One of my favourite bakes. Perfect for all times of year and always, always delicious.
Sweet pastry, deliciously thick and flavourful jam and a light almond frangipane topping. Plus a drizzle and a dust of icing - whats not to love!
Bakewell is one of my most requested bakes, if you give it a try, you'll know why!
They're fairly quick to make, and the recipe below uses ready bought shortcrust pastry, but if you like you can make your own
The basis of shortcrust pastry is 'half fat-to-flour', of which butter is the most common fat used, with a small amount of ice cold water added at the end to bring the pastry together. This uses butter only (no Lard) so its suitable for vegetarians.
The below will make 1 standard sized tart tin, or you can make individual tarts in a cupcake tin.
Recipe
Difficulty : medium
Ingredients
170g unsalted butter or baking spread
170g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
1 tsp almond extract (optional)
125g self raising flour
55g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
Ready made shortcrust pastry
Jam of choice
Flakes almonds
icing sugar
Oven at 175*c grease a standard size tart tin.
1 - Cream the sugar and butter together well, until the colour starts to lighten, if you're using an electric mixer leave it going for about 2 minutes until they go light and fluffy.
Add in the vanilla and almond essence and mix in.
2 – Add in eggs one by one and mix in.
3- Sift the flour into a bowl and mix with the ground almonds and baking powder, fold in the cake batter until they're all mixed in well.
4 – Roll out your pastry and line the tart tin or if you're doing individuals use a cutter, cut out 12 rounds, line the cupcake tin with the rounds.
5 -Spread a layer of jam on the bottom of the pastry, and top with the cake mix, ensuring it touches each side of the pastry so the jam doesn't seep out.
Important tip - make sure the cake mix is spread up to an joined on to the pastry sides, this will stop the jam from going everywhere.
6- Sprinkle some flaked almonds on top and bake for about 1/2 hour for a large tart and 20 mins for the smaller tarts - use a skewer to ensure they're cooked in the middle (dip the skewer or knife into the middle and check it comes out clean) If you feel its browning too much before its cooked just put some foil lightly over the top.
Once cooked and cooled, sprinkle with a little icing sugar or drizzle with some icing.
Perfect as it is or warmed up with some custard or cream!
Enjoy!!