cheats' lemon tarts

This is a dessert designed for large events where you need something delicious for lots of people and don't have much time or money to achieve it with. I made it up a couple of months back when I was directing Cabaret on a shoestring. We were serving suppers as part of the premium ticket price and our bookings hadn't been too great in advance. I'd bought some great desserts from a local shop, but when our sales suddenly went through the roof there wasn't enough for the final night, and the suppliers were closed on the weekend. These went down very well.

Ingredients

• 1 pound jar of lemon curd (I used home made, but only because I had it - bought would work fine)
• 500mls cream
• 36 tartlet cases (buy them, or bake them blind, using sweet shortcrust pastry)
• Zest of 4 lemons finely grated

Method

1. Whip the cream, spooning in lemon curd a tablespoon at a time, until all the curd has been incorporated and the mixture forms peaks
2. Spoon the mixture into tartlet cases
3. Sprinkle on the lemon zest

That's it. How simple is that? And these are divine ladies and gentlemen, trust me. You could replace the zest with 72% cocoa chocolate if you wanted, too.