When you’re in need of a dessert that delivers on both appearance and flavor, this Raspberry Lemon Tart is it! A crisp, buttery sugar cookie crust gets flooded with a layer of honey lemon curd followed by a fresh raspberry purée. Each bite of this gorgeous raspberry tart strikes the perfect balance between sweet and tart.
How to Make a Tart Crust
- Pulse dry ingredients together, scatter butter over top and pulse until a coarse meal is formed. Add yolk and cream mixture and pulse until a dough comes together.
- Turn dough out onto a work surface
- Form dough into a disk and wrap tightly with plastic wrap; chill 1 hour.
- Roll dough out then press into bottom of pan and up sides; freeze until form, about 30 minutes.
- Blind bake crust until starting to brown and dry to the touch. To blind bake, line the unbaked tart crust with foil, fill with baking weights (or beans) and bake.
How to Lemon Curd
- Use fresh lemon juice and zest
It’s absolutely necessary to use fresh lemon juice. The fresh tart flavor is incomparable to the bottled stuff. It’s also important to use fresh lemon zest—yes, ¼ cup is the correct amount. You’ll strain it out before serving, so don’t worry, you won’t be picking zest out of your teeth. - Cook the Lemon Curd
Whisk yolks, egg, honey, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt together in a saucepan until smooth. Cook lemon curd mixture over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until mixture has reached 165-degrees and mixture has thickened, this should take 5 to 8 minutes. Using an instant-read thermometer takes all the guesswork out of making lemon curd (and candy, meat, fish, etc.) This is my all-time favorite instant-read thermometer. - Remove from heat and stir in the butter
Remove saucepan from heat and stir in butter until melted. The butter is important for adding flavor and creating a silky smooth texture. Be sure to use unsalted butter! - Strain the curd
This step is important for two reasons. First, it strains out all of the zest we added at the beginning. And secondly, it acts as a failsafe by straining out any specks of cooked egg (occurs when the mixture is heated too quickly without being agitated or stirred). - Stir in the cream
Adding just a splash of cream creates a silky smooth, luscious curd. The addition of cream to homemade lemon curd is not traditional and can easily be left out but it is delicious.
How to Make the Raspberry Layer
- Process the fresh raspberries
Process the raspberries in a food processor until puréed. This will take about 1 minute. - Strain the raspberries
Pass the raspberry purée through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. This is important for creating a perfectly smooth raspberry layer! - Cook the raspberry purée
Add the strained raspberry purée to a small saucepan. Whisk in the honey, cornstarch slurry, and pinch of salt. Cook the mixture until it has thickened and reaches 170ºF. This will take about 5 minutes. - Cool the raspberry mixture
Allow the raspberry mixture to cool to 130ºF before pouring over the lemon curd layer. This is important for creating even layers—if you pour it over piping hot, you risk displacing some of the lemon curd layer.
Tips for Making the Perfect Raspberry Lemon Tart
- Be sure to use a 9-inch round tart pan. If you use a smaller pan you’ll end up having too much filling, and if you use a larger pan you won’t have enough filling.
- Use eggs labeled as “large.” This is essential as it will determine how much lemon curd you end up with.
- Make sure you strain the lemon curd before pouring it into the tart. This will strain out the bits of lemon zest. The zest has already imparted all of its flavor into the curd and by straining it you’ll get a super smooth curd.
More Tart Recipes to Try
Our Blueberry Lemon Tart is what inspired this recipe! If you love this one, you’ll also love our Lemon Rhubarb Tart!
For something a but less time-intensive, try our Fresh Fruit Tart with mascarpone filling. Easy and stunning!
Looking for a classic? Our Classic Lemon Tart is SO GOOD. It’s a classic for a reason.
During the holidays, try your hand at our Cranberry Curd Tart or a delicious Pear Almond Tart.
And for something super simple but very fun, try our Viral Upside Down Puff Pastry Tarts!
Raspberry Lemon Tart Recipe
Description
When you're in need of a dessert that delivers on both appearance and flavor, this Raspberry Lemon Tart is it! A crisp, buttery sugar cookie crust gets flooded with a layer of honey lemon curd followed by a fresh raspberry purée. Each bite of this gorgeous raspberry tart strikes the perfect balance between sweet and tart.
Ingredients
Tart Crust
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups (158g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (66g) confectioners' sugar*
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes and chilled
Fillings
- ¼ cup lemon zest + ½ cup juice (from 4 lemons)
- 1 large egg + 5 large yolks
- ⅔ cup honey, divided
- Kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces and chilled
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 10 ounces fresh raspberries (~2 cups)
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- pinch salt
Instructions
Tart Crust
- Whisk 1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoon cream, and ½ teaspoon vanilla together in bowl. Process 1 ¼ cups (158g) flour, ½ cup (66g) confectioners' sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt in food processor until combined, about 5 seconds. Scatter 8 tablespoons chilled butter over top and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, about 15 pulses. With process running, add egg yolk mixture and process until dough just comes together, about 12 seconds.
- Form dough into 6-inch disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 4 days.
- Let chilled dough sit on counter to soften slightly, about 10 minutes. Roll dough into 11-inch circle on lightly floured counter. Loosely roll dough around rolling pin and gently unroll it onto 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom, letting excess dough hang over edge. Ease dough into pan by gently lifting edge of dough with your hand while pressing into corners and fluted sides of pan with your other hand. Run rolling pin over top of pan to remove any excess dough.
- Wrap dough-lined pan loosely in plastic, place on large plate, and freeze until dough is chilled and firm, about 30 minutes.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375ºF. Set dough-lined tart pan on baking sheet, line with double layer of aluminum foil, covering edges to prevent burning, and fill with pie weights.
- Bake until crust is golden brown and set, about 30 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Remove weights and foil and let crust cool.
Fillings
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and reduce oven heat to 350ºF.
- Measure out 1 tablespoon lemon juice and set aside.
- Whisk remaining 7 tablespoons lemon juice, ¼ cup lemon zest, 1 egg, 5 yolks, ⅓ cup honey, and pinch salt in medium saucepan until smooth. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with rubber spatula, until mixture thickens slightly and registers 165ºF, about 5 minutes.
- Off heat, whisk in 4 tablespoons chilled butter until melted. Strain lemon curd through fine-mesh strainer into bowl, then gently stir in 2 tablespoons cream with rubber spatula.
- Pour warm lemon curd into cooled tart crust. Set tart on baking sheet and bake until filling is shiny and opaque and center jiggles slightly when shaken, 10–12 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Transfer tart with baking sheet to wire rack and let cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, process 10 ounces (2 cups) raspberries in a food processor until smooth, about 2 minutes. Strain purée through clean fine-mesh strainer into medium saucepan, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids.
- Whisk in remaining ⅓ cup honey and ⅛ teaspoon salt. Whisk together 3 tablespoons cornstarch with reserved 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl, then whisk into strained raspberry mixture. Bring to simmer over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, and cook until thickened and registers 170ºF, about 5 minutes.
- Allow raspberry mixture to cool in pan to 130ºF, about 5 minutes; whisking occasionally.
- Pour slightly cooled raspberry mixture evenly over cooled lemon filling. Spread into an even layer, then refrigerate until raspberry layer is set and shiny, about 2 hours.
- To serve, remove outer ring of tart pan, slide thin metal spatula between tart and tart pan bottom, and carefully slide tart onto serving platter or cutting board. Cut into wedges and enjoy.
Video
Notes
To naturally sweeten the tart crust: use sucanat or coconut sugar. Use ¼ cup sucanat or coconut sugar and grind it into a fine powder in a spice grinder. Use as directed in the recipe. If you use coconut sugar the crust will come out darker and slightly less sweet.
Egg sizes: The size of your eggs matter! This recipe was developed using eggs labeled and sold as Large. If you use smaller eggs your filling yield will be shy of what you need for a 9-inch tart. If you use too large of eggs, you will have too much filling and the flavors will be slightly dulled. As a reference: 1 large egg = 50 grams (without shell).
Dough Make Ahead Tip 1: Dough can be wrapped tightly in plastic and refrigerated for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 1 month. If frozen, let dough thaw completely on counter before rolling
Dough Make Ahead Tip 2: Dough-lined tart pan can be wrapped tightly in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.
If you’re using this tart crust recipe for a different tart that calls for a fully-cooked tart crust continue baking, uncovered, for an additional 5-10 minutes until deeply golden brown.
Nutrition
Serving: 1sliceCalories: 450kcalCarbohydrates: 51gProtein: 6gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 13gSodium: 150mgFiber: 2gSugar: 30g
Like this? Leave a comment below!I love hearing from you and I want to hear how it went with this recipe! Leave a comment and rating below, then share on social media @zestfulkitchen and #zestfulkitchen!
Love the idea, but no part of this recipe worked right for me. The crust was way too soft and melted as I tried to roll it out, the lemon curd was too sweet, and everything took much longer to cool than listed in the recipe. If I made this again, I’d use separate recipes for each part. Not sure if it’s user error, but I had a hard time getting this to work.
Hey Amelia,
I’m sorry to hear the timing seemed to take longer for you and that the crust was too soft when rolling out. The type of butter could be part of the issue there. I use standard American butter. Cultured butter is creamier and can impact the crust a bit. Just a thought! As for the lemon curd, I’m sorry to hear you thought it was too sweet! You can always decrease the amount to reach your preferred sweetness but I find 1/3 cup achieves that perfect sweet-tart balance. One last thing I want to note, the tart crust can be warm when you pour the lemon curd in it and the lemon curd layer can be warm when you pour the raspberry layer on top. The final chill time is the most important and does take a bit of time.
The raspberry filling did not set despite chilling overnight. Any tips on how to prevent that problem? I have a yummy lemon tart covered in yummy raspberry soup.
Oh no! I went back and looked at my testing notes and over the course of multiple tests found the importance of using enough cornstarch (though not too much to where it’s rubbery) and cooking the mixture to activate the cornstarch. So amount of cornstarch used and cooking seems to be the culprit here.
To fix the issue now, I would gently try to scoop off the raspberry layer and cook it on the stove top again with a bit more cornstarch (2 more tablespoons) and cook it to the recommended temperature of 170ºF.
I’m sorry to hear this didn’t come out correctly! I tested this multiple time to hone in on the correct cornstarch amount and cook time.