Starbucks Lemon Tart

The Starbucks Lemon Tart costs £4.70 and carries 566 calories with 36g of fat, of which 24g is saturated. A sweet pastry case with a set lemon custard filling.

24g of saturated fat is the highest figure on the Starbucks UK menu, food or drink. An adult daily reference intake is 20g, so one slice is roughly 120 percent of a day in a single item, ahead of the almond croissant at 16g and every drink on the board. Anyone tracking saturated fat should know this before ordering rather than after.

Lemon curd is the reason and its composition is not obvious from eating it. A classic tart filling is butter, egg yolk, sugar and juice, with the butter high enough that the mixture sets firm when chilled. The sharpness of the lemon disguises how much fat is carrying it, which is exactly why this item surprises people who would never order something that reads as rich.

The pastry contributes the rest. A sweet shortcrust is roughly a third butter by weight before any filling goes in, so tart and filling are each doing the same thing from opposite directions.

Chilled is how it has to be served and that changes how the fat reads on the palate. Cold butter sets firm and coats the tongue less than warm butter does, so a slice straight from the fridge tastes cleaner and sharper than the same slice left out. Anyone finding it heavy has probably let it sit.

Sugar at 35g is high but unremarkable for the category, below the Victoria sponge at 49g and the chocolate muffin at 44g. Fibre is 1.8g, protein 4.6g and salt 0.56g.

Soya, egg, wheat and milk are the declared allergens, and nothing is labelled about diet. Prices reach £4.85 on delivery, the narrowest spread in the Bakery case. The cinnamon bun is the lightest bakery item on fat at 13g.