Lemon meringue tart

This Lemon meringue tart recipe is a decorative, individual dessert version of the well know lemon meringue pie. I love everything about this French tartlet recipe! Pâte Sablée sweet shortcrust pastry filled with tangy and creamy lemon curd and topped with sweet and silky Swiss meringue. A beautiful contrast of flavors and textures topped with a super easy yet decorate chocolate disk.

Are you a fan of lemon desserts and lemon meringue pie? Then you must try this elegant, individual version of Lemon meringue tart, a showstopper fancy dessert to remember! Let´s get started!

Jump to:

• What is a tart?
• My Top 5 Baking Tips for home bakers
• Some important notes regarding the INGREDIENTS of this Lemon meringue Tart recipe
• 7 Baking tips regarding the TECHNIQUE of making this Lemon meringue Tart recipe
• Some more Tart recipe ideas to try
• Lemon meringue tart

What is a tart?

A tart is a freestanding, shallow open-faced pastry often baked in a tart ring with fluted or straight sides. Smaller tarts are referred to as tartlets. Lemon tart, fruit tart, chocolate tart, coffee tart, caramel tart…you name it! Tarts and tartlets are one of the most popular pastries all around the world!

Making Pâte Sablée, the sweet shortcrust tart shell is one of the baking basics worth mastering for every home baker! An useful and beautiful baking skill that can turn any desserts into professional looking pastries that will impress everyone!

Make sure you check out my Ultimate Pâte Sablée Guide which explains everything about how to make sweet shortcrust including ingredients, technique, equipment, and even more.

My Top 5 Baking Tips for home bakers

1. Read the recipe carefully including my tips and recommendations on how to avoid and fix typical issues during baking this Lemon meringue tart. A short recipe alone not able to call out all the details that you need to pay attention to while baking therefore most of my recipes contain important information about ingredients and technique
2. Avoid using substitutes and changing the recipe unless you are aware of how to fully reformulate the recipe in order to keep the balance in texture as well as flavour. In general, replacing egg, using gluten-free flour, skipping certain ingredients etc. will always have an impact on your baking incl. this Lemon meringue tart recipe
3. For consistent, happy baking experience always measure your ingredients with the help of a Digital scale. Cup measurement is provided as an indicative figure only and might be used for less complex and large batch recipes however it is not an appropriate method if you want consistent results
4. Did you know that most home ovens can significantly under or oven run? Also, oven temperature hugely drops when opening the oven door therefore it is recommended to always pre-heat the oven above the required baking temperature.
5. Temperature is so important when it comes to baking and accurate oven temperature is key, can make or break any recipe. Make sure you invest into an inexpensive Digital oven thermometer to avoid under baked, burnt, sad looking desserts

Some important notes regarding the INGREDIENTS of this Lemon meringue Tart recipe

For the Pâte Sablée, sweet shortcrust

1. Flour: I am using pastry flour for this Lemon meringue tart recipe, feel free to use AP if can’t find pastry flour in your local supermarket. If you want to be a Pro when it comes to deciding what type of flour to use in your baking, please read my article in here
2. Almond: I am making Pâte Sablée with almond flour that is my preference from taste and texture point of view. It is worth to buy good quality ground almond, without skin. Almond can be replaced with hazelnut, walnut, pistachio flour too
3. Sugar: This sweet shortcrust dough is made with a small amount of icing sugar that makes the tart case sweet but not overly sweet. If you want to learn about the different types of sugar and how to use them in baking, please read my article in here
4. Salt: An essential ingredient in most of the dessert recipes. Balances flavour and enhances other ingredients. This is a sweet tart dough and I just love that extra very mild salty kick at the end
5. Butter: Use always unsalted as you want to be in control of the quantity of the salt. I am using 82% fat content butter in all my recipes. While in most of the recipes butter needs to be on room temperature, this is an exception and you have to take it very seriously. Butter needs to be chilled, which means take the butter out of the fridge, cut into cubes then place it into the freezer for 10-15 minutes before using it.
6. Egg: Room temperature as always. Egg can´t be left out or replaced unless you have the knowledge to totally reformulate the recipe

As you can shortcrust as such is a super simple recipe in terms of the ingredients. The secret behind making beautiful, neat and delicious Lemon meringue tart is all about mastering the technique, understanding how temperature plays in role while working with the dough and using the right equipment that I will be all explaining further down in this recipe.

For the lemon curd filling

1. Lemon: This Lemon meringue tart will be filled with simple lemon curd. For making lemon curd make sure you use fresh, organic lemon one which has no chemicals on the skin) and only grate the yellow part of the skin, not the white. First, take the zest off then simply squeeze the juice out. The recipe is given in grams as the amount of juice that comes out of lemon can greatly vary!
2. Granulated sugar: Use normal white granulated sugar, nothing fancy or expensive. In this lemon curd recipe, the curd will be tangy and not overly sweet, which is my preference for lemon desserts, especially for this Lemon meringue tart recipe where the meringue will bring sweetness. Feel free to adjust the quantity of the sugar for your taste
3. Egg: Room temperature as always and use only the yolk, which will thicken the curd. If you wonder what to do with the leftover egg white, you will need that for the Swiss meringue part of the recipe! Or, you can try my pavlova recipe. Please note that some other recipes out there use whole egg for making lemon curd, I prefer using yolk only for a few reasons: 1. Colour 2. Texture 3. Easier to cook and less likely to end up like scrambled egg
4. Butter: Use always unsalted as you want to be in control of the quantity of the salt. I am using 82% fat content butter in all my recipes. In this recipe butter needs to be at room temperature so avoid last minute microwaving. The butter makes the lemon curd incredible rich and creamy also makes it more stable (thick) in texture.

For the Swiss meringue

1. Egg white: This Lemon meringue tart will be topped with Swiss meringue. Egg white is the base of any meringue. Make sure you use fresh egg whites which are absolutely free from any sort of fat (e.g. egg yolk). If you get some egg yolk into the egg white, start again. Believe me, you can’t make a successful meringue with that batch unfortunately
2. Sugar: There are a couple of important notes regarding the sugar
   • No.1. If you have tried any of my recipes before you must have realized that I am not using an excessive amount of sugar. Instead, I am all about balancing flavours and let them shy. However, in the case of this recipe, we need a lot of sugar to keep the structure of the meringue. Sugar in this case is not really a sweetener but more like a glue, if it makes sense?
   • No.2. There are a few ways to prepare the meringue. I have a French meringue based pavlova recipe in which case you whisk egg whites while gradually adding the sugar. In case of French meringue technique, strictly superfine sugar is used that has smaller crystals than regular granulated sugar and therefore dissolves quickly while beating up the egg white into the meringue.
   • No.3. In this recipe, I am using Swiss meringue technique which means that I heat egg whites and sugar over a gently simmering water bath until sugar fully dissolves then remove the mixture from the water bath and beat until stiff, shiny peaks. This method does not require superfine sugar, granulated is totally fine. If you have always struggled with French meringue, maybe you will find this Swiss meringue recipe easier
3. Lemon juice: Use freshly squeezed. Helps to whip up the meringue, a small amount is enough

7 Baking tips regarding the TECHNIQUE of making this Lemon meringue Tart recipe

I have a very detailed step by step tutorial including all my tricks and tips for making the perfect sweet shortcrust in here. I also happen to have a super baking guide about how to make silky, tangy lemon curd from scratch in here. Make sure you visit these articles. If you read and follow my instructions and tips I can guarantee that you will succeed making this Lemon meringue tart!

1. The importance of temperature while making Pâte Sablée, sweet shortcrust tart shells

Baking is science and in general, temperature is one of the most important factors to understand AND utilize for our benefit. When I say temperature I don’t purely mean baking temperature but also the environment we work e.g kitchen temperature as well as the dough temperature.

While making the sweet tart crust, the temperature is everything! If the dough is too hot, it’s sticky and can’t be rolled out or shaped. If too cold, it will easily break. The entire tart making process is a balancing exercise between keeping the dough cold enough but not too cold.

To give you a concrete example, in a home kitchen environment on a warmer day this practically means taking the dough in and out of the freezer about 15 times in between steps to ensure the dough is always on the right temperature to work with. If you are lucky and have a cold kitchen, you might be ok with 2-5 chilling breaks. Yes, not just to chill the dough once or twice but to be in control of the dough temperature all the time!

2. What equipment is needed to make the tart case for this Lemon meringue tart

You can only achieve neat, visually appealing, even golden colour tart crust by using professional baking equipment. Luckily these are available to purchase on Amazon not just for professionals but also for home bakers. If you want to make beautiful, patisserie style tarts it’s worth to invest into a perforated baking mat, a couple of perforated tart rings and a silicon mat.

Silicone baking mat

I recommend using 2 Silicone baking mat for rolling the shortcrust dough out in between them. The recipe is designed in a way that you do not need to add extra flour while rolling the dough however it might stick to your kitchen counter so use a silicone baking mat. It’s also possible to use 2 sheets of parchment paper however the silicone mat provides a much neater, smooth surface. It can be washed and then used all the time so overall worth the investment. I am using the “Amazon basics” cheapest version so no need to buy anything expensive.

While rolling the Pâte Sablée dough, start from the center of the disc and work your way out in all directions. Again remember, the temperature is very important. If the dough is too cold, you won´t be able to roll it out. If too warm, it will be difficult to handle and will even stick to the silicone baking mat.

Perforated baking “air” mat

The air mat is perfect for baking tart crust, éclairs or even cookies. Thanks to the holes in the mat, the heat spreads evenly throughout mats’ surface guaranteeing a perfect and even baking without blind baking. The Pâte Sablée dough won´t puff up while baking the tarts and will be super neat and even.

While baking the sweet shortcrust tart shells, use the Perforated “air” baking mat straight on top of the oven rack (so not in a baking pan) so that the air can circulate properly. I have been using Perforated “air” baking mat for more than a year now from a brand called Silikomart and loving it.

Perforated tart ring

The Perforated tart rings are non-stick and stainless, they allow homogeneous baking due to the even air circulation. It’s a a genius solution, isn’t it? Silikomart (and some other quality brands) offering the rings in various shapes and sizes, I am using a 8cm (3,14inch) diameter round version. As far as I can see there are several cheap copies of the initial Silikomart product, I am not sure though whether they are made of the same material and whether they work or not.

No need to grease the tart rings, the Pâte Sablée dough will stick to its side providing a very neat looking beautiful tart shell. I have been using my Perforated tart ring for over a year and it’s the best investment I have ever made.

I can not recommend it enough, it’s really one of those tools you have to invest in once and then will change your baking experience forever!

3. Process of making sweet shortcrust pastry case

Now that we covered the most important factors you have to bear in mind while making Pâte Sablée, let´s see how exactly to make sweet shortcrust for this Lemon meringue tart

• Make sure all ingredients are measured with Digital scale and prepare all the tools ahead:Rolling pin, Silicone baking mat, Perforated “air” baking mat, Perforated tart ring
• Place the measured butter cubes into the freezer for 5-10 minutes
• Sift together dry ingredients; flour, icing sugar, almond, salt, mix so they are combined properly
• Add very cold butter cubes to dry ingredients and rub the mixture between your hands until it becomes a sand like consistency. This will take about 3 minutes, make sure you do not spend too much time with this step as butter can easily warm up and that is something we want to avoid
• Add egg into the mixture and mix with your hands just until the dough comes together. First it might look crumbly but do not add more wet or dry ingredients to the recipe instead gently knead the dough with the palm of your hand for a minute or two (do not over knead and do not use mixer) just until the dough becomes smooth
• If the dough is too warm and sticky, place it into the fridge for 10-15 minutes first. Otherwise continue with rolling the dough out into 2mm thickness between two Silicone baking mat. The recipe quantity is designed in a way that once you roll the dough out it will reach the silicone baking mat from edge to edge
• Place the dough into the freezer for 10-15 min in between the two Silicone baking mat. Do not remove the mat at this point as the dough might stick to the mat while it is warm and it would break the dough
• Prepare your oven rack with the Perforated “air” baking mat and Perforated tart rings on top
• Take the dough sheet out from the freezer, remove the top of the silicone mat, and using one of the Perforated tart rings, cut out 8 circles – this will be the bottom of your tart crust. Carefully move the dough circles with the help of an Offset spatula and place them into the rings one by one
• If at any point the dough gets too warm to work with, pop it back into the freezer for 5 minutes. You might need take the dough in and out of the freezer a lot of times but that is fine, don´t try to force the dough while it is warm. It is extremely important to work with a dough which is cold enough to be able to handle (so not sticky) but not too cold which would result in breaking it
• Cut 8 long stripes out of the dough, this will be the side of the tart
• Carefully place the stripes into the ring one by one. Press each stripe onto the side of the rings so it sticks to it. Again make sure you work with a dough that is cold enough but not frozen as that would make impossible to place it into the tart ring without breaking it
• Place the Perforated tart ring with the pastry dough in them into the freezer for 1 hour
• Pre-heat oven to 160C / 320F
• After 1 hour take the pastry dough with the rings on them out and trim them with a sharp knife
• Bake for 20 min then carefully remove the rings. Once you take the tarts out of the oven wait for a minute or two for the pastry to somewhat contract within the ring then you will be able to easily remove the rings. If ring seems to stuck onto your pastry it means probably you will need to bake it for a few more minutes
• Once tart rings are removed, bake the tart cases for another few minutes. The tarts will be ready baked already after a few minutes however if you wish to bake it until golden brown then bake it for another 10 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet if necessary
• Let them cool on the Perforated “air” baking mat before filling them with lemon curd and turning them into delicious Lemon meringue tarts

4. How to make the lemon curd filling

Making the lemon curd filling for this Lemon meringue tart is extremely easy and quick! It also tastes amazing and perfectly balanced with the sweet Swiss meringue that is added on top…and you will need only 4 ingredients. Make sure you read my Ultimate Lemon curd recipe in here.

• Place lemon juice, egg yolk and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (double boiler) and cook the curd over medium-high heat whisking constantly. Whisking is important to avoid egg yolks from curdling
• After about 8-10 minutes the mixture starts to thicken like custard. I find the temperature at this stage is around 80C/176C
• Remove curd from the heat, and to be on the safe side, pour the cooked curd through a sieve so you will get rid of any potential egg bits in there
• With a rubber spatula mix in room temperature butter in small cubes one by one. Make sure that each cube of butter is fully incorporated before adding the next. If you have a blender, blend butter into curd, if not, make sure you fully incorporate it with your spatula
• Fold the zest in. Make sure you won´t leave the zest out, it will give so much flavour!
• Pour curd into a shallow container (so it will cool quicker) and place plastic wrap directly on top so it is touching the top of the curd. (This prevents skin forming on top.) The curd will continue to thicken as it cools in the fridge
• Use it to fill your tart cases once lightly cool. No need to wait until it fully set but they should not be warm

5. How to make Swiss meringue

You will have to make Swiss meringue to top your Lemon meringue tarts! Making Swiss meringue might look super simple - since only it is made of 2 ingredients only - but it is actually quite technical so make sure you read my tips below.

Use fresh egg white that is absolutely free from any sort of fat (e.g. egg yolk). If you get some egg yolk into the egg white in the process of separating, start again.

First prepare your double boiler and heat egg white and sugar until sugar fully dissolves, this will take about 5 minutes and the meringue reaches about 70C / 158F. Check the mixture between your fingers and it is ready if it feels smooth without sugar crystal.

Move egg white sugar mixture into your mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and start whipping it. While whipping egg white start on low speed then increase gradually. Add in lemon juice after whipping the mixture for about a minute. I recommend using a Stand mixer for this recipe, with a hand mixer it can take way too long to reach the desired consistency. Whipping meringue in Stand mixer  takes about 5-10 minutes.

Speaking about consistency is very important that you whip egg white until stiff, shiny peaks since you will need to pipe or spoon the meringue and that requires stable consistency. But, it is also possible to over whip the meringue resulting in unpleasant, somewhat deflated, sticky texture so make sure you stop whipping the meringue once it reaches a nice fluffy pipeable consistency.

6. How to assemble this Lemon meringue tart

First, you will make the tart shells then you have to let them cool before filling. Next, make the lemon curd filling and let is come to room temp before using.

The assemble process is rather simple

1. Fill each tart case with lemon curd up to the edge
2. Let the tarts set in the fridge for min 4 hours
3. Make the Swiss meringue as stated in the recipe
4. Pipe or spoon Swiss meringue on top of the tart. There are several ways you can place the Swiss meringue on top, this one below is just one way of doing it, you can also pipe it with a round nozzle tip

Voila, your Lemon meringue tarts are ready! Want to further decorate it? See my tips below!

7. How to decorate these Lemon meringue tarts

Now decoration is totally optional, your Lemon meringue tarts will be super delicious and pretty even without further decorating them.

The decoration I was choosing this time is meringue crumb and chocolate disk.

How to make meringue crumb?

Prepare Swiss meringue as per recipe, colour it to yellow then pipe a few meringue disks onto parchment papaer and bake it in 90C / 194F for 1-2h depending on the size of the meringue disks. Please check my Christmas tree tutorial in here to learn more about how to bake Swiss meringue.

Once yellow meringue disks are baked, crash them just like making biscuit crumb for cheesecake.

How to make chocolate disk decoration?

Chocolate disks can really take desserts to the next level, you can colour them with oil based food colouring (water based does not work with chocolate) or paint it with gold dust etc. Once you melt and temper chocolate you can cut chocolate out of it in all sorts of shapes and sizes. For this Lemon meringue tart decoration I decided to go with small circles. I have a detailed tutorial about how to make chocolate disk in my Hazelnut tart recipe in here.

Some more Tart recipe ideas to try

Creamy Raspberry tart – This Raspberry tart recipe is an ideal balance between buttery, melt in your mouth shortcrust pastry and silky raspberry ganache with full of natural raspberry flavour. One of the easiest most delicious tartlets ever! Recipe in here

Triple Hazelnut nut with gold chocolate disk decoration – This Triple hazelnut tart recipe is a dream for hazelnut lovers but what makes it even more special is the gold chocolate disk decoration melted on top! Contrasting layers of melt in your mouth hazelnut Pâte Sablée tartlet shell, silky hazelnut ganache, crunchy hazelnut .. a super complex dessert experience that is much easier to make than it might look, try it! Recipe in here

Strawberry Pistachio tart – This Strawberry Pistachio tart consist of Pâte Sablée sweet shortcrust pastry filled with silky Pistachio ganache and topped with delicious fresh strawberries. Beautiful contrast of rich and nutty Pistachio ganache and refreshing fruit in a buttery, sweet but not too sweet melt in the mouth pastry shell. Recipe in here

Fig Frangipane tart – Pâte Sablée (sweet shortcrust) filled with a incredible delicious, easy almond cream (frangipane) and a slice of fig is what makes this tart a truly amazing autumn recipe! The Franginape tarts are sweet, fruity and nutty at the same time, you will love them! Recipe in here

Caramelized banana & Caramel tart – This is the perfect easy yet fancy dessert you can make at home and impress everyone ! The tart has 3 elements: Home made Pâte Sablée (sweet shortcrust) tart shell, 5 minutes caramelized banana layer, super quick and easy 3 ingredients caramel layer on top. Recipe in here

Passion fruit & Chocolate tart – If you have not tried pairing passion fruit and chocolate before, you are missing out, they are truly match made in heaven! Silky & rich chocolate ganache meets floral & tropical yet tangy passion fruit curd in this Chocolate Pâte Sablée tart shell! Recipe in here

Salted caramel & Chocolate tart – This Salted caramel chocolate tart is one of my favourite tarts ever! Salted caramel and Chocolate are match made in heaven… It just tastes phenomenal as the buttery caramel with slight salty kick meets the silky chocolate ganache! Recipe in here

Coffee tart - This Coffee Tart or Mocha tart recipe is a dream for coffee lovers! Pâte Sablée filled with silky Coffee ganache and decorated with cream that makes it effectively a Cappuccino Tart. Once the Pâte tart shells baked, it is a super easy and quick recipe, the coffee ganache is literally 3 ingredients! Recipe in here

Stawberry Custart tart - This Strawberry Cream tart with Vanilla Custard is the creamiest, most amazing tartlet to make when strawberries in season. The Strawberry Cream tart consist of a Pâte Sablée shortcrust pastry filled with silky vanilla custard (pastry cream), topped with a super easy whipped cream and strawberries. Recipe in here