Bakewell tart
A Derbyshire tart built from three layers, each of which can ruin the other two. The base must be blind baked, because wet jam will soften it. The jam must be thick and thinly spread, because a loose one floats up under the frangipane and escapes at the sides. And frangipane rises and settles, so it goes on level rather than mounded — an uneven layer sinks in the middle.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Shortcrust 15 min
- Chilling 60 min
- Blind baking 20 min
- Almond cream 10 min
- Baking 35 min
- Cooling 20 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneMake the pastry and chill it
Rub the cold butter into the flour with the icing sugar and salt to crumbs, add the yolk and iced water and gather into a ball without kneading. Chill an hour. Chilling does two things at once: it firms the butter and relaxes the gluten, so the pastry does not shrink in the tin.
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour · 130 g butter · 60 g icing sugar · 1 pcs egg yolk · 2 tbsp water · 1 pinch salt
Line the tin and chill again
Roll out and line a 23 cm tin, leaving the excess pastry hanging over the rim. Freeze for 15 minutes. Frozen pastry holds its shape and the overhang is trimmed after baking — the simplest route to a level, tall rim.
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour · 130 g butter · 60 g icing sugar · 1 pcs egg yolk · 2 tbsp water · 1 pinch salt
Blind bake with weights
Line the base with paper, fill with baking beans and bake 15 minutes at 190°C, then remove the paper and bake 5 minutes more, until the base is dry and pale gold. Without this the base stays pale and soggy, because jam and frangipane seal it under a layer of moisture.
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour · 130 g butter · 60 g icing sugar · 1 pcs egg yolk · 2 tbsp water · 1 pinch salt
Paper and weights — otherwise the sides slump inwards.Spread a thin layer of jam
Spread the jam over the warm base in a thin, even layer. Thin, because a thick layer boils under the frangipane, turns to syrup and escapes at the sides. A warm base helps it spread without tearing the pastry.
Ingredients: 200 g raspberry jam · 150 g butter · 150 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 150 g ground almonds · 40 g plain flour · ½ tsp almond extract
Thin and even — a thick layer escapes at the sides.Beat the frangipane and level it
Cream the butter with the sugar for 3 minutes, beat in the eggs one at a time, then add both flours and the almond extract. Spread over the jam in an even layer with no mound in the centre. Frangipane rises in the oven and settles — an uneven layer sinks into a hollow.
Ingredients: 200 g raspberry jam · 150 g butter · 150 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 150 g ground almonds · 40 g plain flour · ½ tsp almond extract
Level, no mound — otherwise it sinks in the middle.Scatter almonds and bake 35 minutes
Scatter over the flaked almonds and bake 35 minutes at 175°C, until golden and springy under a finger. If the almonds darken after twenty minutes, cover the tart with foil — they should toast, not burn.
Ingredients: 50 g flaked almonds · 20 g icing sugar
Trim the rim once cooled
Cool for 20 minutes, then trim the overhanging pastry with a sharp knife along the edge of the tin. Trimmed after baking it gives a perfectly level edge; trimmed before baking it would shrink and the sides would come out too low. Dust with icing sugar.
Ingredients: 50 g flaked almonds · 20 g icing sugar
Before you start
The iced version
A classic Bakewell tart has no icing, but the popular shop version — a cherry Bakewell — is covered in white icing with a glacé cherry in the centre. The town of Bakewell itself is famous for the Bakewell pudding, made with puff pastry, jam and an egg filling — yet another dessert with a similar name.
Almond extract in moderation
Half a teaspoon is plenty. The extract is highly concentrated, and at a full teaspoon the tart starts tasting of shop marzipan rather than almonds. If you have none, leave it out — the ground almonds carry the flavour anyway.
Three days in a tin
Frangipane is moist with butter and egg, so the tart does not dry out. In an airtight container at room temperature it keeps three days and is better on the second, as the jam moves into the almond layer.
