Bakewell Tart!

An absolute classic, the recipe for this Bakewell Tart is one I fondly remember learning during Food Tech lessons when I was probably in year 9! Whenever I make this recipe it always makes me think of my Food teacher, who was also my form tutor. I used to absolutely adore this subject at school, and this teacher is certainly up there as one of the people who inspired me to get baking! I used to make this recipe so often, however as I began to make this tart less and less and the recipe began to slip from my mind, and I needed to get it written down! Years later (last week in fact), I rediscovered my old Food Tech folder with this recipe inside, and decided it deserved a rerelease worthy of Speak Now (Taylor's Version)! 

A thick layer of cherry jam!

When it came to reinventing this tart, there wasn't a great deal I actually wanted to change. This recipe quickly became my Dad's favourite when I brought it home, but since I've been practicing new skills recently I thought I could switch it up a bit. In the past, I'd always used shop-bought raspberry jam in this recipe. This time though, I knew instantly that I wanted to use my homemade cherry jam for this. I went for cherries purely to add a little tart kick to this bake. I'll admit to not owning a decent thermometer to use to test the jam, but a solid way to check is to place a plate in the freezer until it is cold, and then spoon a small amount of the jam onto the plate. If you push the jam and it wrinkles, then it's ready!

The next step was to make the shortcrust pastry. With my new food processor, rubbing the butter into the flour was easier than ever! I chose however to not add the water using the processor, as the likelihood of the dough being overworked increases, activating the gluten network and resulting in tough pastry (gluten forms in the presence of water, when the gliadin and glutenin molecules bond). I was slightly worried that the sourness in the cherries was a little much, so I added a little icing sugar to the pastry before adding the water to try to balance it out! After chilling, I rolled out the pastry to line a tin, and baked blind in the oven to avoid that infamous soggy bottom! 

With the pastry case baking blind, it was time to start on the frangipane filling! Frangipane is technically a custard, though in this recipe it is much more akin to a sponge. Butter and sugar are creamed together before adding the eggs, ground almonds, self raising flour, and almond extract. The result is a creamy almond filling for the Bakewell Tart, which I spread on top of the jam in the pastry case. A sprinkling of flaked almonds and the tart was ready for the oven! 

Once baked and cooled, the last thing to do was pipe an almond flavoured glace icing on to the tart for a simple bit of decoration!  

Funny story, the last time I bumped into my Food teacher was in Todmorden Wetherspoons on a bank holiday, after many, many drinks. It was only two months later when I met up with my university housemate (who I was also in secondary school food classes with and out with that same night) that I learnt I'd even seen this teacher that night, and let me tell you I've never known beer fear like it since!

Gibby x