Tags
baking, food, lemon, lemon cream, tart
The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart is the first thing I knew I had to make for a dessert buffet I co-hosted in my home for the ladies of my family.
I first made this recipe from Dorie’s Baking cookbook last year. She states in her book that it is a recipe she learned from Pierre Hermé, a renowned pastry chef in France.
You can find the recipe here at Serious Eats where Dorie gives it her highest praise.
I fell in love with it the first time I tried it.
This French Lemon Cream is similar to lemon curd but the butter is added differently here. Instead of cooking the butter with the other ingredients and letting it all thicken, the butter is added after everything else has cooked and slightly cooled. The butter is then added to the cream and mixed for several minutes in a blender. It has a wonderful light texture and a tangy lemon flavor.
While not a difficult recipe, it does take patience and a little muscle. You must whisk the lemon cream as it cooks until it reaches 180 degrees F. This can take as long as ten minutes. That’s a lot of constant whisking. Whisk, whisk, whisk, and then whisk some more!
Some previous TWD bloggers seem to have had trouble getting their cream to this temperature. The consensus seems to be that a metal bowl works best for achieving 180 degrees. The question was posed to Dorie on her blog, who replied that a temp of 165 would be fine as long as your cream had thickened (though French pastry chefs like to push it to 180 degrees). I used a metal bowl and after about 9-10 minutes I did get the cream to 180 degrees F. without any problems.
I made the lemon cream a few days in advance and filled my tart shell the morning of the party. I thought it was a great spring dessert and addition to our dessert buffet. Although I should have spent more time smoothing out the top and making it “pretty” the luscious lemon filling was extraordinary indeed!
Overall, our little Dessert Buffet Party was a success. I will share a few more of the desserts soon!
tinykitchenstories said:
A beautiful tart and a beautiful table!
Baker on the Rise said:
Thank you. I am very pleased with how the table turned out!
putneyfarm said:
Great post- nice dish…
Baker on the Rise said:
Thanks, I hope you enjoy!
Leslie Chapman said:
Looks lovely!
Baker on the Rise said:
Thank you!
Liz said:
Stunning–thanks for sharing:-)
Baker on the Rise said:
Thank you. It is a great recipe 🙂
yummychunklet said:
I haven’t made many recipes from Dorie’s Baking book, but I’ll have to try this one now!
Baker on the Rise said:
I LOVE Dorie’s Baking book. Lots and lots of wonderful recipes.
creativityorcrazy said:
Very pretty tart and table. Like how you wove the ribbon through the cake stand. Nice touch. 🙂
Baker on the Rise said:
Thanks 🙂 It was fun to put together!
Heather @ SugarDish(Me) said:
I sure do wish I’d been a part of that dessert buffet! Wowee! I love lemon dessert. The tart is beautiful!
Baker on the Rise said:
Thanks! It was so fun to serve nothing but desserts. My husband kept asking me, “do you want me to grill some food too?” I said no, the whole point was to eat lots of baked goods 🙂
thebitchybride said:
This looks divine!
Baker on the Rise said:
I think it tastes divine too!
kellysiew said:
Wow! This looks amazing! I’ve always made just the lemon curd version but I will give this a go.
Baker on the Rise said:
Absolutely! You will find the ingredients similar but the end result of the lemon cream is fabulous 🙂
hollyeatsinfrance said:
Looks excellent! I love the little pile of blueberries on top. It’s a really nice color contrast. Is the butter melted or added still solid to the curd?
Baker on the Rise said:
Thanks, the butter is still solid and added several tablespoons at a time into the blender with the cream.
Hark, Zeke said:
I MUST try this! I love any kind of lemon dessert.
Baker on the Rise said:
Please do and let me know if you like it 🙂
loavesandstitches said:
That looks good! I may have to try this one…oh! I just remembered that I have a bag of organic lemons in the fridge…
Baker on the Rise said:
Sounds like it’s time to get started on your lemon cream. You will love it!
youbettercraftaround said:
This looks delicious, will need to try it sometime soon! Thanks for sharing!
alwaysaddmorebutter said:
Wow! I totally almost made this yesterday! Weird! I was feeling like baking but then I took a nap instead. haha but now that I see how beautiful it is, I think I’m going to have to!
Lexi @ You, Me, & A World to See said:
I’ve made laminated dough before once! I stayed up all night on Mother’s Day pounding the heck out of the dough with a rolling pin to make 12 fantastic bear claws 🙂
eatwithfatjoe said:
Gorgeous!!
Paula Kelly-Bourque (@VanillaBeanBake) said:
Having a dessert buffet gathering is a wonderful idea and that tart looks amazing.
sweetleafsusie said:
The tart looks great! Do you think lime could be substituted for lemon? I’d love to try this, but I’ve always preferred lime over lemon 🙂
Baker on the Rise said:
I don’t see why not. If you try it please let me know how you like it!
claudiagiulia said:
I always make my lemon cream that way, whisking the butter in off the stove. It gives is such a light texture (but no less calories…). Your finished tart looks wonderful..
aroundtheworldin80bakes said:
beautiful!
vivilinh said:
OMG your tart looks beautiful!!!
Baker on the Rise said:
Thank you so much 🙂
Rhonda Sittig said:
I have lemons!! Have to give this a try. thank you for the post.
meanieinabottle said:
Thank you for liking my post. You have an amazing blog of baking! It’s a coincidence I was just read from my friend’s blog about the macaroons from Pierre Herme in Paris.