Fruit Curd Meringue Gateaux ~ Meltingly Delicious & Elegant 

Fresh lime sponge & lime curd, or lemon sponge & lemon curd, or orange sponge & orange curd, the choice is yours ♥ They’re all equally delicious!

Whether you choose to make this torte with lemon, lime, orange, a mixture of citrus flavours, or another fresh fruit curd, it is absolutely delicious!

This elegant cake is composed of light sponge cake and meringue layers, sandwiched together with chantilly and fresh lemon curd.

This is a beautiful dessert to serve after a rich meal because the sponge cake and meringue are very light. The meringue is sandwiched onto the cake with a thick layer of rich whipped cream, which you first mix with a generous amount of freshly made lemon curd. The cake is a simple sponge cake (so no butter or leavening agent except for eggs), and it’s light as a feather.

The lemon curd is simple to make but takes a while to cook gently over a double boiler and then to cool, so if you can, prepare it a few days ahead. Otherwise, give yourself sufficient time to prepare it and allow it to cool completely before you spread it on the cream! I had just made the lemon curd and it hadn’t had time to thicken, so I spooned some around the edge of the cream before topping with the meringue to get a nice effect.

The lemon curd is an old English recipe given to me by a charming neighbor, Claire.

Other Delicious Variations

You can make many variations of this delicious dessert using other fresh fruit curds and so on (see the Notes below for a few ideas). Here’s a photo of the lime version, which I chose to decorate with fresh blueberries and mint leaves.

This photo really shows the lightness of the sponge cake. Lime zest replaces lemon zest in the cake, which I sandwiched with fresh lime curd and whipped cream. See the notes below to make lime curd.

The preparation itself is simple and not that long, except for the lemon curd. It’s the cooking and cooling times that take longest – but you can prepare all of the components of this cake ahead of time and assemble it just prior to serving, so it’s a perfect dessert for entertaining ♥

Note: I would urge you to purchase a simple kitchen scale, which will ensure your cakes and other baked goods turn out well. It’s so much more accurate to measure dry and solid ingredients by weight than by volume.  In the recipe below, the Imperial measurements are as follows: oz indicates a weight measure, and fl oz indicates a volume measure.

Meringue & Cream Lemon Torte

Sponge Cake Ingredients

4 large eggs, room temp.
110 g (4 oz) granulated sugar
110 g (4 oz) all-purpose [plain] flour
1.5 ml (1/4 tsp) salt
22.5 ml (1 1/2 Tbs) lukewarm water
zest of two lemons

Meringue Ingredients

3 large egg whites, room temp.
175 g (6 oz) granulated [or superfine] sugar
0.5 ml (1/8 tsp) cream of tartar
0.5 ml (1/8 tsp) salt
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla

Filling Ingredients

Zesty and fresh, this lemon curd is prepared from an old English recipe.

180 – 250 ml (3/4 – 1 c) lemon curd, freshly made [Claire's Zesty Lemon Curd]
250 ml (1 c) whipping [35%] cream
15 ml (1 Tbs) icing sugar

To Decorate

125 ml (1/2 c) fresh raspberries, plus more to serve separately in a pretty bowl
a few sprigs of fresh mint

Preparation

Meringue

• Start with the meringue, as it takes a little while to cook! You will find detailed intructions in my How-To Section on Making Meringues, under “Meringue: Ingredients & Techniques“.
• Using a pencil, trace a 21,5 cm [8 1/2 in] circle on a sheet of parchment paper, using a plate or cake tin as a guide.
• Line a 25,5 cm [10 in] wide baking sheet with the parchment paper, pencil-side down. Preheat the oven to 140C [275F].
• Add the salt and cream of tartar to the egg whites, then beat until frothy and soft peaks start to form.
• Gradually add the sugar in small increments, beating very well between each addition, until the meringue forms stiff peaks.
• Beat in the vanilla.
• Spoon the meringue evenly onto the circle on the parchment paper using a large spoon.
• Bake for an hour or so, checking it towards the end so that it doesn’t darken. It should be fairly firm to the touch when done.
• Remove from the oven and cool slightly before carefully peeling off the parchment paper. This method of “quick cooking” will produce a softer meringue that will have some cracks, but looks very pretty on this cake ♥ Set it on a rack and allow to cool completely.

Cake

• Preheat the oven to 180C [350F] and set the rack to the middle position.
• Lightly butter the base of a 22,5 cm [9 in] springform pan, and line the base with a disk of parchment paper. Lightly butter the paper.
• In a small bowl, mix the flour with the salt.
• In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, adding the sugar gradually, and continue beating until very pale and thick.
• Gently stir the water and lemon zest into the pale beaten egg mixture, then using a large metal spoon, fold the flour in gently using large, circular, lifting motions.
• Spoon the batter evenly into the cake tin, and bake for about 30 minutes. Check the cake 5 min. before it’s done with a wooden pick. If there are a few moist crumbs, let it bake another 2 – 3 min.  It will be lightly golden and the sides will start shrinking lightly from the edges when done.
• Remove from the baking tin and carefully peel off the parchment [you can wait a few minutes for it to cool first!]. Allow to cool completely on a cake rack.

Notes on Preparation

• Prepare the lemon curd ahead of time. If you’re in a hurry and can buy an excellent lemon curd, then use this as a substitute.
• Whip the cream till almost stiff. Add the icing sugar and vanilla and beat in. Cover and chill if not using right away, but no longer than an hour, and stir before using.

A delightful, summery dessert ♥

Just before serving:

• Place the cake on a pretty serving dish or plate. Gently mix half the lemon curd with the whipped cream [leave some streaks] and pile onto the centre of the cake, spreading it to within a cm [1/2 in] from the edge. Reserve a little for the top.
• Now spoon the remaining curd around the edges, so that it starts to fall on the cake, and top with the meringue.
• Spoon the remaining cream in the centre of the meringue, top with fresh raspberries, and decorate the edge with sprigs of fresh mint.

Ideas for other Variations:♥

• If you can’t find fresh raspberries, you can use fresh blueberries [or partially thawed frozen rasberries mixed with a little sugar and lemon zest, with just a little of the juice].
• If you want to make a lime version of this cake, replace the lemon zest with lime zest in the cake, and replace the 3 lemons by 5 limes and their zest to make the lime curd.
• You can also other flavours to the cake and use any other fruit and fruit curd you wish;  for example, add a little coconut to the cake, and use a passion fruit curd and a mixture of tropical fruit & freshly shaved coconut to decorate.
• If you’d like to make this in the winter or fall, replace the lemon curd with caramel [caramel is simple to make and divine! I explain all the steps]. Only use the zest of one lemon when making the cake, and replace the raspberries with lovely, golden, Physalis fruit.