Ok, ok, it doesn’t just happen to be vegan – I did that on purpose. Don’t worry, I haven’t turned vegan and dumped all the butter and eggs from my fridge. No, no. I made this beautiful Vegan Lemon Tart as part of a collaboration.

Once again, I’ve teamed up with a bunch of other wonderful food bloggers to create a bunch of delicious recipes. All the links will be added to the end of this post, below the recipe.

A Lemon Coconut Frangipane Tart next to a cake slicer.

The challenge was a vegan dessert. From time to time I do make vegan / gluten free / lactose free desserts for family gatherings, they aren’t my every day so this indeed was a challenge but I happen to think I passed with flying colours. Ok I may be an itsy bitsy bit biased.

A beautiful frangipane tart is one of  my favourite treats – enter this gorgeous Strawberry Frangipane Tart, my popular Baklava Frangipane Tart or these super cute Mini Blueberry Hazelnut Pies. Frangipane is a soft, cake like filling made using mostly almond meal. It’s most often cooked inside a tart shell like this with fruits or fruit curd and is totally delicious.

Slices of Lemon Coconut Frangipane Tart on white plates with forks, lemon slices and almonds scattered around.

How to make this Lemon Coconut Frangipane Tart

You’ll start with a fairly simple tart shell (vegan tart shell, in this case) that is par-baked before filling it with your homemade vegan lemon curd, followed by the frangipane. Once it’s all baked, it’s gloriously topped with whipped coconut cream which couldn’t be simpler to make.

Vegan Lemon Curd, you say?

This was possibly my biggest challenge to create as lemon curd is normally made up of a large quantity of eggs and butter. No worry, I played around with some ingredients and ended up using a combination of lemon juice sugar and corn flour to thicken. I added a little coconut milk to give it a slight creaminess (rather than the translucent curd you’ll end up with otherwise) and a pinch of turmeric for the colour.

Of course, if you aren’t vegan, feel free to use good old store bought lemon curd or make your own using this lemon curd recipe.

Click here to pin this recipe for later!

A slice of Lemon Coconut Frangipane Tart on a white plate, more in the background.

Vegan or not, this is a beautiful vegan lemon tart and the combination with coconut is just divine.

More coconut desserts

This gorgeous Lemon Coconut Frangipane Tart is a perfect coconut and almond frangipane filling on top of vegan lemon curd and inside a vegan tart shell. That's right, this lemon tart just happens to be vegan.

Vegan Lemon Tart

Yield: 10 serves
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
5 from 2 ratings
This gorgeous Vegan Lemon Tart is a perfect coconut and almond frangipane filling on top of vegan lemon curd and inside a vegan tart shell. That's right, this lemon tart just happens to be vegan.
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Ingredients

For the Pastry shell

  • 113 g  / ½ cup dairy free butter, chilled
  • 195  g  / 1 ½ cups / 6.8oz plain (all purp) flour
  • 2  tablespoons  icing (powdered / confectioners) sugar (notes)
  • 1 teaspoon cold water, if necessary

For the vegan lemon curd

  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ cup lemon juice
  • ⅛ cup corn flour (corn starch)
  • Pinch of salt
  • ⅛ cup coconut milk
  • Pinch of turmeric (for colour)

For the Frangipane Filling

  • ¼ cup plain (all purp) flour
  • ¾ cup  almond meal
  • ¾ cup dessicated (fine) coconut
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • Finely grated zest of 2 medium lemons
  • ½ cup  white sugar
  • 113 g / ½ cup dairy free butter
  • 1 tablespoon coconut milk (notes)
  • 1  teaspoon  vanilla
  • ¼ cup flaked almonds
  • 1 tablespoon shredded coconut or coconut flakes (notes)

For the coconut whipped cream

  • 400 ml / 13.5 fl oz coconut cream, cold
  • 2 tablespoons icing (powdered / confectioners) sugar (notes)

For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided

Instructions
 

First things first

  • Place the tin of coconut cream in the fridge to cool overnight.

For the tart shell

  • Line the base of an 9 inch fluted tart tin with baking paper.
  • Mix the butter, flour and sugar together with your fingertips until just combined and clumping. Grab a clump and press it together in your hand - if it clumps and holds it's good to go. You may need to add the water to get it to this stage.
  • Between two sheets of baking paper, roll out the dough to about 11 inches round. Remove the top sheet of baking paper, now quickly and confidently flip the other sheet over your tart tin so the pastry is in the tin and the baking paper is now on top. Gently remove the baking paper.
  • Press the pastry down into the corners and up against the edges of the tin. Don't worry if it crumbles around the top edge a bit, just use the bits that have fallen off and press them together around the edge until you have a complete tart shell. Roll a rolling pin across the top to cut off the overhanging dough then place in the freezer for ½ hour before proceeding.
  • Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / 160C fan forced. Sit the tart tin on a baking tray and dock the bottom with a fork (poke little holes all over). Bake for 20 minutes turning half way through.

For the vegan lemon curd

  • Mix all the curd ingredients in a medium saucepan and whisk together. Heat over medium heat, whisking regularly until it gets very thick (you should be able to see the bottom of the saucepan for a second as you drag the whisk through.
  • Keep aside ¼ cup of the curd then spread the rest into the base of the tart shell. Place the tart in the fridge while you make the frangipane.

For the frangipane filling

  • Combine the almond meal, dessiccated coconut, plain flour, baking powder and lemon zest in a bowl and set aside.
  • Beat together the sugar, butter, vanilla and coconut milk until creamy.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well to combine. Dollop the mixture in spoonfuls over the top of the lemon curd until it's completely covered (don't press it down).
  • Sprinkle over the flaked almonds and shredded coconut.
  • Bake for a further 35 minutes (turning halfway throug) until the top is golden and the frangipane is cooked.

For the coconut whipped cream (just before serving time)

  • Place a glass bowl in the fridge to cool for at least 15 minutes before starting.
  • Without shaking the tin, remove the lid and pour away the thin liquid. Tip the remaining thicker creamy part into the cold bowl and use handheld beater on high to beat the coconut milk until it looks whipped. Add the sugar and beat it through.

Notes

  1. I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (4 teaspoons worldwide)
  2. For best results you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales like these are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
Author: Marie Roffey
Course: Dessert, Sweets
Cuisine: Vegan
Have you tried this recipe?Don't forget to leave a rating and comment below and let me know how it was! I love hearing from you. Nutrition information is approximate and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use may cause variations.

 

And here are all the other links. It was so much fun to be a part of a collaboration with all of these amazing bloggers.

 

Julia of Julia Recipes  – Coconut Lime Vegan Tart

Sarah of Slice of Honey – Vegan Shortbread Cookies with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Ally of Ally Bakes – Vegan Ginger Coconut Pear Cake

Winola of The Food Escape – Vegan Banoffee Pies 

Jasmine of Jazzy B Fit – Vegan Biscoff Tiffin

Teresa of Cupcakes and Couscous – Vegan Chocolate Caramel Tart

Kathy of Holistic Hormone Help – Berry & Brie Vegan Strudel

Reka from Holy Whisk Blog – Beetroot Brownie