Rustic Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake Tart

Summer is officially here! That means soon there will be all kinds of fresh berries available! Yippee! I’m really more of an autumn girl – actually, around the end of May I start looking forward to sweaters, colorful leaves, hearty soups and the smell of new school supplies. It’s a sickness. Add it to the list of things that are completely and totally wrong with me. But, summertime certainly has the corner on berries. And I love berries. My favorite are raspberries. Especially when they are dusted with powdered sugar like perfect little summer snow-capped mountains of juicy goodness.

So, when I saw this recipe for a Rustic Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake Tart, I knew it belonged in my belly. Creamy cheesecake filling, tinged with lemon curd, succulent raspberries on top and a light and airy pastry underneath. Yeah. Your tummy will thank you.

Let’s get started with all the deliciousness shall we? Begin with a puff pastry sheet.

Roll it out, then fold up all the sides to create a little pastry dam to hold in all the gorgeous filling.

Poke the center of the tart to keep it from puffing up during baking. I warn you…it won’t really work. You’ll have to coax it back flat a little after you bring it out of the oven. But the hole poking is super fun. I used a fork. Poke, poke, poke.

Then a little egg wash to make the crust golden-y and gorgeous.

And a sprinkle of sugar around the middle to give it a nice texture.

Bake and cool. A perfect blank canvas to build our dessert upon.

While the tart shell is cooling, we’ll put together the lemon cheesecake portion. Some cream cheese and sugar gets beat up into a frenzy of creamy delight.

Then add some heavy cream. You can’t go wrong with any recipe that includes this stuff.

Then we add some lemon curd to all that whipped creamy goodness. You can use homemade, or store bought. Totally your call.

Fold it all together and then get started spreading it atop your cooled tart shell.

Smoosh it all the way to the edges. Leave no golden flaky area naked.

Then the fruit. Raspberry and lemon are perfection together. But I’m also a big fan of blueberries (and will be making a blueberry version later in the summer). Strawberries would be divine as well I’m sure.

A little drizzle with warmed jam.

And a beautiful dusting of powdered sugar completes our tart.

Seriously beautiful food here. And absolutely scrumptious.

This is best served right away. You can make the tart and the filling ahead of time, but once it’s all put together, you’ll want to devour it immediately. Like I really need to give you encouragement to eat something this gorgeous?

Print Recipe for Rustic Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake Tart

Rustic Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake Tart
~makes 1 tart~
adapted from Susi’s Kochen und Backen Adventures

Ingredients:
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed but still cold
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. heavy cream
1/3 cup lemon curd, homemade or store-bought
1 pint raspberries
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam, warmed
Powdered sugar (for dusting)

Directions:
For the tart: Preheat oven to 425° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat. Unfold the thawed out puff pastry on a lightly flour dusted area and gently roll into a 10×11 inch rectangle. Carefully transfer to your baking sheet.

Brush edges with a little bit of water and fold over all 4 sides to create a lip. Using a fork, poke holes all over the center of your tart. Gently brush the entire tart with an egg wash and sprinkle about 2 tsp. granulated sugar over the center. Bake until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully with the back of a spoon press the center back down if it has puffed. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the filling: In a bowl combine softened cream cheese and powdered sugar. Mix with a hand-mixer or by hand until smooth and the sugar is well incorporated. Add the heavy cream and mix for about 1 minute. Fold in the lemon curd. 

To assemble the tart: Carefully spread your lemon cheesecake mixture over the center of your cooled tart crust. Arrange berries decoratively over the curd and drizzle with the warmed jam. Dust the tart with powdered sugar.

Notes: This tart is best made and eaten on the same day. You can prepare the tart along with the cheesecake filling ahead of time. Refrigerate the filling and assemble the tart right before eating.