Lemon curd is just the beginning. Fruit curds can be made with citrus fruit, mango, passion fruit, and others. Easy to make and so versatile in the kitchen.
My custom cake business, Cake Art Studio, had a fairly large menu of cake flavors. One of the most popular was “Luscious Lemon“- lemon cake layered with lemon curd and lemon mousse. It takes a lot of lemon curd to fill a 5 tier wedding cake, so we made quarts and quarts of the stuff. Of course this means zesting and juicing lemons by the case. I always felt bad if I got a new intern and one of their first jobs was to zest the lemons. They probably thought it was some kind of mean initiation.
For something with such a frankly unappealing name, curd is one of my favorite go-to ingredients for a wide variety of desserts. I mentioned that I use it as a cake filling, but curd also makes a great tart or pie filling, can be used as the base for mousse or to sandwich French Macarons, is traditional on a scone with clotted cream and is insanely decadent warmed up and poured over ice-cream.
Citrus juices make great curd, but passion fruit is one of my favorites. The floral tropical flavor really comes through. For my business I buy frozen passion fruit juice. Unfortunately, that’s not something you’re likely to find in the grocery store. You can juice the fresh fruit. It’s a bit of work, and passion fruits can be a little expensive, but if you’re looking to make a tart or cake with an unusual flavor, I think it’s well worth the effort.
I use the same basic recipe for all my fruit curds, just changing the amount of sugar based on which fruit I’m using. The gelatin is optional. Instructions for blooming gelatin can be found here. If you’re using the curd for a spread or sauce you don’t really need the gelatin. Use the gelatin when you don’t want the curd to be too oozy, like in a cake or tart that will be sliced.
The curd will start out with a watery consistency and have a fine white foam on top. As it cooks it will thicken, the white foam will dissipate and the curd will become more translucent. Cook until the curd is very steamy, but not boiling, and it coats the spatula or spoon.
The recipe makes about 3 cups of curd. The curd will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator and can be frozen for several months.[br][br]If you're using the curd to fill a tart or cake the gelatin will help it keep it's shape as it's cut. If you're using it as an ice-cream topping or as a spread you can leave the gelatin out.
This same recipe can be made with any fruit juice. The amount of sugar can be adjusted according to how sweet the fruit is.
Lemon Curd & Fruit Curds
Ingredients
Instructions
Lemon Curd
Variations:
Lime, Orange, Blood Orange, Pink Grapefruit,
Passionfruit Curd
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 51 Sodium: 164mg Carbohydrates: 1g Sugar: 1g Protein: 11g
Carla
I’m thinking of trying this recipe because I need a firm curd for macarons, so I will be using the gelatin. If I want to pipe it onto my macs, would you recommend I pipe them before or after setting? Also have you tried this with other fruits like any kind of berry or mango?
Eileen Gray
Hi Carla, This curd works really well as a macaron filling. I’ve used the lemon curd to fill yellow macarons with great success. You will have to wait until the curd sets to pipe since it’s pretty runny when it’s just made. I’ve tried making curd with some other juices. Mango might be good. In general, I like curd made from very tart fruit juice like citrus or passionfruit. If you use a different juice you’ll just have to experiment with the amount of sugar depending on how sweet the juice is. Also, when using something like Mango a little bit of lime or lemon juice added will often brighten the flavor a bit. Let me know how it turns out if you experiment.
Carla
Thank you so much for the pointers! I’m going to be experimenting tomorrow with mangoes and apricots! I’ll definitely let you know how it turns out!
Faten Siddiqi
Hi, I’d like to fill little tart shells with mango curd, and to top them with meringue. Will I need to use the gelatin? Please advise. Thank you 🙂
Eileen Gray
Hi Faten. If you’re putting the curd into individual tarts shells you don’t need the gelatin. I use the gelatin when I want the curd to hold it’s shape, e.g., when I use it to fill a cake layer or a large tart that will be served in slices. Mango Meringue tartlettes sound amazing! I’d love to see a photo after you make them. You can post a photo on my Facebook page or tag me on Instagram.
Imoteda
Just tried this recipe. It is now my hands down favorite curd recipe! Super easy and came out perfect. I used it for individual tarts but I still used the gelatin cause I didn’t want the filling running when bit or cut into. Perfect!
Thanks you for sharing
Eileen Gray
That’s great. Which flavor did you make?
Evelyn
Can you make this as a raspberry curd for a cake filling? If so how?
Eileen Gray
Hi Evelyn. You can make a raspberry curd using a 1/2 cup of strained raspberry puree. I would reduce to the sugar to 10 oz (1 1/4 cups) and add the juice of 1 lemon. If you want to use it as a cake filling definitely use the optional gelatin in the recipe. Also, pipe a “dam” of buttercream around the edge so the curd doesn’t leak out.
Evelyn
Thanks for the advice! I tried making this last night, but this morning it was the consistency of jello, so I think something went wrong. Any suggestions on how to fix this problem? Or any ideas of what I did wrong?
Eileen Gray
I assume you refrigerated the curd? The gelatin will make it firmer, which is good. A firmer curd will stay in the cake when it’s cut. You can use a spatula to soften the curd to a spreadable consistency. Also, as it warms up it will soften. If you watch the videos in my Luscious Lemon Cake and Layered Cheesecake posts you can see the texture of the curd with gelatin. For both those recipes I let the curd soften at room temp for a little while before assembling the cake. You can also see when I slice the cakes how the curd holds it’s shape.
Rae
Thank you so much for posting this. I’m making a gingerbread layer cake filled with orange curd and I was having difficulty getting it to set enough to work. The gelatin was perfect. It gave me the exact consistency I needed without dulling the flavor or making it rubbery. Woohoo!
Eileen Gray
Yipee! So glad to hear that. Curd is one of my absolute favorite things in the world.
Jacob
This looks like a great recipe. I’m about to give it a try and am experimenting with a couple other flavors like blueberry. Have you ever tried strawberry? I’m kinda assuming i will have to reduce strawberry puree so that the flavor comes out stronger
Thanks again!
Eileen Gray
Hi Jacob. I have not done strawberry specifically but I agree that you might want to reduce the juice to get a better flavor. Also adding a little lemon juice will enhance the flavor of the strawberry.
Oli
Hi! I am excited to try this recipe with guavas. I can buy guava pulp in the frozen section of my supermarket. Would you use the same amount of guava (1/2 cup)?
Eileen
Hi Oli. Yes, I would use the same amount if the pulp is thin like a juice. Is the pulp unsweetened? You may have to adjust the sugar a bit depending on the sweetness of the pulp. I have made guava curd before and I think I might have used a little lime juice to spark the flavor. Guava curd is AMAZING in coconut cake.
Nancy
I used your recipe and made amazing curd with my instant pot. I have made Lemon, Key lime, Lilikoi, Guava & Mango. All from local fruit. Waiting to try Pineapple and Coconu it has been a perfect cake filling
Mahalo from Hawi Hawaii!
Eileen
That sounds amazing, Nancy. I have to admit that I don’t own an instant pot and I’m starting to feel like I need to take the plunge and see what all the excitement is about. What is lilikoi? I’ve never heard of it. I’m fruit-obsessed so always love discovering new fruits.