The June Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart… er… pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800’s in England.

A Bakewell tart, never heard of it?  Well neither had I before our June challenge was announced.  But I was immediately intrigued and loved the fact that you could use what ever flavor of jelly/jam you would like.  I just knew this would be perfect for our blackberries that we’ve been collecting from our vines.  Basically a bakewell tart consists of three layers, a shortbread crust, layer of jam, and a frangipane which is a almondy custard of sorts.  The three layers combined were such a delight, slightly sweet and very good.  The almond flavors really stuck out and the frangipane was like nothing I’ve ever eaten, so good.

*all the pictures are taken with my new camera, don’t you just love the clarity and focus?*

Starting off with a pan jam recipe using my blackberries from our garden, strangely enough after I froze them, they turned red?  Does anyone know why?  They were once black.  Anywho, on to the ingredients: 2 cups blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 T lemon juice, 1 T fruit pectin

Over a medium heat pour in berries and sugar

fruit pectin and lemon juice, stir well

Bring to a boil and cook until berries start to thicken

Then set aside to jell and cool

*note this must be completely cooled before pouring into tart*

Next we need to make the Sweet short dough crust, you will need a food scale for this one

Ingredients: 225g (8oz) all purpose flour, 30g (1oz) sugar, 2.5ml (½ tsp) salt, 110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better), 2 (2) egg yolks, 2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional), 15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Weigh and measure, flour, sugar and salt

Then sift all the ingredients and place in the freezer, freezing all the ingredients makes it easier when adding the butter

Take a stick of butter out of the freezer and grate it.

Then add your 3 egg yolks and 1/2 tsp of almond extract, beat slightly

once butter has been grated immediately add to your cold flour mixture, and with a fork and knife start cutting the butter into the flour

until the butter look like this and slightly mealy

Then add egg mixture and slowly incorporate water only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough. This is the other place where most people go wrong adding too much water – the dough only needs to JUST stick together resting and rolling will do the rest.

Notice how ‘dry’ it looks but this will produce the lightest crispest and flakiest pastry. (Thanks Audax for the extra tips)  Then let dough rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Mean while you can begin your frangipane layer:

You will need almond meal which is easy enough to make int he food processor, just measure out the amount of almonds and grind finely

Ingredients for Frangipane: 125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened, 125g (4.5oz) powdered sugar, 3 (3) eggs,  2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract, 125g (4.5oz) ground almonds, 30g (1oz) all purpose flour

In Stand mixer add your butter, and sugar

Cream until smooth, then add one egg at a time, scraping down the sides in between

after all the eggs are incorporated add the almond extract and beat for 30 more seconds

then add  in your almond meal and and flour

Set aside for assembly

To assemble

Set oven for 400 degrees

Take out your dough and let it rest for a few minutes and prepare your rolling surface by flouring the surface and your rolling pin, I am using a mat so I can flip my dough once it’s rolled out.

Roll dough out larger than your tart pan, start in the center of your dough going out in all directions (I don’t have one so I am using a foil pie plate) flip your pan upside down and then flip the dough onto the pan

Press down down and then trim the excess

Now pre bake your crust for about 10 minutes

While its baking gather your excess dough and roll it out for fun little cookies

Bake for about 2-4 minutes and top with extra jam, enjoy!

Once crust has baked, add about a cup of jam on top of your crust and smooth it out

Then spoon on the frangipane out, not to tall because it will puff some

The bake for 30 minutes, five minutes before its done add a few almonds on top, then finish baking

Let cool for 30 minutes then slice and enjoy!

The Challenge: Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Bakewell tarts…er…puddings combine a number of dessert elements but still let you show off your area’s seasonal fruits.

Like many regional dishes there’s no “one way” to make a Bakewell Tart…er…Pudding, but most of today’s versions fall within one of two types. The first is the “pudding” where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the “tart” where a rich shortcrust pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling.

The version we’re daring you to make is a combination of the two: a sweet almond-flavoured shortcrust pastry, frangipane and jam.

Bakewell Tart History and Lore

Flan-like desserts that combine either sweet egg custard over candied fruit or feature spiced ground almonds in a pastry shell have Mediaeval roots. The term “Bakewell pudding” was first penned in 1826 by Meg Dods; 20 years later Eliza Acton published a recipe that featured a baked rich egg custard overtop 2cm of jam and noted,

“This pudding is famous not only in Derbyshire, but in several of our northern counties where it is usually served on all holiday occasions.”

By the latter half of the 1800s, the egg custard evolved into a frangipane-like filling; since then the quantity of jam decreased while the almond filling increased.

This tart, like many of the world’s great foods has its own mythic beginnings…or several mythic beginnings. Legend has it in 1820 (or was it in the 1860s?) Mrs. Greaves, landlady of The White Horse Inn in Bakewell, Derbyshire (England), asked her cook to produce a pudding for her guests. Either her instructions could have been clearer or he should have paid better attention to what she said because what he made was not what she asked for. The cook spread the jam on top of the frangipane mixture rather than the other way around. Or maybe instead of a sweet rich shortcrust pastry case to hold the jam for a strawberry tart, he made a regular pastry and mixed the eggs and sugar separately and poured that over the jam—it depends upon which legend you follow.

Regardless of what the venerable Mrs. Greaves’ cook did or didn’t do, lore has it that her guests loved it and an ensuing pastry-clad industry was born. The town of Bakewell has since played host to many a sweet tooth in hopes of tasting the tart in its natural setting.

Bakewell tarts are a classic English dessert, abounding in supermarket baking sections and in ready-made, mass-produced forms, some sporting a thick sugary icing and glazed cherry on top for decorative effect.

Enjoy it with a cup of tea or coffee or just eat it sneaky slice by sneaky slice until, to your chagrin, you realise the whole tart has somehow disappeared despite you never having pulled out a plate, fork or napkin with which to eat it.

Is it a tart or is it a pudding?

Someone once said something like “The Bakewell pudding is a dessert. The Bakewell tart is that girl over there.”

It’s a debate that rages on and we aren’t taking sides on this one. But we will say that many people call this pudding a tart.

While we’re at it…
The etymology of pudding is a rather interesting and slightly convoluted one.* The naming confusion may come from the British manner of referring to the dessert course as ‘pudding’ (as well as referring to fat babies by the same name, though we don’t think that is what was the inspiration in this case). And so any dessert is a pudding until another name comes along and adds clarity to what it really is.

* nb: Annemarie had to electronically restrain Jasmine from delving into another treatise, threatening to remove her digital scale, personally autographed copies of How To Eat by Nigella Lawson and A.S. Byatt’s Possession and toss her kitchen footstool into the squidgy marsh up the road (really…Jasmine’s kitchen appears to be designed by a 6’4” fast food-eating engineer named Martin, Chuck or perhaps Buford) Anyone interested in hearing or reading her wax lyrical about puddings should just email her directly.

Print This Recipe

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it’s overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It’s a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn’t have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Jasmine’s notes:
• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.
• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) powdered sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow color.

Annemarie’s notes:
• Add another five minutes or more if you’re grinding your own almonds or if you’re mixing by hand (Heaven help you).