Lemon Custard Cake

By LoriCaputo

Ingredients

• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ lb butter, at room temperature
• Zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 2 tbs. sugar
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup butter, cut into small pieces, chilled
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 – 3 tbs. ice water

Preparation

Step 1

For the curd, whisk the eggs, and egg yolk in a double broiler over, add sugar and whip over medium heat until thick and lemon colored (10-12 minutes). Cut the butter into 8 pieces and add 1 piece at a time to the egg yolk mixture, stir until each piece melts before adding the additional butter. Add the lemon zest and juice, stirring goer the water until thick and creamy, about 4 minutes. Cool and chill 3 hours.

For the crust: combine the flour, sugar, salt, butter, and egg yolk in a food processor and pulse on and off until the mixture resemble coarse meal. With the motor on, add 2 tbs. of the ice water and process a few seconds until the dough pulls away from the sides. Add just enough of the remaining water to create an adhesive meat. Chill 1 hour.

Roll dough to a 13 inch circle and fit into a tart pan with a removable bottom. Place on a baking sheet and chill 15 minutes. Pierce and weight down the dough and bake 9 minutes. Remove weights, prick the dough again and continue to bake an additional 10 minutes or more until lightly browned. When shell cools, fill with curd.