This week’s Cakes & Bakes offering is a quintessential British classic – Bakewell tart. I’ve never featured a Hairy Bikers recipe previously – but I do like lots of what they cook.
When I looked at the quantity of ingredients, I thought that it seemed a lot. An entire pack of butter, 2 packets of ground almonds, 8 – yes EIGHT – eggs in the filling (and a further three in the pastry).
The recipe supposedly makes one 23cm/9-inch tart, but I used less than half of the pastry and just over half of the filling that it called for.
I’m not wasting anything though, both the spare pastry and the filling have gone into the freezer; I’ll be able to make another tart in double quick time next time.
Bakewell tart is a perfect cake for our 4 o’clock afternoon tea break.
It’s not dry, but a sip of tea after every couple of mouthfuls works so well.
Almonds and fruity jam are such a great combination of flavours. Throw in some buttery pastry and you’re not likely to be disappointed.
There’s a good reason it’s become a classic.
There’s at least 8 slices in the tart so that’s four days sorted – unless we’re incredibly generous and give a piece away!
Bakewell Tart
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 425 g/15oz plain flour plus extra for dusting
- 1 egg beaten
- 2 egg yolks
- 250 g/9oz unsalted butter
- 100 g/3½oz caster sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 50 g/2oz ground almonds
For the filling
- 400 g/14oz ground almonds
- 175 g/6oz caster sugar
- 8 eggs beaten
- ½ tsp almond essence
- 3 tbs raspberry jam
- 50 g/2oz flaked almonds
Instructions
For the pastry
- In a food processor, add the flour, salt, sugar, butter and almonds and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs
- Add the eggs & yolks one at a time and pulse until a smooth dough is formed
- Bring the dough together into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for half an hour
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/360ºF/Gas mark 4
- Grease & flour a 23cm/9in loose-bottomed tart tin
- Unwrap the chilled pastry and roll out onto a cold, floured work surface (this is a very 'short' pastry and at first will be difficult to handle)
- Line the tart tin with the pastry and trim off any excess. Prick the base with a fork, then cover the pastry lightly with a round of baking parchment. Cover the parchment with baking beans (I use dried chickpeas) put into the oven to bake blind for 15 minutes
- Remove the pastry base from the oven, pour out the baking beans (or chickpeas) remove the baking parchment and set aside to cool. If the base is still a little underdone, return it to the oven for a minute or two to dry out
- Reduce the oven temperature to 165ºC/330ºF/Gas mark 2
For the filling
- Put the ground almonds and caster sugar into a bowl and combine
- Add the beaten eggs and almond essence and combine well
- Once the tart pastry base has cooled, spread a generous layer of raspberry jam onto the bottom
- Pour the filling mixture over the raspberry jam to fill the pastry case almost to the top
- Sprinkle with flaked almonds and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the filling is baked through and golden-brown all over
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Serve warm or cold
Notes
