Tarte au Citron

Continuing with the challenge I set myself of making each item which is set as a technical bake on the Great British Bake Off, this is what was set in the second week.  This episode was all about pastry, which is something I have always tried to avoid except in its ready-rolled form for putting on top of pies.  I have made short crust pastry before but not since I studied food technology in school, which feels like a very long time ago so this was a bit of a challenge for me.  I also don't really like lemon flavoured desserts, so an extra challenge.

As in the program, I started off by making the pastry and blind baking it, this seemed to go fine as far as I am aware, though it may have been overcooked around the edges.

I did notice however a very unfortunate crack in the edge of the base which meant that when I added the filling some of it seeped out.  This was very upsetting but it was my first time making this sort of thing and so I will let myself off.

When I had finished making the base I decided I would try and attempt to take some arty photos to go on this blog because I am trying to improve my photography, I'm not sure how well it worked but this is the result of that little experiment.  It is made up of all the ingredients used in the filling apart from the sugar.

OK so after I had baked the base, messed around taking photos and prepared the filling I had to try and pour it into the base as carefully as possible so that it didn't spill (a bit of a futile mission since the base had a crack in it anyway but never mind) and cook it for exactly the right amount of time.  Both of which I failed in if you go by the way the contestants were judged on the Great British Bake Off.  This is what my tart looked like when I had taken it out of the oven and dusted it with icing sugar.

As you can see it has all of the things wrong with it that were pointed out in the program, it has been overcooked and come away from the edges of the base, it has bubbles on the surface, there is even also a crack on the top of the tart.  It would not have got a good review from Mary and Paul if they had seen it. However, this is the first time I have ever made a tarte au citron and it tasted really good, even to me who doesn't like lemon desserts, so therefore I am pleased with my attempt.

This is a link to the recipe if you want to make it yourself http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tarte_au_citron_94480