Do you love lemon bars? Like really love them enough to dive into a vat of them and call it a day? Then you’ll love this Lemon Meringue “cake” that is really more like a super lemon bar x 2. It does have a lot in common with Lemon Meringue Pie, except the topping isn’t quite as exaggerated. It’s very lemony and luscious, so enjoy!
Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup yogurt
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs (room temp)
Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, cornmeal and salt in a medium bowl. In a mixer, beat butter on low for 30 seconds, add yogurt, powdered sugar, vanilla, eggs. Scrape sides and add in flour mixture – mix about two minutes longer – just enough to combine ingredients. Wrap in plastic and chill for about 5 hours.
Grease a round cake pan and line bottom with parchment. Press dough into bottom to about 1/4 inch. Chill this for 30 minutes – pie weights will help if the dough wants to rise at all. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325.
Lemon Curd filling:
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoon lemon zest (pulsed in a food processor)
8 large eggs
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a double boiler combine sugar, lemon zest till well blended. Whisk in eggs, and continue stirring for about 5 minutes. Whisk in lemon juice, lime juice, milk and blend for about 7 minutes. It should be a creamy consistency – remove from heat and whisk in flour and salt.
Pour over crust evenly and bake for about 20 minutes, careful not to let the curd crack. Remove and cool well. Top with meringue
Meringue Topping:
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons & 2 teaspoon water
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 egg white
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and stir till bubbling, and whip 1 egg white to soft peaks.
When the sugar water starts to thicken mix it in with the egg white, avoiding the beaters – continue until you have firm peaks.
Spread over cake evenly and thinly. For added effect you can gently torch it a bit.
