LEMON ELDERFLOWER TARTLETS

Makes 12 tartlets Preparation time 90 minutes, plus chilling Cooking time 1hr, 15 minutes

‘These tartlets were inspired by the flavours of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding cake’

INGREDIENTS

For the lemon meringue kisses

• 1 quantity meringue kisses (see previous page)

• Lemon extract, to taste

• Yellow food colouring paste

For the tartlet shells

• 150g/5oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

• 120g/4¼oz icing sugar, sifted

• 2 medium eggs, at room temperature

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• 300g/11oz plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting and flouring the tins

• A pinch of salt

For the lemon and elderflower custard

• 245ml/8¼fl oz freshly squeezed lemon juice and grated zest from approximately 5 lemons, strained

• 3 medium eggs

• 245g/8¼oz caster sugar

• 25g/1oz custard powder

• 100g/4oz unsalted butter, softened

• 20 drops of elderflower extract

For decoration

• Icing sugar, for dusting

• Fresh edible elderflower blossoms

• 2 tbsp popping candy

• Edible gold lustre dust

• Silver metallic sugar balls (4mm/ 1/ 8in)

1. To make the lemon meringue kisses, preheat the oven to 80°C, 175°F, Gas ¼ and line 3 baking trays with parchment. Add a drop of lemon extract to the meringue mix. Spoon 1/3 of the meringue from the batch into a piping bag fitted with a small open star nozzle – this will stay white. Mix about 1 tbsp of the remaining meringue with a drop of yellow food colour and blend together with a palette knife until all the colour specks have dispersed. Add this back into the meringue and mix in until you have an even pale yellow shade.

2. Spoon half of the yellow meringue into a piping bag fitted with a large narrow star nozzle. Spoon the rest of the yellow meringue into a piping bag with a large round nozzle.

3. Pipe the white meringue into small star meringue kisses on a prepared baking tray. Pipe the yellow meringue with the large round nozzle into small yellow round kisses on another baking tray – the bases should be about 1.5cm/just over ½in). Use the piping bag with the large narrow star to pipe larger kisses on the prepared baking tray – the bases should be just under 2cm/¾in.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour, or until the meringues can be lifted clean off the tray. Leave to cool.

5. To make the tartlet shells, grease 12 x 10cm/4in tartlet tins with butter and lightly dust with flour. Chill the tins in the fridge while you make the pastry. Put the butter and icing sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream together until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. Slowly add the flour and salt.

6. When the mix has come together, transfer the dough to a smooth, lightly floured work surface. Shape it into a ball and work it with your hands, stretching it and re-gathering it for a short while. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

7. Divide the dough into 12 even pieces and, one at a time, roll each out with a rolling pin on a surface lightly dusted with flour to a thickness of about 3mm/ 1/ 8in. Lay the pastry over the tartlet tins and gently push down the middle and sides using a small piece of dough. Trim the excess off using a kitchen knife. Prick the bases with a fork and chill for 20 minutes.

8. Preheat the oven to 190°C, 375°F, Gas 5. Bake the pastry cases in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave to cool on a wire rack, then unmould from the tins.

9. To make the lemon and elderflower custard, put the lemon juice and zest in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

10. Put the eggs and 2/3 of the sugar into a heatproof bowl and whisk together. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining sugar with the custard powder. Add the sugar and custard powder mix to the eggs and whisk until combined. Pour the boiling lemon juice into the egg mix, whisking continuously until combined, then pour everything back into the saucepan and slowly bring it back to the boil. Cook for about 5 minutes while whisking constantly.

11. When the custard has thickened, remove from the heat and transfer the custard to a bowl. Place a sugar thermometer in the custard and cover as much of the top of the custard as possible with clingfilm to prevent a skin forming. Let it cool down to 59°C, 138°F. Once cooled, add the soft butter, a little at a time, while blending the custard with a stick blender to emulsify the mixture. Add a few drops of elderflower extract to taste.

12. Use the lemon custard to fill the tartlet shells and level the tops off with a palette knife. Place in fridge to cool.

13. Decorate your tartlets shortly before serving them. Place an interlocking-circles stencil loosely on top of a tartlet and dust the gaps with icing sugar. Repeat for all of them. Place the popping candy in a bowl and sprinkle with gold lustre powder. Use a big, soft artist’s brush to coat the popping candy evenly. Scatter over the tartlets. Finally, decorate each tartlet with one of each of the meringue kisses, a small sprig of fresh edible elderflowers and silver metallic balls.