I’m doing a wedding cake a week from today.  How far in advance can I make lemon curd?

TIA

Lisa

Most recipes I’ve encountered say “up to 2 days” when refrigerated.  I worry about eggs myself especially when I’m baking something that will be consumed by a crowd.

The only curd that I have kept over several days is passion fruit curd, simply because I made such a large batch while I had the juice on hand.  I can’t remember exactly now, but I think I kept it refrigerated for about a week and made several desserts with it.  Rose says in the P&PB;that curd can be kept up to three weeks.  What I did notice, however, is that it lost its flavor intensity after a few days.  It still tasted fine, it just didn’t pack a punch anymore.  I would say fresh within a couple of days will have the best flavor, but it should be safe to keep it longer as the eggs are sufficiently cooked.

LisaMae - 17 November 2007 09:06 PM

I’m doing a wedding cake a week from today.  How far in advance can I make lemon curd?

TIA

Lisa

Lisa -  you can make your lemon curd quite a while in advance.  According to Rose, lemon curd was originally kept in a cool part of the kitchen, unrefrigerated, for extended periods of time.  The sugar and acid content will preserve it for a good long time, several weeks refrigerated is just fine.

Matthew brings up a really good point - lemon juice tends to lose its “sparkle” over a period of time.  If you want to keep the flavor intensity, I’d say don’t make it more than two days beforehand.  If you don’t care about having a milder-tasting curd, then a week in advance should be fine.