Lemon Squares
This recipe makes approximately 12-14 servings
The danish lemon moon cake meets some delicious shortcrust pastry, a creamy Lemon Curd and a deliciously tart glaze and comes together in a square of lemon. It's no secret that I love lemon. And Lemon Curd. That's why Lemon Curd has crept its way into my take on an updated version of a lemon tart. However, you can leave out the Lemon Curd in this recipe and you'll still be left with a delicious lemon cake with a crispy shortcrust pastry base and a tart glaze on top
Lemon Squares
Preperation: >60 minutes Cooking time: 25-30 minutes Total: >90 minutes
Ingredients
This recipe makes approximately 12-14 servings
Lemoncurd
1 dl lemon juice + zest from half to a whole organic lemon.
2 eggs size M/L
100 g sugar
50 g butter, diced + 15 g for mounting
Shortcrust pastry
135 g light GF flour mix, e.g. Semper Fin or Red Finax.
75 g cornflour
100 g butter
50 g icing sugar
1 egg M/L
Mazarin
200 g marzipan
150 g sugar
Grated zest from 1 lemon (more or less to taste)
150 g butter (room temperature)
3 eggs M/L
50 g almond flour
50 g GF flour mix, I use Red Finax
75 g white chocolate
Frosting
200 g icing sugar
0,5 dl lemon juice, maybe a little less
Method
Lemoncurd
Finely grate the lemon zest and squeeze the lemon juice.
Place the eggs, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice in a saucepan. Whisk together. Heat the pan over low heat, stirring regularly. Keep the heat low and do not exceed 65 degrees, as you risk the egg whites turning into dull egg white lumps.
Chop the butter into cubes and store in the fridge. When the mixture reaches 65 degrees, add the butter a little at a time and stir it in. Keep a few cubes aka 15 grams. Now the curd starts to thicken - yes, this is when it starts to look like a curd and not just a yellow mass. Turn up the heat to medium and stir constantly.
When the curd reaches 80 degrees and it has thickened, turn off the heat and add the remaining butter cubes. Whisk until they are absorbed into the Curd. Strain the curd through a sieve and refrigerate it in a tightly sealed container and when it's cold, it's ready. Read more about storage and all the tips and tricks under “Lemon Curd”, which you can find under “Creams and things”
Shortcrust pastry
Mix all the ingredients. If the dough is too dry, add a little water. Press the dough into a mold lined with baking paper. My mold measures 21x21 cm. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour and bake at 180 degrees hot air for 5-7 minutes. It must be underbaked as it will also be baked with the mazarin on top.
Mazarin
Grate the marzipan coarsely. Place the marzipan, sugar, lemon zest and butter in a bowl and whisk well. Beat in both eggs one at a time. Fold in the flour and almond flour with a spatula. Finely chop the white chocolate and fold it into the batter on top of the shortbread.
Spread the Lemon Curden in a thin layer on top of the mazarine. Bake the cake for approximately 25-30 min. at 175 degrees hot air. It doesn't matter if the cake seems a bit 'unbaked' in the middle. The Lemon Curd may bubble up a little, but it will settle again when the cake cools. The Lemon Curd on top should not get too brown. Leave the cake to cool for a few minutes in the pan before removing it from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. When the cake is cold, make the icing.
Frosting
Mix the two ingredients together until smooth and apply the icing to the cold lemon square. If desired, make lines of Lemon Curd on top of the icing and draw a knife through the Curd first in one direction and then in the other direction for a nice pattern.
Tips and storage
〰️ The cake contains a huge amount of moisture and keeps well for 3-4 days in the fridge.
〰️ For a naturally gluten-free cake, you can replace with sorghum flour.
〰️ For a gluten-free cake, you can replace with wheat flour 1:1.
〰️ Add a few drops of color to the icing for the perfect lemon moon yellow color.
〰️ Read more about ”Lemon Curd” here.
