Food

Can I be bothered with making lemon meringue tart?

By Jaci Hicken

Sep 1, 2026

Jaci Hicken, our seasoned journalist and trained chef, shares her wealth of knowledge on growing, cooking and preserving homegrown produce. This week, Jaci is starting to bake a lemon meringue tart.

This week things are returning a little bit to normal, as I’ve got myself organised enough to bake a lemon meringue pie.

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Sometimes cooking just to write about it becomes a chore; then adding the step on top of making content about it, of ‘the time you baked a...’ just adds another layer of, ‘Do I really want to do this on top of that?’

Making a lemon meringue tart is like that, putting layers on top of things: a layer of pastry, a layer of jelly, a layer of lemon curd and a layer of meringue.

Sometimes it would be easier to go to the closest bakery and point to a tart on a shelf.

And when your heart isn't really into baking, there is a good chance it won't succeed, leaving you with a lemon-flavoured dried pastry case covered with overly sweet, sticky whipped egg whites.

Anyway, less of my complaining and more tart making.

To bake a lemon meringue tart, we're revisiting two Jaci can cook columns: 1.) Bake a perfect tart case with Jaci’s guide; and 2.) Master perfect lemon curd.

There will be a couple of tweaks to the lemon curd recipe, including using mainly egg yolks (the whites will be for the meringue) and adding a sheet of gelatine.

Lemon Meringue Tart recipe

Ingredients

1 sheet of gold leaf gelatine

9 eggs

3 lemons - rind and juice

200 grams of sugar

150 grams of cream

A small jar of lemon jelly or marmalade

A sweet short crust tart case - blind baked

Method

Step 1: Cut the gelatine into small pieces and bloom in cold water while you make the lemon curd.

Bloom the gelatine. Photo by Jaci Hicken

Step 2: Separate 8 eggs, place the whites in a bowl, and refrigerate until you need them to make the meringue.

Add the 8 egg yolks, along with the whole egg, to a heat-proof bowl, along with the lemon, sugar and cream.

Now follow steps 1 to 4 in my recipe, ‘Master perfect lemon curd’ at www.riverineherald.com.au/food/master-perfect-lemon-curd

Once you finish step 4, squeeze the water out of the gelatine and whisk it into the lemon curd.

Make the lemon curd. Photo by Jaci Hicken

Step 3: Take your cooked tart case and spread lemon jelly on the bottom.

This will add a little more zing to the tart, enhancing the lemony flavour.

Step 4: Strain the lemon curd and pour into the tart case.

Be careful not to overfill the tart case, as if you do, there will not be enough room for the meringue on top, and the whole thing could go ‘thiff’.

I like to strain the lemon curd straight into the tart case, but this takes a little practice and feels a bit like you need an extra hand to pour the curd from the bowl, hold the strainer and push the curd through it all at the same time, but it can be done.

Strain the lemon curd into the tart case. Photo by Jaci Hicken

Place the filled tart in the fridge to set.

This will take a couple of hours, but like everything, slow down and leave it until tomorrow.

I promise I’ll find my heart for this lemon meringue tart and get back to it for the next time we talk, where we make Italian meringue and get the blowtorch out to cook it.

Enjoy

– Jaci

Do you have a favourite recipe or a hint for Jaci? Let her know by dropping her a line at jaci.hicken@mmg.com.au