lovely lemon and almond frangipane tart.

shopping list
♥ 340g ready to roll sweet pastry
♥ 100 caster sugar
♥ 100g unsalted butter
♥ zest of two lemons
♥ two eggs
♥ 30g plain flour
♥ 90g ground almonds
♥ eight tbsp lemon curd
♥ 30g flaked almonds
♥ icing sugar for dusting
♥ double or clotted cream





preheat the oven to 180 degrees, gas mark six.this is best served in a 9" tart tin so grab one of those, or something similar and line it with a little butter. a good tip for this is to use the butter wrapper to spread it around the tin evenly.

roll out the sweet pastry block with a little flour to prevent it from sticking to your side board. be gentle and try to do it in your first attempt as the pastry can be quite crumbly and get a little tired. if bits do break up, don't worry, just use a patchwork effect with the leftover pastry and use your thumb
to blend it in to fill the gaps, as in my picture.
ignore the lemons, they were there to make it look pretty.

to make the frangipane, beat the butter, sugar and
zest until creamy and airy. use the smallest sized side of the grater for a subtle lemon taste, with perhaps a few larger shavings for a really fresh flavour. now the next part is a little bit of a juggling act. and perhaps time to bring in your glamorous assistant/mum/unsuspecting (but also quite hungry) housemate. for best results, add the eggs one by one, beating as you go, with a spoonful of the ground almonds each time. lastly mix in the remaining ground almonds and flour. rather fiddly yes, but worth it for a really light and tasty, sponge-like filling.

now back to the tart base. the lemon curd acts in the
same way as a bakewell tart would have strawberry or
raspberry jam layer. spread lemon curd over the tart base
and spoon the frangipane on top. use the back of the spoon to spread evenly.

in fact, i haven't tried it yet but i'm sure if you could adapt this recipe with different types of jam. but don't hold me to that.

serve with whichever cream takes your fancy, slice (or don't slice) and enjoy!