Lemon Bakewell Tarts

I know for most people Easter is all about chocolate, but the traditional Easter cake is actually Simnel Cake, which is a fruit cake covered in marzipan. I love it, but if I presented a slice of fruit cake to my husband or nieces after Easter dinner, I’d never be allowed to bake another cake again. I also think that after munching on all that rich chocolate, it’s nice to have something a bit sharp and lemony. So I’ve combined the traditional with the modern and created Lemon Bakewell Tarts.

The frangipane filling gives a little nod to the traditional Simnel Cake, but the lemon curd and sweet pastry create a lovely tangy, sweet tart that’s the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea after your Roast Dinner.

Ready in 60 mins + cooling (5 mins making pastry, 10 mins filling prep, 10
mins make, 25 mins bake, 10mins decorate) – makes 12 small tarts.

Ingredients:

2 free range egg yolks
4 level teaspoons of sifted icing sugar
200g of plain flour
130g of salted butter
Cold water

50g of caster sugar
50g of sifted icing sugar
80g of ground almonds
1 free range egg
Half a teaspoon of almond essence

Lemon curd (recipe here for my Limoncello Curd)
100g of icing sugar
5 teaspoons of cold water
Yellow food colouring (optional)

Method:

Mix together 2 egg yolks with 4 teaspoons of icing sugar and set aside.

Put the flour into a large bowl and add the butter. Cut the butter into the flour using a knife then rub together with your finger tips to make what looks like fine bread crumbs.

Add 3 teaspoons of cold water and the egg yolk mixture and mix well.
Then get your hands in there and bring the mixture together to form a ball of dough. You want it smooth and firm enough to pick up and form into a ball without it crumbling. Keep adding water a teaspoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge while you make your filling.
In a large bowl, mix together the caster sugar, 50g of icing sugar and the ground almonds.

Add the whole egg and almond essence and mix to a stiff paste. This is your frangipane.

Preheat oven to 200c / 180c fan / gas mark 6.
Grease a muffin tray with butter or spray with Fry Light or something similar.
Roll out your pastry on a lightly floured surface, cut into rounds larger than the circumference of your muffin tray sections, using a cutter or the floured rim of a glass.

Press each round into a section of the muffin tray. Make sure you press the pastry into the corners and up the sides so the pastry is flat against the tin. This will give you a lovely sturdy shape at the end.

Put a teaspoon of lemon curd in the bottom of each pastry case, then fill half way with frangipane.

Warm a butter knife in hot water and smooth the frangipane down with it. This will give you a smoother surface for icing once baked.

Bake for 25 mins until the filling has risen slightly and the pastry is crisp underneath.
If the top starts to catch and you think it might burn, just put a sheet of tinfoil over the top.

Let the Bakewells cool completely.
Then mix 100g of icing sugar with 5 teaspoons of water. The icing should be thick, but pourable.
Spread half to three quarters of the icing onto the cooled Bakewells.