Buttercrust Lemon Cheese Tart

One of my favorite things growing up in South Florida, was going out to the backyard and picking Myer lemons my mother squeezed into juice for lemonade, sliced to drizzle on swordfish and red snapper, and grated into zest for pies.

I saw Myer lemon trees for sale at Home Depot last week, and was reminded we are not botanically bound to regions anymore.  We can grow palm trees here in the mountains, tropical orchids in greenhouses when it's snowing outside, and lemon trees in patio pots almost anywhere.

I get a lot of requests for Lemon Cheese Tart, and quite frankly, it's one of the simplest desserts I make.  Although the original recipe was time intensive, I re-invented it a few years
ago for catering, to make it more time effective without sacrificing texture, flavor, or delight.

Now if you're truly Southern, you know Lemon Cheese Cake is white cake with lemon filling and icing, and has absolutely no cheese in it.  Lemon Cheese is actually the same thing as English Lemon Curd, and somehow when it reached the Southern United States, some Southerner, knowing cheese is made from curd, misnomered (I invented that word) Lemon Curd into Lemon Cheese.  Lemon Cheese Tart, however, does indeed have cream cheese in it.  

I was surprised to hear someone, upon tasting my Lemon Cheese Tart, say, "Oh, okay.  It's Gooey  Butter Cake with Lemon Curd on top."  I had never heard of Gooey Butter Cake, so I looked it up, and much to my surprise, it's very close. That being said, here's my re-invented easy-as-pie recipe and directions for

Buttercrust Lemon Cheese Tart

Crust
1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1 stick melted unsalted butter
1 tsp lemon zest

Filling
1 16-oz bar cream cheese, thoroughly softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp lemon zest

Lemon Curd
Lemon garnish

Allow one 16 oz bar of cream cheese to soften to room temperature in a medium bowl, an hour or two. Hint: Remove cheese from foil wrapping before softening, or you'll end up having to scrape it off the foil.
When cream cheese is softened, preheat oven to 350.

Spray well, a non-stick 11 inch spring form pan or a non-stick removable bottom tart pan.

 

In separate medium bowl, with mixing spoon by hand, mix 1 box yellow cake, 2 eggs, 1 stick melted unsalted butter, and a teaspoon or so of grated lemon zest. 

 

Continue mixing until dough leaves sides of bowl and begins to form a ball.

Place in the spring form or tart pan. 

Spray clean hands with cooking spray and gently and evenly pat dough on bottom and about 1 inch up sides of spring form pan or tart pan.

Now mix the softened cream cheese and another teaspoon lemon zest with electric beater until fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups sifted powdered sugar (I just shake it through a large strainer directly into the bowl), and beat in 2 eggs, one at the time.  Beat for another minute.  Pour over dough and spread evenly with spatula.  Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until when touched in center, it very slightly springs back.

Cool completely on rack. Carefully remove cooled tart by running an offset icing spatula around sides of pan.  Once side of pan is removed, carefully run spatula underneath the tart to separate it from the pan.  Slide onto a 12" cake board.
 

On to the curd --- if you want to make your own lemon curd, there are dozens of recipes online or you may even have grandma's recipe in your repertoire.  I used to slave over my mother's lemon curd (or what she called lemon cheese), but take it from me -- here's the easiest Lemon Curd you'll ever use:  Open one of those little jars of Lemon Curd (available next to the jellies and preserves -- Dickinson's is good), and stir it right in the jar with a knife to soften it and make it more spreadable.  Place entire contents of jar on top of cooled tart and spread evenly over filling, but not over crust.  Garnish with lemon zest and lemon curl.  Serve with whipped cream.  Refrigerate leftovers.  Voila!

For variety, I used apricot preserves instead of lemon curd on the tart on the left

If you're laughing about now and saying to yourself, some caterer -- doesn't even make it from scratch, well, been there, done that --- for years, until I realized the end result was about the same.  As I've gotten up at 4 a.m. for the last 9 years, over time, most of my recipes have been converted for ease of preparation, but never, never sacrificing flavor, texture, or presentation.  Keep in mind, the recipes I post are purely for inspiration, and you should always tweak them to your liking. An example is switching the lemon curd out for apricot preserves as seen in the photo above.  You might want to try strawberry or blueberry preserves, or apple butter, or even a pie filling.  This easy tart is awesomely delicious and versatile.  If it were not so, I would have told you.  

Now go sprinkle some confectioner's sugar around the crust for a professional finish, and no one will know how easy it was.  Shhhhhhhhh....

The End