Bakewell Tart

Name: Bakewell Tart
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients: pinch of salt; 4 tbsp good-quality cherry, raspberry or strawberry jam; 25 g flaked almonds; ½ tsp almond extract; 100 g sugarpaste; claret food colour paste; 1 vanilla pod; edible glaze spray; 3 eggs, lightly beaten, at room temperature; Christmas red food colour paste; 125 g unsalted butter, softened; 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten; 100 g unsalted butter, chilled and diced, plus more for the tin; 200 g plain flour, sifted, plus more to dust; 125 g ground almonds; 125 g golden caster sugar; 40 g icing sugar, sifted; 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Birthday Cake Book

By Fiona Cairns

Published 2011

About

This has become a classic. Created by accident, I understand, in the 1860s in Bakewell, much mystery surrounds its origins... which, surprisingly to us modern fans, didn’t include ground almonds. Make sure all the ingredients for the filling are at room temperature.

Ingredients

For the Pastry

100 g unsalted butter, chilled and diced, plus more for the tin
200 g plain flour, sifted, plus more to dust

Pastry
Vegetarian
Baking
Birthday

Method

To Bake

Lightly butter a 23cm round, loose-bottomed metal flan tin (not ceramic; it won’t cook the pastry properly). To make the pastry, tip the flour, salt and icing sugar into a large bowl or food processor. Rub in the butter using your fingertips, or blitz. Lastly, add the egg yolks gradually until the dough comes together. If it is still too dry, add a