Serves
10
servings

Intro

There’s real theatre to a meringue-topped tart — those toasted, torched peaks over a sharp filling. This is a press-in crust (no rolling, no chilling and re-rolling), a smooth lemon filling, and a soft meringue swirled high and toasted. It looks like a lot of work and mostly isn’t; the meringue is the only bit that rewards a bit of care.

At a glance

  • Serves: 10–12 · 23cm tart tin(base for the scaler)
  • Prep: 30 min ·Bake: 30 min + toast ·Chill: 2 hrs
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Pillar: The Bake → Signature Bakes
  • Themes (dietary): contains gluten, dairy, egg(gluten-free option on the base)

Ingredients

Press-in crust

  • 200g digestive or oat biscuits, crushed
  • 90g unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar

Lemon filling

  • 1 × 397g tin condensed milk
  • 3 egg yolks
  • zest and juice of 3 lemons

Meringue top

  • 3 egg whites
  • 150g caster sugar
  • pinch cream of tartar

Method

  1. Heat oven to 170°C / 150°C fan / gas 3 / 325°F. Mix the crust ingredients, press firmly into a 23cm tin, and bake 10 minutes.
  2. Filling: whisk the condensed milk, yolks, lemon zest and juice until thick and smooth. Pour into the warm crust.
  3. Bake 15 minutes until just set with a slight wobble. Cool, then chill 2 hours.
  4. Meringue: whisk the whites with cream of tartar to soft peaks, add the sugar a spoon at a time to stiff, glossy peaks.
  5. Swirl the meringue high over the chilled filling and toast — blowtorch, or 3–4 minutes under a hot grill, watching closely.

Allergens & swaps

  • Contains: wheat/gluten, milk, egg.
  • Gluten-free: use gluten-free biscuits for the base — the filling and meringue are already gluten-free.

Baker’s notes

Cream of tartar stabilises the meringue so it holds its swirls. Toast just before serving so the peaks stay crisp-edged.