This is the BEST Easy Vegan Lemon Tart you will ever try! It’s simple to make, doesn’t contain any eggs or dairy and tastes like a classic lemon tart!
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What makes this Easy Vegan Lemon Tart so perfect?
It’s most definitely the baked lemon filling. It’s creamy and light with a full on lemon zing.
The lemon shortcrust pastry is buttery, lightly zesty and melts in your mouth. It’s truly a fun and happy dessert which will put a smile on your face, and whoever you serve this too.
You simply can’t go wrong with a lemon tart. It’s one of the most iconic and classic bakes which is sure to brighten up any day with it’s vibrant colour and scrumptious, fresh flavour!
Say hello to the most incredible and Easy Vegan Lemon Tart!
This tart tastes exactly like a classic French ‘tarte au citron’. It has a sweet, crumbly buttery crust, along with a dash of fresh lemon zest (for added flavour) and a classic lemon filling.
This tart contains 2 steps:
Crust: The crust is basically a really simple vegan shortcrust pastry. It’s made with flour, icing sugar block butter and ice water. I wanted to incorporate as much lemon in this dessert as possible, so I added some fresh lemon zest into the crust. In this post, you’ll find the recipe for the crust, and also some helpful tips and tricks to help make the best crust! After the crust, you’ll only need to make the filling.
Lemon Filling: The lemon filling is extremely easy. There’s hardly any preparation needed. All you need to do is add all of the lemon filling ingredients into a blender, whizz up until smooth and pour directly into the tart crust. It’s as simple as that! This post includes many helpful tips and tricks so make sure to keep reading.
How to make a Vegan Lemon Tart?
What you’ll need:
Icing sugar: Try to get super fine icing sugar, as it’ll make for a ‘melt in your mouth’ crust.
Plain flour: Unlike a cake recipe, pastry doesn’t need to rise so only use plain or all purpose flour.
A bunch of fresh lemons: Use unwaxed if you can as these are vegan friendly.
Dairy-free block butter: My favourite vegan friendly block butters are ‘Naturli Vegan Block’ and Flora Plant Block Alternative’.
Ice water: Fill a glass with plain water and add a few ice cubes to it. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes before using. This makes for a simple ice water.
Coconut cream: Chill a can of full fat/premium coconut milk in the fridge overnight, turn it upside down and open. Pour out the liquid and use the thick, white cream.
Silken tofu: Don’t get this confused with ‘firm tofu’, you’ll want silken tofu as it’s creamier for these types of desserts.
Corn starch / corn flour.
Caster sugar: A fine caster sugar is perfect, don’t use brown sugar or it’ll affect the colour and overall taste of the lemon filling.
Turmeric or yellow food gel: Depending on what you have / your preference, to colour the lemon filling, you’ll want to add in a dash of ground turmeric or a drop of yellow food gel.
Make sure to ‘PIN‘ the photos below to your favourite Pinterest board.
Looking for more lemon recipes? Look no further:
Tips for the crust:
- To make the perfect pie crust, you’ll need a few things. A round loose base / pushup tart tin, grease proof paper and baking beans or rice.
- To make the pie / tart crust, you’ll need shortcrust pastry. This pastry needs to be kept cold at all times. Use the butter direct from the fridge to maintain the cool temperature.
- Ice water is also added which helps the butter firm up when you’re making the dough.
- Before using, you’ll want to wrap the dough ball in some greaseproof paper and pop it in the fridge for an hour to firm up. This is an essential step. If you miss it, your pastry might sink when baked.
- Prick the base of the pastry with a fork. This allows any heat to escape, preventing the pastry from rising when baking.
Tips for the filling:
- To get the filling mixture as smooth as possible, use a high speed blender. During blending the ingredients, scrape the sides of the blender down a few times to make sure everything is combined.
- Only use the thick part of the coconut cream (see notes* for details on how to use the coconut cream).
- Make sure the filling has baked, before removing from the oven. You want to test this by slightly wobbling the tin. If the filling moves only a little bit, it’s ready, if there is a lot of movement, it needs more time in the oven. It’s crucial you get this step right as this determines the texture of the tart. It will firm up when it’s cooled down and chilled.
- Allow the tart to chill fully before serving. If you serve while warm, the filling wont hold its shape. Chilling overnight sets the filling making for clean, precise slices / servings.
For best results, always follow the recipe ingredients, and instructions as closely as possible.
Vegan Lemon Tart
- Total Time: Overnight
- Yield: 8–10 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
The classic lemon tart has always been a staple in my house. It’s my dad’s absolute favoured dessert, which has translated itself onto me now! The buttery base, mixed with the tangy and zesty filling is always a hit! This Vegan Lemon Tart is 100% vegan and 100% delicious!
Watch the tutorial here.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the base
- 50g of icing sugar
- 250g of plain flour
- 1 lemon (zest)
- 150g of dairy-free block butter*
- 2 tablespoons of ice water
Ingredients for the filling
- 2 lemons (zest)
- 150ml of lemon juice (around 6 medium lemons)
- 185g of coconut cream*
- 250g of silken tofu*
- 50g of cornflour
- 200g of caster sugar
- 45g of dairy-free butter
- 2 teaspoons of ground turmeric or 1–2 drops of yellow food gel
Decorations
- Dairy-free whipping cream
- Fresh lemon slices
- Icing sugar (for dusting)
Instructions
Method (crust)
- Sift the icing sugar and plain flour into a medium sized mixing bowl along with the lemon zest. Stir together to combine.
- Add the cold, cubed dairy-free block butter and rub it in using your finger tips. You can also use a food processor to blitz the ingredients together until it resembles fine bread crumbs.
- Add in a tablespoon of ice water at a time and mix together until the pastry comes together into a ball. If you’re using your hands, press the mixture together and bring together with your hands.
- Wrap the ball of pastry into some greaseproof paper and place into the freezer for 10-15 minutes, until its firmed up. You want to chill the pastry, as this prevents too much shrinkage when baked.
- Once the pastry has chilled, remove it from the freezer, roll it out in-between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper. TIP: As the pastry can be sticky even when using greaseproof paper, sprinkle some plain flour on the paper before rolling the dough.
- Roll the pastry dough out thinly, and wide enough to fit inside your tart tin. You want the pastry to be a few inches bigger than the tart tin, as you’ll want some excess to hang over the edges of the tin.
- Carefully transfer the pastry into the tin, lifting it up and making sure to press it into the corners and ridges of the tin. Trim off any excess (you can use this extra pastry to decorate the top of the tart- optional ).
- Prick the base of the pastry with a fork. Place into the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up. In this time, pre-heat the oven to 180°C fan. Once the pastry is firm and cold, crinkle some greaseproof paper and place it into the tart tin making sure it covers the base and the sides. Then, fill with baking beans or rice. Crinkling the paper before adding it into the tin allows it to fill out the pastry more.
- Bake for 18 minutes, remove the paper and beans /race, than transfer back into the oven for a further 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden in colour. Once golden, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack while you make the filling.
Method (lemon filling)
- Turn down the oven to 160°C fan.
- Add all of the lemon filling ingredients into a blender and whizz up until fully combined and smooth. I use a KitchenAid Power Plus Blender. It’s best to use a high speed blender to make sure the filling is as smooth as possible. Turn off the blender half way through mixing, to scrape down the sides of the blender, then blend again until it’s smooth and creamy.
- Pour the filling directly into the pastry case. Fill the pastry case just short of the top of the edge of the pastry, as you don’t want any spillages when baking.
- Extremely carefully (as the filling is very runny), place the tart into the oven on the middle shelf, bake for around 40 minutes. The filling should be set, but will jiggle a little bit. If it still looks too wet, wobbly, pop back into the oven until fully baked. The tart will firm up as it cools and sets. Don’t over bake it though, as you risk burning the tart.
- Remove from the oven and place on to a wire rack to cool fully, before transferring into the fridge overnight to chill. Chilling overnight allows the filling to firm up, leaving you with the perfect lemon tart.
- Remove from the fridge, place on a cake stand or serving plate, decorate, slice and enjoy!
Notes
What dairy-free butter to use? My favourites are Naturli Vegan Block and Flora Plant Butter. Place the butter into the fridge for at least 6 hours before use.
What food gel to use? When it comes to colouring the filling, you’ll only want to use a food gel. Don’t use a liquid food colour as this can effect the texture of the dessert. My favourite food gel is this one.
What is silken tofu? For the filling, you want to use silken tofu, not regular tofu. Both are completely different and if you get them mixed up, the texture wont be right at all. You can find silken tofu in supermarkets and online.
Coconut cream: Chill a can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight, turn it upside down and open. Pour out the liquid and use the thick, white cream.
- Prep Time: Overnight
- Cook Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
- Category: Tarts and pies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
Would love English conversions to get it right
Author
Hello, They are already in English conversions (grams) 🙂 xx Make sure to check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post
Can this be made with gluten-free flour?
Author
Hello, it sure can! My favourite gluten-free blend is Doves farm 😀 x