Lemon cake with caramelized meringue, champagne vinegar and lemon oil

Here is an incredibly beautiful and sophisticated recipe that is perfect for ending a dinner with friends 🍾

And the best part is that it can be made in advance. You can prepare the cake the day before and just add the finishing touches in the evening.

The lemon tart is filled with a delicious homemade lemon cream filling and topped with burnt meringue, champagne vinegar and lemon oil.

Composition

Dough
230 g wheat flour
60 g powdered sugar
A pinch of salt
140 g cold butter
1 egg

Cottage cheese filling
2 eggs
2 apricots
130 g sugar
1.5 dl lemon juice
Zest of 1/2 lemon
2 teaspoons cornstarch
70 g cold butter

Apricot cream
4 pasteurized egg whites/128 g
220 g sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla powder/sugar, e.g. this one from Mette Ravn
2 teaspoons champagne vinegar

Glaze
4 teaspoons lemon oil
2 teaspoons champagne vinegar

Procedure

Start with the dough. In a bowl, mix the flour, icing sugar, and salt.

Cut the butter into small cubes and use your fingers to mix it with the other ingredients in a bowl until a mixture resembling breadcrumbs is formed.

Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add them a little at a time until the dough starts to hold together.

Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in foil or a freezer bag and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the lemon cream. In a small saucepan, combine the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and cornstarch.

Cook slowly, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens (this may take a few minutes), then remove from heat.

Cut the butter into small pieces, add it a little at a time and mix into the cream until it is creamy and smooth.

Strain into a bowl and refrigerate.

Now bake the dough. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan-forced.

Grease a cake tin (Ø24) ​​and roll out the dough to a thickness of about 0.5 cm. Place the dough in the cake tin and trim it so that it has sharp edges. Prick the dough with a fork, place a piece of baking paper in it and sprinkle rice, dried beans or similar ingredients on top to keep the dough at the bottom.

Bake the dough blind for 20 minutes, then remove the baking paper and rice/beans and bake for a further 8 minutes until dark and golden. Leave to cool completely.

Place the dough on a serving plate and spread the lemon marmalade on top. Place in the refrigerator while you prepare the meringue.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. This will take about 4-5 minutes.

Continue beating, adding 1 tablespoon of sugar every 15 seconds. This also takes about 4-5 minutes.

Then add the cornstarch, vanilla powder/sugar and champagne vinegar and beat for a few more minutes until the meringue is stiff and smooth.

Spread the meringue over the cake, making sure it is high enough, and make small indentations in the meringue into which you can pour the lemon oil and champagne vinegar.

But first, brown the meringue using a crème brûlée torch, then carefully pour a little lemon oil and champagne vinegar into the indentations.

Serve the lemon tart with a glass of demi sec sparkling wine or champagne.

Enjoy your meal! 🫶

Important information
Serving and storage: You can make the dough and lemon filling a day in advance and store them separately in the refrigerator. However, we recommend “assembling” the cake first and whipping the meringue as close to serving as possible. However, this can also be done 4-5 hours in advance.

Cold butter: It is important that the butter you use for the dough is completely cold so that the dough does not become too soft when you work it, so take it out of the fridge 5 minutes before using it.