Blueskin Nurseries Cafe's lemon Louise slice

Photo: Gerard O'Brien
Photo: Gerard O'Brien
Ask a Chef reveals the secrets of those superb dishes you ate in cafes and restaurants and wanted to try yourself.

Ingredients

Base
250g butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 large egg
430g gluten-free flour (we use Bakels)

Lemon curd*
zest and juice of 2 lemons
120g caster sugar
2 eggs
3 yolks
100g butter

Topping
6 egg whites
190g sugar
230g coconut
1½ tsp cornflour

Method
Soften butter in a mixer, then cream butter and sugar until pale. Add egg and mix further. Sift in gluten-free flour and mix until combined.

Press into a lined tray (20cm x 30cm) and bake at 180degC for 20 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Cool slightly before spreading lemon curd over base.

Lemon curd
Put lemon zest and juice, sugar and eggs in a large saucepan over a low heat. Whisk until the eggs have broken up and the sugar is dissolved. Add half the butter and continue to whisk. At this point, the eggs will start to cook and the mixture will thicken to coat the back of the spoon.

Add the remaining butter and continue to whisk until the mixture becomes very thick.

Remove from the heat and place on a cold surface and continue to whisk until lukewarm.

*The lemon curd is available to buy from Blueskin Nurseries Cafe.

Topping
Whisk egg whites until they start to foam and add sugar and whisk until soft peaks form. Fold in cornflour and coconut. Spread topping over lemon curd and base.

Bake for 40-50 minutes at 160degC until golden and cooked through.

Recipe provided by Blueskin Nurseries Cafe chef Bee King. Recipe requested by Lynette Cvjetan, Dunedin.

If you have enjoyed a dish in an Otago cafe or restaurant and would like the recipe, write to Ask a Chef, Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, Dunedin, or email odt.features@odt.co.nz, including your name, address and a daytime telephone number, and we will request it.

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