Vegan Tart au Citron (Vegan Lemon Tart)
This Vegan Tart au Citron (also known as a Vegan Lemon Tart) is the perfect dessert for lemon lovers. Get the recipe below.
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What is a Vegan Tart au Citron?
If you love citrus desserts and follow a plant based or vegan diet, you’re in for a treat! This Vegan Tart au Citron is a spin on the classic French lemon tart. It is the perfect blend of zesty lemon flavour and a creamy, luscious filling.
A traditional Tart au Citron, has a buttery crust and rich, egg-based custard filling and is a popular dessert in French patisserie. With some simple swaps you can make a delicious vegan alternative.
For this recipe I take my tried and tested vegan shortcrust pastry recipe and use it to make the tart case.
I then make a “custard” from coconut cream, sugar and lemons. You’ll find lots of recipes on the internet, set their lemon filling with cornstarch (aka corn flour) but, my husband is allergic so I have to be more creative. Instead, I set my filling with agar powder. It’s a simple way of setting fillings such as this and gives great results every time.
How to make vegan shortcrust pastry
You’ll need just 4 ingredients to make the pastry for this tart. You’ll need vegan butter, plain flour, plant milk and, because it’s a sweet pastry case, caster sugar.
To make the pastry you use the “rubbing in” method which involves rubbing the fat and flour between your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. You should only be using your finger tips – a top tip is your palms should be entirely clean when you’re finished.
To bring the big lumps of fat to the top of the bowl you can give the bowl a shake and they will all appear! You can then focus on rubbing these into the remaining flour.
The caster sugar is then added and stirred throughout the fat and flour breadcrumbs before the plant milk is added to bring the dough together. You want to add the plant milk sparingly just so that it comes together. You don’t want it to be sticky.
Once you’ve got a ball of dough it is important to chill it in the fridge. You can then roll it out and line your tart tin, blind bake and then it’s ready to fill.
How to make a vegan lemon tart filling
To make the filling, all you need to do is heat the coconut cream, caster sugar and lemon juice in a pan. Once the caster sugar has dissolved, slowly bring the mix up to a simmer. In the meantime, dissolve the agar powder in a couple of teaspoons of water.
When the mixture has just come up to a simmer, add the dissolved agar powder and cook for 2 minutes until it’s just starting to thicken.
Leave the lemon mix to cool slightly before pouring into the tart case.
Top tip
You’re going to need to chill your vegan lemon tart for a couple of hours, or overnight, to ensure it sets. Make sure you’ve left it to cool on the counter top long enough that it has already set slightly, otherwise when you move it, you risk spilling it!
Serving suggestions
This Vegan Tart au Citron has a punchy, zesty flavour. I think it’s best paired with some simple, vegan whipped cream.
The recipe
Vegan Tart au Citron (Vegan Lemon Tart)
Equipment
- 1 7 inch tart tin
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 200 g plain flour
- 100 g vegan butter
- 50 g caster sugar
- 4-6 tbsp plant milk
For the lemon filling
- 300 g coconut cream
- 3 lemons juice only
- 75 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp agar powder
- Yellow food colouring or 1 tsp turmeric
For the decoration
- 100 ml vegan cream
- Mint leaves
Instructions
To make the tart case
- Cut up the vegan butter into cubes and add to a mixing bowl along with the flour.
- Rub the vegan butter and flour between your fingertips until you have a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add the sugar followed by the plant milk, just a few tbsp at a time until the pastry comes together into a ball of dough.
- Wrap the pastry in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- While the pastry is resting, pre-heat your oven to 150C.
- Dust the work surface with flour, put the dough in the middle and sprinkle it with flour.
- Flour your rolling pin then roll out the pastry into a circle 5cm/2” larger than the quiche tin.
- Carefully lift it into the tin and push it into the corners and grooves.
- To cut off the excess pastry, roll the rolling pin over the top of the tin.
- Prick the bottom of the pasty with a fork.
- Scrunch up baking paper then place inside the pastry case. Top the baking paper with baking beans.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until beginning to go a pale golden colour.
- Remove the baking paper and baking beans and bake for another 10-15 minutes until golden and cooked through.
- Allow to cool before making the lemon filling.
To make the lemon filling
- Add the coconut cream, lemon juice and caster sugar to a pan.
- Place over a low heat and cook until the coconut cream has melted and the caster sugar has dissolved.
- Mix the agar powder with 2 tbsp of water and mix until dissolved.
- Add the dissolved agar powder to the pan along with the food colouring or turmeric if using, and stir to ensure well distributed.
- Heat on a medium heat until it comes to a simmer.
- Simmer for 2 – 3 minutes.
- Take off the heat and leave to cool slightly before pouring into the tart case.
- Leave to cool until just setting before transferring to a fridge overnight (or for roughly 6 hours) to set completely.
To decorate
- Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks.
- Using a star tipped piping nozzle pipe decorative swirls and top with the mint leaves.
- Serve chilled.
Nutrition
More tart recipes
Enjoy!