Lemon Frangipane. This is a really nice coffee time cake to make. Goes great with a nice cup of tea! Or you can have it as a dessert, warm or cold with a squirt of whipped cream or like me, a blob of vanilla ice cream! It's really yummy! Delicious!

Lemon Frangipane. This is a really nice coffee time cake to make. Goes great with a nice cup of tea! Or you can have as a dessert, warm or cold with a squirt of whipped cream or like me, a blob of vanilla ice cream! It's really yummy! Delicious!

Lemon Frangipane. What a delicious cake this is! Or should we say tart? or maybe a cake tart!

We all like to eat a moist cake! This is actually a tart, which originated in France. There are references from as bar back as 1226, and one of the earliest recipes for this can be found in a 1674 cookbook. Unbelievable!

What is Frangipane?

Frangipane is the description used for the almond filling, which is mainly made up of, yep, you guessed it, almonds!

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There are variations to frangipane, for example, in Belgium, it is called an Almond pastry tart, usually with a striped pattern on top made up of icing.

Some recipes fill the flan case with almond and then put say a 1 cm layer of chocolate over the top.

The recipe I am showing you today is using a wonderful flavor of lemon, and the flavor of the sweet almond, combined with the sharp lemon is a delicious taste. The bite of the crispy pastry, against the soft, moist almond filling, is also a lovely texture sensation.

What pastry is used in a frangipane?

I have also made a recipe up to show you how to make your own shortcrust pastry. Of course, you can buy the shop stuff, but this recipe is easy, cheaper, and by far more tasty!

You can make little flans, but make sure you adjust the cooking times. So go on, give it a go! Try out our lemon frangipane recipe and please enjoy!

If you'd like to see our other frangipane recipes, take a look here. There are apple, cherry blueberry and orange recipes, so something for everyone!

We've even got Mini Frangipane tarts, perfect for parties!

TOP TIPS!

1. As with any pastry cases, if you are going to put a 'wet' filling in, then you will need to 'bake blind' first to stop the pastry from going soggy.

No one likes a soggy bottom! I have some instructions in a link below to help you with this if needed.

2. You can use this recipe for Gluten Free by substituting the flour in the pastry & also the filling with gluten-free flour.

What You Will Need

a flan / quiche dish 23 cm / 9 inch diameter.

Ingredients

6 oz or 170 g Shortcrust pastry. See here to make your own Shortcrust pastry.
2 Tablespoons warmed Lemon Curd. See here to make your own Lemon Curd
4 ½ oz or ½ cup or 125 g butter
½ cup or 125 g Sugar
2 eggs
1 ⅓ cups or 125 g ground almonds
2 ½ Tablespoons All purpose / Plain Flour. (if you don't want to use flour, swap it for extra ground almonds & 1 tsp baking powder or same amount in Tapioca flour)
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
Zest of 1 lemon
4 Tablespoons milk

Lovely Homemade Lemon Curd. Great to have on toast, add to cake frosting sweet pies... the uses are endless!

Instructions

First things first! Get all your ingredients ready.

I like to weigh out and put everything in order of adding into the recipe. If it's all ready, you will whizz through the recipe and NOT forget anything!

Make The Pastry

1.*** If you are using a shop bought pastry case, skip to the FILLING instructions.   Put the oven on to 190 C, 375 F,Gas 5

2. Make your shortcrust pastry. Click here for instructions.

Shortcrust Pastry

3. Grease your flan dish & make sure you grease up the sides too.

lining dish with pastry

4. Place your rolled out pastry into your chosen dish. Make sure you gently push the sides around the dish and trim any excess pastry.

push sides of pastry

5. If you see any cracks or missing bits of pastry, use the excess from your trimming to patch these areas.

trim edges of pastry

6. Now you will need to prepare the flan case to take the wet filling.

Bake Blind

You need to first 'Bake blind' the pastry. See here for more information. You need to bake blind for 20 minutes in the oven.

fill with pasta or weights to bake blind


7. Place in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes (for a 23 cm, 9-inch dish). If using smaller cases, reduce the cooking time.

8. When ready, the flan case should look like the photo on the below.

Say about 70% cooked, and ready for the filling.

Part Cooked Pastry Case
Part Cooked Pastry Case

9. Once you have baked blind your pastry, you need to get all your filling ingredients ready if you haven't done so already.


The Bake Blind technique is used when you have a 'wet' filling or the filling cooks faster than the pastry.

If you were to simply place the filling onto the raw pastry, the base would never cook properly resulting in a very soggy bottom!


This method is also used if you are putting a ready-cooked filling in the flan case, such as a mousse or chocolate torte which doesn't require any baking.

Make The Filling

10. Cream the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy. 

Slowly add the beaten eggs. If the mixture looks like it is starting to split, add a tablespoon of your ground almonds.

11. Add almonds, flour and lemon zest. Add the milk and lemon juice, and gently (low setting on your mixture) combine.

12. Spread the warmed jam onto the base of your pastry. Add the cake mixture to the flan case.

Lemon Frangipane, preparing base

13. Bake in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Test with a metal skewer.

Stick it in the center, if it comes out clean your frangipane is ready!

Lemon Frangipane. This is a really nice coffee time cake to make. Goes great with a nice cup of tea! Or you can have as a dessert, warm or cold with a squirt of whipped cream or like me, a blob of vanilla ice cream! It's really yummy! Delicious!

14. Leave to cool then turn out onto a dish.

15 Make yourself a lovely cup of tea and enjoy a slice of your tart.

Lemon Frangipane. This is a really nice coffee time cake to make. Goes great with a nice cup of tea! Or you can have as a dessert, warm or cold with a squirt of whipped cream or like me, a blob of vanilla ice cream! It's really yummy! Delicious!

We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our lemon frangipane recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

Recipe Card

Lemon Frangipane. This is a really nice coffee time cake to make. Goes great with a nice cup of tea! Or you can have as a dessert, warm or cold with a squirt of whipped cream or like me, a blob of vanilla ice cream! It's really yummy! Delicious!

Lemon Frangipane

Yield: 8
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Lemon Frangipane. This is a really nice coffee time cake to make. Goes great with a nice cup of tea! Or you can have as a dessert, warm or cold with a squirt of whipped cream or like me, a blob of vanilla ice cream! It's really yummy! Delicious!

Ingredients

  • 6 oz or 170 g Shortcrust pastry.
  • 2 Tablespoons warmed Lemon Curd
  • 4 ½ oz or ½ cup or 125 g butter
  • ½ cup or 125 g Sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 ⅓ cups or 125 g ground almonds
  • 2 ½ Tablespoons All purpose / Plain Flour. (if you don't want to use flour, swap it for extra ground almonds & 1 tsp baking powder or same amount in Tapioca flour)
  • 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 4 Tablespoons milk

Instructions

*** If you are using a shop bought pastry case, skip to the FILLING instructions. Put the oven on to 190 C, 375 F,Gas 5

  1. Make your shortcrust pastry. Click here for instructions.
  2. Grease your flan dish & make sure you grease up the sides too. Place your rolled out pastry in to your chosen dish. Make sure you gently push the sides around the dish and trim any excess pastry.
  3. If you see any cracks or missing bits of pastry, use the excess from your trimming to patch these areas.
  4. Now you will need to prepare the flan case to take the wet filling. You need to first 'Bake blind' the pastry. See here for more information. You need to bake blind for 20 minutes in the oven. Place in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes (for a 23 cm, 9 inch dish). If using smaller cases, reduce the cooking time.
  5. When ready, the flan case should be about 70% cooked, and ready for the filling.
  6. Once you have baked blind your pastry, you need to get all your filling ingredients ready if you haven't done so already. (remember the mini production line above?)
  7. The Bake Blind technique is used when you have a 'wet' filling or the filling cooks faster than the pastry. If you were to simply place the filling onto the raw pastry, the base would never cook properly resulting in a very soggy bottom!

Make The Filling

  1. Cream the butter and sugar until light in colour and fluffy. Slowly add the beaten eggs. If the mixture looks like it is starting to split, add a tablespoon of your ground almonds.
  2. Add almonds, flour and lemon zest. Add the milk and lemon juice, and gently (low setting on your mixture) combine.
  3. Spread the warmed jam onto the base of your pastry. Add the cake mixture to the flan case.
  4. Bake in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Test with a metal skewer. Stick it in the centre, if it comes out clean your frangipane is ready!
  5. Leave to cool then turn out onto a dish . Make yourself a lovely cup of tea and enjoy a slice of your tart.

Notes

Please note if making your own pastry the prep time will be a little longer

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 8
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 399Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 100mgSodium: 296mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 3gSugar: 22gProtein: 7g

Delicious Cake Recipes using Almonds

If you like almonds as much as we do, try out these other cake recipes using ground almonds in the cake batter. Delicious!

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12 thoughts shared

  1. This looks absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe. Do you think this could be made as turnovers as well (using the same pie crust dough)? Thank you!

    1. Hi Maneesha, I’ve never tried making turnovers using a frangipane filling.
      You can certainly use the pastry for a turnover, as for the filling, because it is a cake batter, just be aware of the cook times and also the filling may cause some moisture when cooking and add steam inside the turnover and cause the crust to go a bit soggy. It may be fine but that is what I am thinking of you try it!
      Let us know if it works!

    1. Hi Betty,
      Thanks for your comments. You can simply wrap in plastic wrap or on an air tight container to stop it drying out.
      Hope that helps!