Strawberry Lemon Cheese Tart
Strawberry Lemon Cheese Tart on a buttery cocoa crust. Tart. Sweet. Creamy ... with hints of bittersweet chocolate and biscuit - Simply delightful.
Servings: 8 inch tart
Ingredients
Cocoa tart crust
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup cake flour
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 120 g cold butter, cubed (unsalted)
Cream cheese filling
- 80 g cream cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp gelatine powder (bloomed in 2 tbsp cold water)
- 2/3 cup lemon curd (for lemon curd recipe, check video below)
Topping
- Fresh strawberries
Instructions
Cocoa Tart Crust
- Lightly grease an 8 inch (20cm) round tart pan.
- In the food processor, blitz the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt for a few seconds to mix well. Add in the cold cubed butter and pulse until the pastry starts to come together and form clumps.
- Transfer the pastry to the prepared pan and using your fingers, evenly press the pastry up the sides of the tart pan and onto the bottom. Gently pierce the bottom of the crust with the tines of a fork. This is to prevent the pastry crust from puffing up while it bakes.
- Cover the tart crust with cling wrap and place it in the freezer for an hour or overnight to firm up. This helps to prevent the crust from shrinking while it bakes.
- Preheat oven to 220C (450F). Optional: Just before baking, place a piece of foil or parchment onto the frozen shell and weigh it down with some beans. If baking without weights, simply pierce the base gently with a skewer during baking should the pastry puff up. This will help to release the air that is trapped and flatten out the puffed crust.
- Place the frozen tart shell on a larger baking tray and bake the crust at the lowest rack of the oven. Bake for ~15 minutes, then remove the foil with beans and bake for another 5 minutes until golden. If baking without weights, bake for 15 minutes or until golden.
- Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cooled, un-mould from pan and chill in the fridge whilst making the filling.
Cream cheese filling
- Dissolve the gelatine well in the cold water. Set aside to bloom
- Soften cream cheese with a spatula. Once softened, add the lemon juice and heavy cream, switch to a whisk and whisk till soft and velvety.
- Microwave the bloomed gelatine for 5 seconds. Add the liquified gelatine mixture to the cream cheese and mix till just combined. The mixture will be soft and of a slightly thick pouring consistency.
Assembly
- Layer in the lemon curd unto the tart crust and spread it out evenly with a pastry brush. Next, layer in the cream cheese and spread out gently with the pastry brush till it is nicely level and fills the crust well along all the edges.
- Remove any air bubbles with a toothpick. Freeze for 40 minutes to let it set.
- In the meantime, hull the strawberries. Once the cream cheese is set, decorate with strawberries and some freshly grated lemon zest. Optional: if you like glistening strawberries, brush on some fruit jam (I used blueberry jam which I had on hand) to keep them shiny.
- Chill for at least an hour to fuse the flavors. Enjoy.
Video
Notes
If you like this recipe tutorial and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here! Thank you 😊
#1 Tart Crust
How to get this beautiful tart crust every time?
Always use COLD, COLD, COLD butter and work quickly. I used a food processor to pulse the flour, sugar and butter until it formed small clumps. The small clumps come together to form a very malleable pastry which you can work by hand to mould into the tart tin. No rolling is required.
Allow sufficient freezing time for the tart shells to firm up before baking and always bake from frozen, straight from the freezer to the hot oven. This helps the tart shell to hold its shape well during the 15 minute baking time.
I don’t blind bake this tart crust as it is stable and usually does not puff up during baking. This is because the tart pastry is poked with a fork before baking which helps to release heat during baking. Occasionally, if there is a little puffing, just poke the tart base gently with a wooden skewer to release the heat during baking. Once the trapped heat is released, the tart crust will bake intact again.
Be gentle when removing the tart shell after baking. My 8-inch non stick tart tin with removable bottom makes it easy to remove the shell well. Be extra careful handling the tart shell once un-moulded. Always use a palette knife to hold the bottom when moving the tart shell. Shortcrust pastry is quite crumbly and trust me, a chipped shell spoils even the prettiest looking tart.
This tart crust pastry is a good make ahead. Once moulded into the tart pan, it can be kept frozen in a ziplock bag or cling wrap for up to a week before use.
#2 Don’t skip the Lemon Curd
It is not common to have store-bought lemon curd in Asia. Therefore the solution is Make-Your-Own. I prefer home-made lemon curd anytime as it is fresh, tastes delicious and more importantly you control the amount of sugar that goes in.
And it’s really SIMPLE to make ..….. 4 ingredients, ~ 10 minutes on the stove and it is done! Check out my lemon curd recipe tutorial below. For full instructions, check here.
#3 Cream cheese
Soften the cream cheese by hand and do not over-whip after adding the heavy cream. Otherwise it might turn grainy and will no longer be that silky velvety beautiful luscious cheese that just sets this Strawberry Lemon Cheese Tart apart.
#4 Make ahead and storage
The tart crust can be baked ahead and frozen. Fill the tart the day before serving to allow the cheese to set and flavors to fuse nicely. Decorate with strawberries just before serving and voila, enjoy!😄
This Strawberry Lemon Cheese Tart keeps well for 2-3 days chilled in the refrigerator, although I'll betcha it will be gone before then.