Keto lemon tart features a tender almond flour crust with a sweet lemon mascarpone filling and sugar free lemon curd. It’s a heavenly low carb treat for lemon lovers.
As the warm weather approaches, nothing is more tasty than this keto lemon tart. It has a bright, fresh flavor that’s perfect for all of your spring celebrations.
I seem to be making a lot of keto pies and tarts lately. I kicked off this trend with my beloved Keto Coconut Cream Pie. And I quickly followed it up with my Rhubarb Crumble Tart.
I don’t know what it is but something about the beautiful weather has me dreaming of tender keto pie crust filled with all sorts of luscious fillings.
And if you love lemon, this is a must make dessert recipe. It’s so insanely creamy and rich, with that lemony tang you crave.
Recipe Inspiration
If you have yet to meet my easy keto lemon curd, let me introduce you. You should make good friends with it, because it’s just that good.
I’ve made several versions of keto lemon curd tart before. One of them lives in my Easy Keto Desserts cookbook and features mini individual tarts.
I’ve been meaning to make a full size version for some time now. But I decided to give this one a little twist, with two distinct lemon layers. The beautiful tub of mascarpone cheese languishing in my refrigerator was all the inspiration I needed!
How to make keto lemon tart
Read these tips to make the best keto lemon tart!
The crust
This is simply my easy keto pie crust baked in a tart pan.
- I recommend using a ceramic pan but you can use a metal tart pan if that’s all you have. Because metal heats up more efficiently, it may brown a little faster so keep your eye on it.
- Grease the pan, regardless of the material it’s made from.
- It will not seem fully baked when you remove it from the oven but will firm up as it cools.
The lemon curd
- If you are familiar with my lemon curd recipe already, you will notice that I changed the sweeteners to include a little bit of allulose or BochaSweet. This is simply to inhibit the recrystallization that happens when using erythritol based sweeteners.
- If you can’t access either of these, you can simply use powdered Swerve but do expect it to be a bit gritty after it chills.
- If you use all Allulose or BochaSweet, the filling and curd may take a lot longer to set. My first attempt had more allulose in it and it took a full 48 hours before I could properly slice the tart.
- This curd recipe uses whole eggs. It’s easier to make, and slightly lighter and fluffier from the egg whites.
- Watch it carefully. Do not walk away for even a second or you may end up with lemon flavored scrambled eggs!
- Let it cool to room temperature before adding it to the filling.
The filling
To create a two tone layered tart, I also created a lemony mascarpone filling.
- Mascarpone is a thick rich Italian style cream cheese that has a sweet taste without any sugar or sweeteners at all.
- If you don’t have mascarpone, you can use cream cheese instead. Be sure to soften it properly so you don’t get any lumps.
- Beat the sweetener in first until well combined, then beat in the lemon zest and lemon extract.
- Then add 1/2 cup of the lemon curd and beat until smooth. Spread in the tart crust.
- The filling needs to set and I recommend just popping the whole tart into the freezer to expedite this process. After the filling is set, you can spread the remaining curd over the tart and refrigerate.
Can you make Keto Lemon Tart in advance?
You sure can and in fact, I recommend it! A tart like this can take several hours to chill and set, and it’s even better after it sets for a full 24 hours.
I wouldn’t make this tart more than 2 days in advance, to keep that fresh lemony flavor.
Store any leftovers tightly wrapped in the refrigerator. I have not tried freezing this one and do suspect that freezing may affect the consistency of the lemon curd topping.
More delicious keto desserts with mascarpone
- Easy Keto Tiramisu
- Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Chantilly Berry Cake
- Mascarpone Mousse
- Sugar Free Tiramisu Semifreddo
- Mascarpone Chocolate Cake
Keto Lemon Curd Tart
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 recipe Almond Flour Pie Crust
Lemon Curd
- 3 large eggs
- 6 tbsp powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tbsp (2 tbsp) BochaSweet, or allulose
- 1/4 cup (61 g) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 4 tbsp butter, cut into 4 pieces
Filling
- 12 ounces (340.2 g) mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese), softened
- 1/4 cup (45.5 g) powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) lemon extract
- 1/2 cup (113 g) lemon curd
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 325F and lightly grease a 10-inch ceramic tart pan. (You can use a metal pan too but watch it more carefully as the crust will bake and brown faster).
- Prepare the crust as instructed, and press firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Prick all over with a fork and bake 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove and let cool completely.
Lemon Curd
- While the crust is baking, prepare the lemon curd.
- In a glass or ceramic bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sweeteners, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Whisk continuously until the mixture thickens, about 10 minutes. Watch carefully as it will thicken all of a sudden.
- Immediately remove from heat and add the butter. Let sit a few minutes to melt and then whisk until smooth and creamy. Let cool at least 15 minutes.
Filling
- In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone with the powdered sweetener until well combined. Beat in the lemon zest and lemon extract.
- Add 1/2 cup of the cooled lemon curd and beat until smooth. Spread the filling in the cooled crust. Freeze 1 hour to set.
- Spread the remaining lemon curd over the filling and chill another 3 hours to set before serving.
Nutrition
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Wonderful recipe tastes amazing
Carolyn can I use a coconut crust? avoiding almonds, due to the oxylates.
It won’t be as good but you could do sunflower seed or another nut.
Can I bake the crust today, then prepare the tart tomorrow? I have already made the curd.
TY,
Lynnita
Can this lemon curd cheesecake be made in a square or rectangular pan? I need to be able to cut it into bite size pieces for more than 8 servings?
I am sure it can but you will need to figure out the adjustments. 🙂
Made this today and it turned out delicious! I used vanilla instead of Lemon extract because I didn’t have that. But it was so good. I had made a double batch of lemon curd last night, so now I have to find something else to use that for as well. Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes. You are the GOAT! Going to a writer’s retreat in Savannah in April and I plan to make several of your desserts to take and share with my writer buddies. Sometimes when I’m writing, I forget to eat, so having your recipes to fall back on helps.
This tart is delicious! It takes some work but it worth it.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Hi !!
I’ll do it wit the shortbread cookie recipe
That’s awsome 😋😋😋
Thanks for all
I made this for dessert for Easter, and it’s going to take every bit of willpower not to tuck into it before! The taste (hey, gotta lick the bowl, beater, spatula!) is to die for!
Thanks for another winner!
Hi Carolyn
This recipe for Lemon curd is different than your lemon curd recipe. Do you still recommend your stand alone lemon curd recipe?
What size tart pan was used?
The size is stated in the directions. 🙂
Delicious!!! Can’t wait to serve for dessert tonight! The lemon curd recipe was so good, I’ll make it again as a dessert cup with whipped cream. Thank you Carolyn for all your delicious recipes. Yummy!
Wondering how long the lemon curd will keep in the fridge if used on it’s own as a spread.
About 5 days.
Pie crust is in the oven. Lemon curd & filling ready to fill it.
A tip I found when using erithritol for lemon curd is to make it without the sweetener, then add it when the curd has cooled down – stops the recrystallisation
I made this and my husband and brother ranted and raved about! Especially when I told them the number of grams of carbs, fiber and protein! We topped it with some whipped cream and it was awesome! Thank you Carolyn for doing the hard work and developing delicious recipes for us! We appreciate all you do! If you haven’t purchased a cookbook, please consider doing so as we need Carolyn to continue developing low carb recipes for us!