Lemon Bakewell Tart

Image: Lemon tart, a little bit overdone…

This is one of our most popular cakes at the café. Donnamarie wanted to try a lemon bakewell tart, and I tried to make it, and it really worked! It tastes best with home-made lemon curd, but Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference lemon curd works really well when you need to whip up a quick cake. Here is the recipe for 2 tarts:

For the pastry:
300g plain flour
125 g butter
100g sugar
vanilla flavouring/real vanilla (whatever you have available)
grated lemon peel
2 eggs

Combine all ingredients apart from the eggs. Rub the butter into the flour and sugar. When crumbly, add the two eggs and form a pastry.

Leave to chill for a while.

Roll out the pastry and put it into two pie dishes (I use the ones intended for a large quiche). If you have any pastry left over, make another small tart.

Spread lemon curd over the pastry (about 5mm thick).

For the almond topping:

200-250 g butter
200-250 g sugar
200-250 g almonds
3 eggs
grated lemon
50g flour
vanilla and almond flavouring

Melt the butter in a put and add the remaining ingredients (put in the eggs last). Spread everything over the lemon curd and cover with flaked almonds.

Bake for about 20 mins at 180 degrees. Tart is baked when almonds and pastry start to brown.

Take out of the oven and leave to cool for a bit. Take the tarts out of the moulds before they get cold. Be careful with loose almonds and hot dripping lemon curd!

Once cold, you can also add a few streaks of liquid icing on top, or dusted icing sugar.