Blistered Meringue Lemon Tart with Raspberry Ripple

⏱ 150 min · Serves 10

A crisp butter pastry shell holding a silky, sharp lemon curd, rippled with crushed raspberries and crowned with clouds of Italian meringue torched to caramel. Sharp, sweet, and properly show-off.

Per serving: 582 kcal · 8.0g protein · 63.0g carbs · 33.0g fat

Ingredients

• For the pastry: 250g plain flour
• 150g cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 80g icing sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tbsp ice-cold water
• Pinch of salt
• For the lemon filling: 5 large eggs plus 2 yolks
• 200g caster sugar
• 150ml lemon juice (about 5 lemons)
• Zest of 3 lemons
• 150ml double cream
• 100g unsalted butter, cubed
• For the raspberry ripple: 150g raspberries
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• For the Italian meringue: 3 egg whites (about 100g)
• 200g caster sugar
• 60ml water
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• Extra raspberries and lemon zest, to finish

Method

1. Rub or blitz the flour, butter, icing sugar and salt to fine crumbs. Add the yolk and water, bring together into a dough, flatten into a disc, wrap and chill 30 minutes.
2. Roll out to 3mm and line a 23cm loose-bottomed tart tin, leaving overhang. Chill 20 minutes. Heat oven to 180C fan.
3. Line with baking paper and baking beans, blind bake 20 minutes, remove beans and bake 10 minutes more until sandy and golden. Trim the overhang with a serrated knife. Reduce oven to 130C fan.
4. Simmer the raspberries with 1 tbsp sugar for 3 minutes until jammy, then push through a sieve and cool.
5. Whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar, then add lemon juice, zest and cream. Warm gently in a pan over low heat, stirring, until just thickened (about 8 minutes) — do not boil. Off the heat, whisk in the butter, then strain.
6. Pour the curd into the warm tart shell. Dot teaspoons of raspberry puree over and swirl once with a skewer for a ripple.
7. Bake 25–30 minutes at 130C fan until set with a faint wobble in the centre. Cool completely, then chill at least 2 hours.
8. For the meringue, heat the sugar and water to 118C. Meanwhile whisk the whites with cream of tartar to soft peaks. Pour the hot syrup down the side of the bowl in a steady stream, whisking, then keep whisking 6–8 minutes until stiff, glossy and cool.
9. Pipe or swirl the meringue over the tart, leaving a rim of ripple showing. Torch with a blowtorch until deeply bronzed. Finish with fresh raspberries and lemon zest, and slice with a hot knife.