Italian lemon mascarpone tart is creamy, tangy, lemony and delicious. Our friend Elle gave us this recipe and it’s one that she makes throughout the year. Elle uses a quality store bought artisan pastry which makes this super quick to put together.
War and Peace
Although the Italian lemon mascarpone tart recipe reads like war and peace with so many instructions it really is just a case of making and blind baking the pastry shell, make the filling in a food processor, then baking.
Candied Lemons
Although the candied lemon slices are optional we think they are worth the couple of minutes it takes to prepare them. They bring an extra lemon hit to the party that plays on your tongue. Also they look fabulous on the tart!
2 Minute Sour Cream Pastry
This recipe makes a beautiful short pastry that is both flaky and melt in the mouth. We find this pastry to be a great allrounder for both sweet and savoury pies.
place the cold butter and flour in a food processor blend the butter & flour mixed until it resemble breadcrumbs now add the sour cream and mix only until combined after mixing wrap & rest in fridge
What Tart Tin to use?
The original recipe for this Italian lemon mascarpone tart used a 25 cm x 2.5 cm (10 inch x 1 inch) round tart tin. We changed this to make in a rectangular tart tin 35 cm x 12 cm x 2.5 cm ( 14″ x 4 1/2″ x 1″) because of a platter we had wanted to serve the tart on for a luncheon. Using the rectangular tart tin then left us with a cup of the lemon mascarpone mixture left over. We simply baked the custard in a small ramekin and hid it for a late night treat.
rectangle tin before trimming and blind baking the original recipe was for a round tin
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Delicious
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What’s your favourite tart recipe?
We would love to hear from you in the comments below when you make this Italian lemon mascarpone tart.
Italian Lemon Mascarpone Tart
Italian lemon mascarpone tart is creamy, tangy, lemony and delicious. Quick to put together and quicker still if you use a store bought pastry.
Ingredients
pastry
- 125 ml sour cream (4 ounces)
- 250 g plain (all purpose) flour (9 ounces)
- 200 g cold butter, cubed (7 ounces)
filling
- 250 g fresh ricotta cheese (9 ounces)
- 250 g mascarpone cheese (9 ounces)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 large whole eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
- 80 mls fresh lemon juice (3 fl ounces)
lemon slices
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced into rounds
- 1/3 cup castor sugar
- 1/3 cup water
Instructions
Sour Cream Pastry
- Put the butter and flour into the bowl of a food processor, then pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the sour cream and pulse again until the dough just forms a ball.
- Form into a flat disk, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 20 mins.
- Roll dough out to fit a round tart pan 25cm x 2.5cm (10” x 1”) size tin, using a fork poke holes all over the pastry and then fit the pastry into the tin and chill again for 60 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 200c (390f ) bake not fan.
- Trim the excess pastry from the tin using a sharp knife.
Blind Bake
- Line the pastry case with a double layer of foil and fill with sugar to the top of the tin – we have found sugar to be a wonderful weight for pastries as it manages to fill into the corners and creases of pans and can be reused without loosing any of its qualities. Doubling the foil helps with lifting the sugar from the case without breaking.
- Blind bake the pastry case for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and sugar. Return to the oven for another 5 minutes or until the pastry is pale golden and the bottom is dry.
- While pastry is blind baking prepare the lemon mascarpone mixture.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 170c (340f )
Lemon filling
- place ricotta and mascarpone into a food processor and process until smooth
- add sugar, eggs and yolks, lemon rind and juice and process again
- put the tart tin on the middle oven shelf
- carefully pour the mixture into the pastry
- bake for 30 minutes or until just set
- there should be a slight wobble to the centre when you jiggle the tin
- remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin, then refrigerate still in the tart tin (mixture thickens up as it cools)
- remove from tin
- serve and enjoy!
Lemon slices
- put water and sugar into a frypan over medium heat
- cook until mixture starts to turn golden brown
- slide in lemon slices and cook for a couple of minutes then turn slices over
- cook until slices are well coated with the toffee
- remove slices and place on a sheet of baking paper to cool
- arrange slices over the top of the tart
Notes
- allow several hours in the refrigerator to cool and set.
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 531Total Fat 43gSaturated Fat 25gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 14gCholesterol 230mgSodium 369mgCarbohydrates 30gFiber 0gSugar 27gProtein 9g
Nutritional information provided here is only intended as a guide.
Cooper
Cooper like most retrievers loves soft toys and anything else he can grab, that includes socks, knickers, shoes……………………………. In the background you can see the paddocks have turned brown as the drought starts to bite even into the coastal areas of Australia.
20 comments
Can’t find the actual recipe
Hi Marg, not sure what’s happening as the problem appears to be your end. After checking our site the recipe is showing, can only suggest that perhaps your internet speed is running a little slow. Will copy the recipe here for you, don’t hesitate to contact if you have any more problems. Would love to hear how the tarts turns out for you. Jo and Jenitalian lemon mascarpone tart
Author: Recipe Winners Prep Time: 20 minutes + resting time for pastry Cook Time: 50 minutes Total Time: 70 minutes Yield: 8
DESCRIPTION
Italian lemon mascarpone tart is creamy, tangy, lemony and delicious. Quick to put together and quicker still if you use a store bought pastry.
INGREDIENTS
PASTRY
125 ml (4 ounces) sour cream
250 g (9 ounces) plain (all purpose) flour
200 g (7 ounces) cold butter, cubed
FILLING
250 g (9 ounces) fresh ricotta cheese
250 g (9 ounces) mascarpone cheese
2/3 cup sugar
2 large whole eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
80 mls (3 fl ounces) fresh lemon juice
LEMON SLICES
1 lemon, thinly sliced into rounds
1/3 cup castor sugar
1/3 cup water
INSTRUCTIONS
SOUR CREAM PASTRY
Put the butter and flour into the bowl of a food processor, then pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the sour cream and pulse again until the dough just forms a ball.
Form into a flat disk, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 20 mins.
Roll dough out to fit a round tart pan 25cm x 2.5cm (10” x 1”) size tin, using a fork poke holes all over the pastry and then fit the pastry into the tin and chill again for 60 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200c (390f ) bake not fan.
Trim the excess pastry from the tin using a sharp knife.
BLIND BAKE
Line the pastry case with a double layer of foil and fill with sugar to the top of the tin – we have found sugar to be a wonderful weight for pastries as it manages to fill into the corners and creases of pans and can be reused without loosing any of its qualities. Doubling the foil helps with lifting the sugar from the case without breaking.
Blind bake the pastry case for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and sugar. Return to the oven for another 5 minutes or until the pastry is pale golden and the bottom is dry.
While pastry is blind baking prepare the lemon mascarpone mixture.
Reduce the oven temperature to 170c (340f )
LEMON FILLING
place ricotta and mascarpone into a food processor and process until smooth
add sugar, eggs and yolks, lemon rind and juice and process again
put the tart tin on the middle oven shelf
carefully pour the mixture into the pastry
bake for 30 minutes or until just set
there should be a slight wobble to the centre when you jiggle the tin
remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin, then refrigerate still in the tart tin (mixture thickens up as it cools)
remove from tin
serve and enjoy!
LEMON SLICES
put water and sugar into a frypan over medium heat
cook until mixture starts to turn golden brown
slide in lemon slices and cook for a couple of minutes then turn slices over
cook until slices are well coated with the toffee
remove slices and place on a sheet of baking paper to cool
arrange slices over the top of the tart
NOTES
allow several hours in the refrigerator to cool and set.
Category: Baking
Method: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Very easy to make an wonderful flavours. Thank you for sharing! ?
Hi Zita, we agree this tart has wonderful flavours. Easy to make, and delicious is pretty much what we’re wanting and it delivers!. Regards, Jen and Jo
On one of your baking instructions says
“Preheat oven to 200(c) 390(f) bake no fan.”
Can you please explain this please.
Thanks
Hello Shila,
Fan forced ovens, also known as a convection ovens uses a fan to distribute the heat evenly around the food. So if you have a convection oven you will need to select ‘bake’, not the ‘fan bake’ option as this option increases the heat in the oven.
If you have a conventional oven you just set the temperature to 200c (390f).
Hope this helps , regards Jo and Jen
Wow! Those nutritional amounts seem really high to me! How did you come by them? I have never seen such high numbers for a single serving. I feel they are way off. I want to make this, but feel I could go into diabetic coma…
Hi Deborah, your diabetic coma has been averted. Occasionally we have a little gremlin that likes to shake things up and that appears to have been the problem with the nutritional chart. Now you can make the Italian lemon Mascarpone Tart safe in the knowledge that both your bloods and waistline won’t explode! Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Enjoy!
Can this be frozen? Am anxious to try it,looks so 😋
Hello Barb, we have not frozen this tart but both of us would think it would not be at its best if frozen. Regards, Jo and Jen
How would this be with lime. I have plenty limes but no lemon and tart sounds so easy to do and delicious with lemon so I’d hate to spoil it if limes weren’t suitable
Hi Rhonda, we’ve not made this recipe with limes but can’t see why lime juice wouldn’t work the same as lemon juice. Let us know how it goes. Regards, Jo and Jen
How do I remove the tart from the tart pan? The rectangular nonstick tart pan I have does not have a removable bottom (like the one pictured in your recipe). How do I careful remove the tart after baking and then chilling?
Hi Alice, we assume you’ve already baked the tart and wondering how to get it out. Obviously a removable base makes the job very easy. As you don’t have one the only way to turn the tart out is to place a sheet of baking paper onto a flat baking tray, the place the tray over over the tart and then quickly flip the tray and tart tin over then remove the tart tin and then lay your serving plate over the tart and flip the baking tray over. The baking paper helps to prevent the tart sticking. You’ll very likely end up touching the cooked filling but a light dust of confectioners (icing) sugar should hide any problems.
Please let us know how you get on. All the best Jo and Jen
I don’t have lemons on and but I do have lemon extract. Can I sub actually lemons for the extract? If so, how much ?
Hi Kira, to be honest we think you would be disappointed with the result if you used lemon extract in place of the real lemon juice. Best to grab some lemons and we know for sure you will be happy with the outcome. Jo and Jen
Can the pastry be made gluten free?
Hello Margaret, we’ve not made a gluten free pastry for this tart but we think you certainly could. Regards, Jo and Jen
I don’t have a rectangular tart pan. Can I make this in a regular circular 9 inch tart pan?
Hello, you can make it using a circular pan. Go to omnicalculator.com which is a site that recalculates recipes pans and ingredients to suit. All the best, Jo and Jen