Every year, the Relais Desserts association presents several awards during an exceptional evening: the best pastry chef award, the best up-and-coming pastry chef award, the best pastry book award and the best pastry blog award. And if I’m telling you about it today, it’s quite simply because this year I’m taking part in the last one, the award dedicated to bloggers. To take part, we were asked to create a reinvented version of the lemon tart, a classic of French pâtisserie.
It’s a dessert we’ve often seen in a “reinvented” version (I’m thinking in particular of the various baking shows, but not only). So it’s hard to be original, especially as I’m not very comfortable with this exercise of reinvention. It’s true that I really enjoy reproducing the great chefs’ recipes as faithfully as possible, and even if I sometimes make a few small variations, I still struggle to create my own desserts. One day, maybe!
Let’s get to the heart of the matter: the lemon tart. At first, I went for a tart that visually resembled the traditional one, but with a lemon sponge in addition to the pâte sucrée and a lemon cream flavoured with lemon verbena. But the result didn’t thrill me for this competition (even though the whole thing was nicely presented) and, above all, the reinvention was minimal at best. I then had the idea of reworking the lemon tart in the form of a club sandwich and with mojito flavours (it’s the season!): I keep the lemon cream and the meringue (which I didn’t want too prominent) but I bring more softness with a lemon sponge. For the crunchy side, I made a small linzer shortbread. Visually, we’re a long way from the perfectly round lemon tart, and so much the better! 🙂
Ingredients & Method
8 components · Full recipe
Lime & Mint Cream (half quantity is enough; the rest can be kept in the fridge)
Ingredients
- 150 g (5.3 oz) eggs
- 120 g (4.2 oz) sugar
- 120 g (4.2 oz) lime juice
- 65 g (2.3 oz) butter
- zest of 2 limes
- 10 g (0.4 oz) fresh mint leaves
- ½ sheet of gelatine
Method
1
Soak the gelatine in cold water.
2
Pour the lime juice into a saucepan, then add the zests and mint leaves.
3
Add the eggs and sugar, then whisk everything together.
4
Heat to 85°C / 185°F, stirring constantly. The cream will thicken. As with a crème anglaise, be careful not to exceed this temperature. If you don’t have a thermometer, here is Chef Michalak’s tip: whisk the mixture quickly, then stop. If the “whirlpool” stops immediately, the cream is at the right temperature.
5
Add the squeezed gelatine and stir.
6
Pass through a sieve to remove the zests and mint leaves. Leave to cool in a dish.
7
When the lime cream is at around 35°C / 95°F, pour it into a tall container (I use a jug). Add the butter all at once, then blend with a hand blender. The cream should be smooth and will lighten slightly in colour.
8
Pour into a wide dish for faster cooling. Cover with cling film touching the surface, leave to cool at room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Lemon Sponge
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) eggs
- 160 g (5.6 oz) sugar
- 80 g (2.8 oz) thick cream
- 40 g (1.4 oz) olive oil
- 120 g (4.2 oz) flour
- 2 g (0.1 oz) baking powder
- zest of 2 limes
Method
1
Preheat your oven to 170°C / 340°F.
2
Grease 2 square tart rings of 20 cm (7.9 in) per side (you can obviously use a different tin). Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
3
In a stand mixer bowl, whisk the sugar with the eggs and lime zests for 5 minutes. The mixture will increase in volume and become slightly frothy.
4
Add the thick cream and mix, then the sifted flour and baking powder mixture. Mix again.
5
Finally, fold in the olive oil.
6
Pour the batter into the 2 frames, making sure to distribute the same amount in each.
7
Bake for about 10–12 minutes until lightly golden.
8
Leave to cool on a rack, then lower the oven temperature to 160°C / 325°F.
Lime Linzer Shortbread
Ingredients
- 35 g (1.2 oz) icing sugar
- 20 g (0.7 oz) cornflour
- 100 g (3.5 oz) flour
- 100 g (3.5 oz) butter
- 2 g (0.1 oz) fleur de sel
- zest of 1 lime
Method
1
While the lemon sponge is in the oven, prepare the linzer shortbread.
2
Sift the icing sugar, cornflour and flour together. Add the lime zest and fleur de sel.
3
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, soften the butter, then incorporate the sifted dry ingredients and mix without overworking the dough.
4
Roll the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper, then prick with a fork. Cut into rectangles (I used 9 × 2 cm (0.8 in) rectangles).
5
Bake for about 15–20 minutes. Leave to cool on a rack.
Soaking Syrup
Ingredients
- 200 g (7.1 oz) water
- 50 g (1.8 oz) sugar
- 20 g (0.7 oz) lime juice
- zest of 1 lime
- 20 g (0.7 oz) rum
- 20 mint leaves
Method
1
In a saucepan, heat the water and sugar. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat.
2
Add the rinsed mint leaves, lime juice, lime zest and rum.
3
Brush the 2 lemon sponges with the syrup using a pastry brush.
Mojito Jelly
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) soaking syrup
- 4 g (0.1 oz) gelatine
Method
1
Soak the gelatine in cold water.
2
Take the soaking syrup and strain it if necessary (there may be small pieces of sponge).
3
Heat the required quantity of syrup, then off the heat, add the drained gelatine.
4
Leave to cool.
Assembly
Ingredients
- None
Method
1
Take the 20 cm (7.9 in) square frame.
2
Place the first square of sponge, then cover with lime and mint cream (up to 1 cm (0.4 in) thick — adjust to your preference). Smooth with a spatula to spread the cream evenly.
3
Place the second square of sponge on top and press lightly to adhere and remove any air.
4
Return to the fridge for at least 1 hour (or 30 minutes in the freezer) until the assembly is firmly set.
5
Carefully remove the frame, then cut into 4 smaller 10 cm (3.9 in) squares. Cut each of these squares in half diagonally to obtain 2 triangles.
6
Stand the triangles on their edge and brush both exposed sides with the mojito jelly.
7
Carefully press a linzer shortbread rectangle onto one side of each triangle. The other side will hold the Italian meringue.
8
Refrigerate while preparing the Italian meringue (it cannot wait — once ready, it must be piped immediately).
Rum Italian Meringue
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- 125 g (4.4 oz) sugar
- 25 g (0.9 oz) water
- 25 g (0.9 oz) rum
Method
1
Separate the whites from the yolks and leave the whites to rest at room temperature for 1 hour. Pour the whites into a stand mixer bowl.
2
Pour the sugar, water and rum into a saucepan. Heat over medium heat with a thermometer.
3
When the syrup reaches 110°C / 225°F, start beating the whites at low speed to build them up gradually while the syrup continues to heat. Then increase the mixer speed slightly.
4
When the syrup reaches 118°C / 244°F (do not exceed 120°C / 250°F), reduce the mixer speed and pour the syrup in a thin stream onto the whites. Once all the syrup has been incorporated, beat at maximum speed until the meringue cools. This may take 5–10 minutes. The meringue will not be completely cold but should be at room temperature.
5
Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a small Saint-Honoré nozzle.
Decoration
Ingredients
- fresh mint leaves
- lime zest
- mojito jelly (see above)
Method
1
Take the triangles from the fridge.
2
Pipe the Italian meringue in a zigzag pattern over the second side of each triangle.
3
Zest a lime over the meringue, then place 2 fresh mint leaves.
4
Carefully dot a few drops of mojito jelly onto the meringue.
5
Best enjoyed quickly! 🙂
Gallery
