Lemon cream and strawberry tart

Lemon cream and strawberry tart – a wonderful tart with a delicate, refreshing lemon cream made with lemon curd. The cream is so delicious that it’s genuinely hard to resist licking the bowl clean ;). The lemon cream pairs beautifully with crisp shortcrust pastry and fresh strawberries. Remember that any shortcrust pastry will be firm straight from the fridge, so leave the tart to sit for a little while before serving. I highly recommend giving it a try!

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:

• 200 g plain flour
• 120 g cold butter, cubed
• 60 g icing sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 2–3 tablespoons cold water

Sift the flour, add the butter and quickly cut it in with a knife until the mixture resembles crumble. Add the sugar, salt and water and quickly bring the dough together (you can also use a food processor). Shape the dough into a ball, flatten slightly, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 60 minutes.

Grease a 24 cm tart tin with butter and dust with plain flour, shaking off any excess.

Roll out the chilled dough to about 3 mm thick and use it to line the tin. Chill again in the fridge for 30 minutes. Dust the chilled pastry lightly with flour and cover with baking paper. Fill with ceramic baking beads to weigh the pastry down (you can also use dried beans or rice).

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Reduce the temperature to 200°C, place the pastry in the oven and pre-bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, take out the baking paper and weights, reduce the temperature to 190°C, return the pastry to the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes, until the base is golden and fully baked. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Ingredients for the lemon cream:

• 250 g mascarpone, chilled
• 250 g lemon curd (shop-bought or homemade), chilled
• 2 teaspoons powdered gelatine (6 g) + 30 ml cold water

Sprinkle the powdered gelatine over the cold water, stir and leave to bloom for 10 minutes. Place over low heat and warm, stirring, until the gelatine has completely dissolved, or heat in the microwave. Do not allow it to boil (boiling will cause the gelatine to lose its setting properties). Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly, but make sure it remains liquid.

Place the mascarpone and lemon curd in the bowl of a mixer and whisk using the whisk attachment until you have a smooth, thick cream. Mix the cooled gelatine with a little of the lemon cream, for example 1–2 tablespoons (this prevents a sudden temperature change and stops gelatine lumps from forming in the cream). Add the tempered gelatine to the remaining cream and mix until combined.

Additionally:

• 600 g strawberries
• icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

Spread the lemon cream over the cooled pastry base and smooth the surface. Arrange the strawberries on top and dust with icing sugar, if desired. Chill before serving.

The lemon cream and strawberry tart should be stored in the fridge.

* The gelatine is optional, as different types of mascarpone and lemon curd are available on the market. I didn’t add it (you can see the consistency of the cream in the photo), but if the lemon cream seems too runny after mixing (and after chilling), add the gelatine. It’s also worth adding during hot weather.

Enjoy!