It’s my Dad’s birthday tomorrow, so we had a little celebratory lunch today in his honour. I made bakewell tart, my sister made chocolate-dipped Viennese biscuits and we had homemade sausage rolls to top off the savoury lunch! It was all very delicious, but I now feel like the size of a house…
Bakewell tart is one of my absolute favourites, but only the kind without icing. Weirdly (for me), I like a bakewell tart to be as basic as possible. Almond is an a amazing flavour on its own, with raspberry jam being the perfect accompaniment – no sugary icing needed!
Frangipane is the star of the bakewell tart, making up the majority of the filling. Its moist, buttery and melts in your mouth with every bite. Its basically my dream filling. Have I said how much I love bakewell tart…???
I won’t lie, I had SO many issues with the pastry this time around! I thought I’d cracked it recently, but pastry still seems to be my nemesis. I genuinely made this pastry twice and rolled each out like 5 times before actually managing to get it in the tin! I was in full 5-year old tantrum mode by the end. Baking is emotional guys. But for all its sins, pastry does patch up well and once the filling has been baked no one can tell the stresses that’ve been had! Its just yours and the pastry’s little secret.
Aside from pastry stresses above, it really is an easy dessert to assemble – promise!
Bakewell Tart
Ingredients
Pastry
- 225 g plain flour
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 120 g unsalted butter diced and chilled
- 2 tbsp ice-cold water
Filling
- 125 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 125 g caster sugar
- 125 g ground almonds
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 5 tbsps raspberry jam
- handful of flaked almonds
Instructions
- For the pastry: Mix the flour, salt and caster sugar together into a bowl. Add the diced butter, rubbing in with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water 1tbsp at a time until the dough starts to come together. Turn out onto a lightly floured worktop, and knead until it comes together to form a uniform dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 45 minutes.
- Once chilled, roll the pastry out on a floured work surface into a rectangle about 2-3mm thick. Line the tin with the pastry and then pop back in the fridge for 30 minutes or until firm. Then, pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas Mark 4.
- For the frangipane: While the pastry is chilling, place the butter in a large bowl, and beat in the sugar. Then beat in the ground almonds, egg and almond extract. Set aside until needed.
- Once the pastry is firm, line it with baking paper and baking beans, then bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the beans and baking paper and bake for another 5 minutes until the pastry is dry. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
- Spread the raspberry jam evenly in the pastry case, top with the frangipane - again spreading evenly. Finally, sprinkle the flaked almonds over the entire tart then return to the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden.
- Once baked, remove the tart from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin. Before serving, dust with icing sugar for a pretty effect!
