Traditional Curd Cake

This curd cake is not only based on a traditional recipe, but it also gives you the opportunity to use up milk that has gone sour, by turning it into the cottage/ cream cheese that you need for the recipe. Please look at our post "milk it" to find out how. Also an opportunity to use up broken biscuits and left over egg yolks.

Traditionally this would have had a pastry crust, but in the interests of health, and speed, you might want to just bake the mixture in an oven-proof dish, or you could experiment with using broken digestive or ginger biscuits as an alternative base.

Lemon and Vanilla Curd Cake
You will need:

• 175g/ 6oz sweet shortcrust pastry or a pre-bought pastry case (if using)
• 50g/2oz caster sugar (+ 1 tbsp for the topping)
  
• vanilla essence or extract
• half a lemon (juice and grated rind)
  
• 1 egg (beaten)
  
• 2 egg yolks
• 225g/ 8oz cottage cheese (homemade or bought)
  
• 2 heaped tablespoons of plain flour
• 1tbsp melted butter
  

1. Preheat oven to gas mark 4/ 180°C/ 350°F
2. If you are using pastry: warm a baking sheet and grease a loose-bottomed flan tin. Roll out the shortcrust pastry until thin, then line the flan tin with the dough, trimming off any excess. Chill pastry case (that you have made or bought) in the fridge.
   
3. If you are not using pastry put your broken biscuits into the bottom of a dish for a more informal but equally delicious family pudding. Ignore this step if you simply want a set curd putting without pastry or biscuit.
   
4. Sieve the cottage cheese, or your freshly make paneer/ cream cheese.
   
5. Cream together until fluffy the butter and sugar, before beating in the egg yolks, 1 heaped tbspn flour, lemon zest, lemon juice and the cheese. Mix well.
6. Spoon the mixture into the pastry case/ onto the biscuit base or put into the dish on its own.
   
7. Mix together together the beaten egg, one tbspn flour, spoon of caster sugar, 1tbsp melted butter sugar (you might also want to add further lemon zest). Spatula evenly over the curd filling.
8. If you are using pastry in a flan tin, pop it onto the warmed baking sheet. Otherwise just put your dish into the oven and bake for around an hour. When it is done the top shoul dbe a little brown and a bit firm.
9. Best served cool, not chilled. You could dust with sugar or garnish with grated lemon rind.

photo with thanks to chotda