I had the pleasure of hosting a spring baby shower for a dear friend. I wanted to make something really special for dessert. The mom-to-be loves lavender. I love lavender and Earl Grey! I’ve made a lot of cakes that combine Earl Grey, lavender, and dark chocolate but this occasion called for something lighter. So I decided on a lemon tart with a shortbread crust that I would top with an Earl Grey-lavender buttercream. First step, the crust:
I pretty much always just google “best ___” whenever I make something. Or “easy___”. I’ll check out what’s on Allrecipes. If I stumble onto something by Ina Garten I’m always intrigued because I’ve found her recipes to be foolproof and full of flavor. So, I gave her lemon tart recipe a test run. The crust was delicious and sturdy enough that it could be made a bit ahead without worrying about the filling weeping into the crust and making it soggy.
But the lemon curd had a metallic taste I didn’t like and was a little rubbery like store-bought lemon curd. So I consulted my Martha Stewart CAKES book and tried this recipe from the accompaniments section in the back of the book. There are a bazillion MS lemon curd recipes online, but this is the one in the book. And it is amazing. Tart, buttery, a pudding-like consistency that melts in your mouth. In the time since the shower I’ve made this over and over again. It’s great for filling cake layers and cupcakes and lays the base for a show-stopping lemon meringue tart.
Now for the buttercream! Earl Grey and lavender are subtle flavors that I knew would need to compliment, and not compete, with the tart lemon curd. An American buttercream would be too sweet and grainy. A Swiss Meringue Buttercream would be heavy and oily against the dense crust and buttery lemon curd. Italian Meringue Buttercream requires a candy thermometer and did I mention I was also making all these meringues?
Four kinds! Pineapple-Coconut dipped in Dark Chocolate, Rosewater-Pistacchio, Blueberry-Almond and Spicy Ginger. All from the capable base recipe from this great, newish book. Oh, and I also made a quilt.
So you can see that I obviously don’t have time for a candy thermometer.
Which is how I ended up making a German Buttercream. This is the most obscure buttercream I think. But I have no idea why. It’s amazing. It tastes like room temperature ice cream. Instead of using a meringue as a base to add butter, it uses custard. I made this ambitious version from Local Milk, steeping lavender along with the tea bags. I love the way this substitutes some of the butter out for mascarpone, the tang and texture of the mascarpone lightens the flavor and plays very nicely with the other components. It did break on me, which means it curdled into a disgusting mess, but I managed to fix it using the microwaving tip from The Brewer and The Baker. Genius! And look how pretty, I tinted the buttercream with a bit of pink and purple food dye.
I’ve made my tart in a 10″ wide pan with 2″ high sides
This was a complex dessert to put together but almost all of it could be done ahead. If you don’t want to commit to the whole thing, I recommend trying the buttercream with a simple chocolate cake or just making the lemon tart without the buttercream. You pretty much can’t go wrong with these flavor combinations.
More Tea and Tarts from Bakers Brigade:
- Mulberry Matcha Tart
- Dark Chocolate Tart With Espresso Whipped Cream
- Chocolate Tart with Tea-Candied Pink Lemons
- White-Chocolate Blueberry Buttercream
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- 12 tbsp. unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- pinch salt
- 2 eggs
- 4 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 to 3 lemons)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 16 ounces Whole milk
- 3 tablespoons Rishi Earl Grey Lavender loose tea (you can substitute 3 earl grey tea bags and 1 tablespoon of lavender buds)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup corn starch
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 16 ounces unsalted butter completely softened, room temperature
- 16 ounces mascarpone cheese room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- juice of one lemon
Ingredients
Tart Crust
Lemon Curd
Earl-Grey Lavender Buttercream
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- Mix the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Press the dough into a 10-inch-round or 9-inch-square false-bottom tart pan, making sure that the finished edge is flat. Chill until firm.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Butter 1 side of a square of aluminum foil to fit inside the chilled tart and place it, buttered side down, on the pastry. Fill with beans or rice. Bake for 20 minutes. Slowly lift the edge of the foil, if it sticks it needs to dry out more. Put back in oven and check every 2 minutes until the foil lifts off cleanly. Remove the foil and beans. Prick the tart all over with the tines of a fork, and bake again for 20 to 25 minutes more, or until lightly browned. If the edge is browning too quickly, cover it with a ring of foil or pie shield. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Whisk together eggs and yolks, then combine with sugar and lemon juice in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture coats back of a spoon, 12 to 14 minutes. Strain into a small bowl. Add butter a little at a time, stirring until smooth. Stir in lemon zest. Pour into room temperature tart shell and smooth top with an offset spatula if necessary. If you are making the lemon curd ahead of time, press parchment or plastic wrap directly on surface of curd to prevent skin from forming. Store in refrigerator for up to 2 days. Allow to come to room temp before pouring into tart shell and smoothing top with an offset spatula. Place filled tart in refrigerator until completely chilled, up to one day.
- Bring milk to a simmer in a sauce pan, add the loose tea (in a tea ball if you have it), cover, and let steep 5 minutes. Try not to let it go too long or the tea will become bitter. Give it a good stir and strain out the tea, squeezing the tea leaves to get out as much flavor as possible.
- Whisk the cornstarch, sugar, yolks, and eggs in a mixing bowl. Bring the milk to a simmer. Once the milk comes to a simmer, whisk a ladle of the hot milk into the eggs. I do about two ladles to temper the eggs and then pour the warm egg mixture into the hot milk, whisking constantly. Cook this mixture at a simmer until thick and bubbly sluggishly. Cook for a full minute to ensure the cornstarch is cooked out.
- Remove from heat and transfer to a large mixing bowl. At this point you're either going to need to cool it in the fridge or cool it in a stand mixer. The latter is faster and is what I usually do. To chill in the fridge cover the surface of the pastry cream with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely cooled. To cool in a mixer, mix constantly on medium until the bowl is room temp to the touch. It should not be at all warm. If it is, your butter and cheese will melt when you add them. And it will not be awesome. If you have put it in the fridge, mix for a few minutes on medium until creamy before proceeding.
- Once your pastry cream is cool, add the very soft butter one tablespoon at a time and then do the same with the mascarpone. Add the lemon and salt and whip to thoroughly combine. It should be smooth and creamy. At this point the frosting can be used, refrigerated, or frozen. Bring to room temp and whip until fluffy before using.
- If the buttercream breaks (becomes curdled), use the tips in the link above to fix it.
- Once filled tart is chilled, fit a pastry bag (or ziplock) with a 1M tip and fill with buttercream. Cover the top of the tart with wide rosettes, filling in any gaps with small stars. You will have leftover frosting that can be refrigerated or frozen for another use. Place frosted tart in refrigerator and chill completely. When ready to serve take the tart out of the fridge for 10 or 15 minutes.
You are a legend Jane. I want everything you make. To eat. But also as a sculpture. And I want to steal your lovely brain but that’s a different issue…..
BEAUTIFUL TART GIRL.
So amazing! Love following your baking genius to get to the end result you wanted! I would have gotten distracted making the lemon curd and just been satisfied eating it out of the bowl.
Those meringues were. so. good. The rosewater-pistachio and almond-ginger were tied for the greatest meringues I’ve ever had — the only way for me to think of breaking that tie is possibly for you to make more of them.
Dear Jane – I am quite delighted to see this baking blog. This looks incredible. I love reading your text – I am not a baker, but with your instructive and playful guidance, I just may be tempted. xo
Beautiful!!
Am going to bake this now. Yum.
Where is the recipe ?
Where is the recipe? All I see does not add up to the recipe
Hi Donna 🙂 Yes, perhaps I should go back and add an official recipe. It’s basically Ina Garten’s crust, Martha Stewart’s curd (ewww), and Local Milk’s Buttercream. They are all are clickable links in the post. Thanks for the nudge to add a printable recipe. I’ll get right on that!
I would love this recipe, looks amazing.
Hi Dianna 🙂 I will add a printable recipe soon. It’s basically Ina Garten’s crust, Martha Stewart’s curd (ewww), and Local Milk’s Buttercream. They are all are clickable links in the post. Thanks for the nudge to add a printable recipe. I’ll get right on that!
Is there any chance you have that printable recipe yet?? I’d love to try it, but sifting through which ones you used is not as easy as it looks….
I just added it today! Sorry I didn’t see your question earlier <3
Omg this looks amazing I love love all these things and can’t wait to make and see how they are together yum yum yum
Yay! Can’t wait to hear what you think <3
I found this recipe a few months ago, because my mom adores earl grey and lemon, and I wanted to bake her something nice. Her birthday was yesterday and I spent the morning making this recipe. I’m a pretty good baker, and followed the recipe to a T. After 2.5 hours, I finished and let the tart set in the fridge. Come time to eat it, it still hadn’t set. Put it in the freezer to set overnight. I pulled it out and unfroze it in the fridge, and again, come time to serve it, it was watery and a disaster. So much for the beautiful birthday dessert for my mom. I wasted 2.5 hours and a lot of money on ingredients only to have to throw all that hard work away. I’m incredibly disappointed.
Oh Jacqui, I’m so sorry to hear that this recipe didn’t work for you. I hate that! And sorry for my delayed response, I am just now seeing this comment for some reason. It sounds like perhaps your lemon curd didn’t cook quite long enough. It should thicken quite a bit before taking it off the stove. If it doesn’t thicken while cooking it will not set when refrigerated. I’m so sorry you and your mom were disappointed. I’ve been there.
holy shnikey! there are 10 eggs in this recipe, woah. Also, can I make this a day beforehand? It sounds like everything can hold if refrigerated, or?
This was beautiful! The buttercream was way too much, I had enough to make 3 tarts.
Yes, it does make quite a bit! Time for cake 🙂 If you have time, please post your picture on Pinterest <3
How long does this recipe take overall?
Sorry for the late reply! I have never made this start to finish. Instead I take breaks in between. With all the steps and cooling in between, I would plan a good 4-5 hours if you were going to make it all at once.
Just having a big problem thinking this recipe is worthy of my saving it as to me it’s an oxymoron. Lemon curd screams pairing with anything light & juicy or crispy & crunchy not another layer of sugar! Perhaps I might begin with your Lavender & Tea liquid concoction & proceed to make an anglaise Creme to drizzle on each serving.
I’m just here to warn other very amateur bakers like me before they try this recipe – this is more complicated than it looks, and very time consuming! I do not recommend just following the instructions above for the German buttercream if you don’t already have some pastry skills. These instructions do not explain what a German buttercream really is or why certain techniques are important. Go research German buttercream and watch some videos before you start, or you might end up with a curdled, gloppy brown mess that is totally unsalvageable. Also know that this tart took me about 4 hours of constant work, and that’s not counting whipping up the easier replacement buttercream I’ll have to make since this recipe was far beyond my skill level. If you’re a beginner baker with not a lot of experience, this is a half-day experiment tart to play with, not something you can rely on making to serve at Easter lunch. Learn from my mistakes and overconfidence!
This sounds more stressful than fun Elissa, I’m sorry that was your experience. The German buttercream is finicky, for sure. Hope you were able t salvage something and enjoy the fruits of your labor <3
How much food coloring did you use to achieve the color of the buttercream? Doing a trial run with weekend with this tart and hope to make it for my friend’s birthday at the end of this month 🙂 Thanks!
Just a few drops!
I have made this twice now and both times it has been a huge hit. I followed the recipe exactly as shown with no changes. Thank you :). I’ll be making it again today for our Easter brunch!
That makes me so happy, it’s one of my favorites!
I’ve made my fair share of buttercreams, but the German buttercream is AMAZING!!! Someone else mentioned this already, but the recipe makes a lot. I don’t know how well this it halves, but I would still have had plenty. It’s a good thing it’s tasty!
So glad you liked it! It really is next level and so worth the extra effort if you’re looking for something really special. Yes, this makes a LOT of butter cream. I typically put half in the freezer and use it for my next project 🙂
This looks so good! What a fun recipe to make for friends on the weekend!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?