I was originally going to make Dan Lepard’s marmalade layer cake for my birthday – it’s a cream sponge, a technique new to me which I’d wanted to try. Plus I had visions of legally being able to eat it for breakfast due to its marmalade content. But – disaaaaster, as our Craig would say – when I came to make it, I found that the bottom of the necessary cake tin was otherwise engaged in the freezer, under a raw sweet pastry shell waiting to be baked. So Nige’s Lime Tart (from The Kitchen Diaries) it was.
If I may advise: try and develop selective amnesia while baking this recipe. It will not do you, or indeed anyone eating this tart, any good whatsover to have in the back of the mind exactly how much sugar and cream is in there. Just revel in its unctuous texture, with just enough bite from the lime zest and juice to keep it fresh, and keep you coming back for more. So much fruit, it could almost be healthy.
P.S. I know the photo’s crap but you must understand I was literally poised with camera in one hand and fork in the other and aesthetic concerns came a distant second to claiming the last slice…
Lime tart
Adapted from Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries. Makes one tart, from 7 to 9 inches depending on depth.
- About 6 limes, or a combination of lemons and limes
- 6 eggs
- 250g caster sugar
- 175ml double cream
- 1 blind baked sweet rich shortcrust pastry shell
Preheat the oven to 150˚C. Put in a baking sheet to heat up.
(By the way, Nigel predicted doom and filling leakage with even small imperfections in the pastry shell, but mine had an enormous 2 inch long crack after blind baking (I’m that good at pastry) and there was no problem whatsoever – perhaps the hot baking sheet saved me?)
Juice the limes and lemons to give 180ml juice. Fork the eggs and sugar together to combine, but don’t introduce bubbles which will spoil the texture of the finished tart. Add the sugar, then the juice and the cream. Pass through a sieve into a jug, ready to pour into the tart.
Put the tart on the baking sheet in the oven and pour in the mixture (this avoids having to wobble across the kitchen juggling oven mitts and spilling filling). Bake for about 45 minutes, removing while the middle still has a little jiggle. (Avoid thinking about the effect this tart will have on your middle jiggle). Leave to cool on a rack.
N.B. I used half lemons and half limes and the tart at room temperature was pretty sharp – however, chilling it well allowed the flavours to mellow and it was absolutely perfect.
