As much as I love Bakewell Tart I also love something with a burst of citrus on your tongue. This Lemon and Marzipan Tart satisfies both of these loves. This
recipe takes you through a step by step guide to the perfect shortcrust pastry which you can then use in other recipes.
Lemon and Marzipan Tart
Ingredients
For the pastry:
225g plain flour
112g butter, cut into cubes
25g caster sugar
50ml cold water
For the filling:
100g very soft butter
100g golden caster sugar
50g ground almonds
50g self raising flour
3 eggs
zest of 1 lemon
half a teaspoon of vanilla extract
75g grated marzipan (pop the block in the freezer before grating)
3 tablespoons Lemon Curd
For the icing:
280g sifted icing sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons lemon curd
Method
To make this tart you’ll need a 10 inch loose bottomed tart tin.
Pre-heat the oven to 180c fan
To make the pastry put the flour, butter and sugar in a food processor and mix on full power until crumbly. Leave turned on and slowly add the water until the pastry forms a ball. You might not need all the water so go carefully.
Once a ball has formed, remove from the food processor and with your hands roll it into a tight ball. Wrap in cling film and pop 
it into the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
When it has chilled remove the cling film and roll out on a floured surface to a thickness just less than a £1 coin. Line the tin and prick the base with a fork.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Whilst the pastry case is baking make the sponge for the filling.
Mix together all the sponge ingredients except the marzipan and lemon curd.
Once every thing is mixed together slowly add the grated marzipan, this ensures it doesn’t clump together and is evenly spread through the mixture.
Once the pastry case has baked, removed from oven 
and turn the oven down to 160c. Spread the 3 tablespoons of lemon curd over the pastry case base, followed by the sponge mix. Return to the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.
Remove from oven and leave it in the tin until it cools completely.
Once cooled sift the icing sugar into a bowl and then slowly add the lemon juice until the icing is smooth and runny. Spread the icing evenly over the top 
of the tart. Put 3 tablespoons of lemon curd into a piping bag and pipe rings on top of the icing. The smaller the hole in the piping bag the better decorative effect you will get. I cut the hole too big on this tart and only got 3 rings of lemon curd. Then use the end of a cocktail stick or skewer to drag lines from the centre to the edge of the tart, this gives you a pretty spiders web effect.
This Lemon and Marzipan Tart serves 8-10, so cut yourself a slice now and put your feet up!
