A classic filling that is used to many classic British bakes. The sharpness from the lemons cuts through the sweetness cakes (especially cakes coated in buttercream). This recipe needs a bit of patience so that the curd does not scramble. Curds provide more of an intense flavour compared to other fillings as it uses the juice and the zest of the fruit. When the lemon zest is heated the lemon oil in the zest will be released into the curd providing a more intense flavour.
The high butter content in the recipe makes the curd more silky and smooth. This recipe contains no corn flour as I find when you make curds with corn flour it can form lumps in the curd. Many different flavour curds can be made such as lime, orange, passion fruit, raspberry, blackcurrant, ect.
This recipe will make enough lemon curd to fill a cake and even leave a bit spare which can be used to fill scones, and macarons. The curd can also be folded into whipped cream to make a light, lemony filling for profiteroles or elclairs. In addition to that the lemon curd can also be used to make a lemon meringue pie.
Ingredients:
Lemon Curd:
3 x Lemons
125g Butter
225g Caster Sugar
3 x Eggs (at room temperature)
1. Place a pan of water over the hob and heat till simmering. Zest and juice the lemons, making sure not to zest the white pith of the lemons, as this will make the curd taste bitter. Next put the butter, caster sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice in a heatproof bowl and place over the pan.
2. Stir the mixture using a wooden spoon until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Then take the bowl off the hob and add the eggs slowy. This will help to temper the eggs and also the eggs have to be at room temperature as this will reduce the chance of the eggs from scrambling.
3. Place the bowl over the simmering water and stir constantly, this will prevent the mixture from scrambling. Make sure the water in the pan of water does not boil. The mixture will start to thicken. To test if it is done you should be able to draw a lone through the curd on the back the wooden spoon. At this point take the curd off the hob.
4. Strain the mixture through a sieve to remove any lumps and leave to cool in sterilised jars. Then place in the fridge to thicken the curd up slightly.
TIP – After you zest the lemons, put the lemons in the microwave for 20 seconds. This will prevent down the cells in the lemon. By doing this you will get more juice out of your lemons.