lemons
and counter their submissive sourness with less sugar.

In my humble baking opinion, low-rise lemon tarts are more
pleasing because the relationship of delicate lemony custard and
buttery cradle crust is balanced. To reverse this ratio and lean
into lemon, choose a deeper and narrower tin. Follow your tart.

Fill a 25 cm (10 in) wide saucepan with 5 cm (2 in) of water, place on
the stovetop and bring to a low simmer. Choose a stainless-steel bowl
to sit on top that is slightly wider than the pan so the bottom of the
bowl won’t touch the water.

Into that bowl (before placing it over the saucepan), place the 300 g
of egg and the yolk. Place the egg white in a separate small bowl and
lightly whisk to break it up – you’ll use this to seal the tart shell later.

Finely grate the zest of 1 lemon, then juice all the lemons, strain and
weigh 180 g/ml (6½ oz) of juice. Add the zest into the juice and set aside.

For the next step, have all the components separate and ready to build the
filling fast. This will stop the sugar and lemon juice reacting with the egg
yolk and little hard orange lumps forming.

Add the sugar into the egg bowl and hand whisk together until
combined, but not frothy. Whisk in the lemon juice/zest, then whisk in
the cream and salt until fully combined. Place the bowl on the double
boiler, gently whisking often until the mix reaches 60°C (140°F) –
around 10–12 minutes. The custard will get a little thicker, the foam
will dissipate and the custard will turn a more sunshiny yellow.

continued …

Keeps Room temperature on the first

day then chilled up to 2 days. Bring
to room temperature before eating.

Makes A 24 cm (9½ in) tart for

six to eight people. There’s extra mix
in case your tart tin is slightly deeper.

Takes If the pastry case has been

blind baked, 1 hour to mix and bake
and then at least 1 hour to rest before
cutting. You can make the filling the
day before, too. Chill overnight, then
warm it slightly before filling the crust.
1 × Brisee butter crust (page 71)
rolled into a 24 cm (9½ in)
round × 4 cm deep (1½ in)
tart tin and blind baked to
medium golden brown
Lemon custard filling
300 g (10½ oz) egg (approx.
6 eggs)
20 g (¾ oz) egg yolk (from
approx 1 egg, reserving the
white to seal the tart shell)
4 best lemons
240 g (8½ oz) caster (superfine)
sugar
300 g/ml (10½ oz) cream
(35% milkfat)
1 g (¹⁄₃₂oz/¼ teaspoon) sea salt
flakes