The Bakewell tart was one of the challenges on The Great British Bake Off pastry week, Week 5, 2016. I have baked Bakewell tarts before and they do not have icing on top but for some reason The Great British Bake Off recipe asked the bakers to put icing on top which by definition does not make it a Bakewell Tart.  In this video I will be showing you how to make a Bakewell tart.

A Bakewell tart is an English confection which has a sweet shortcrust pastry shell and layers of jam, frangipane, and a topping of flaked almonds. Whereas a cherry Bakewell also known as a Bakewell cake, is a type of Bakewell tart where the frangipane is covered with a top layer of almond-flavoured fondant and a single half glacé cherry.

If you do not like icing, just scatter some flaked almonds on top of the frangipane before the Bakewell tart goes in the oven and just cool and serve.

This recipe is Mary Berry’s Bakewell tart, Mary Berry is one of the judges on The Great British Bake Off. You do not have to make the jam, you can just use shop bought one.

Ingredients

For the jam

• 200g raspberries
• 250g jam sugar

For the sweet shortcrust pastry

• 225g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 150g butter, chilled
• 25g icing sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten

For the filling

• 150g butter, softened
• 150g caster sugar
• 150g ground almonds
• 1 large free-range egg, beaten
• 1 tsp almond extract

For the icing

• 300g icing sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• pink food colouring gel

Method

• For the jam, put the raspberries in a small, deep-sided saucepan and crush them using a masher. Add the sugar and bring to the boil over a low heat until the sugar has melted. Increase the heat and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully pour into a shallow container. Leave to cool and set.
• For the pastry, measure the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the icing sugar. Add the egg and if necessary 2 tablespoons cold water, mixing to form soft dough.
• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of a pound coin. Line a 23cm/9in fluted flan tin and transfer to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
• While the pastry is chilling make the frangipane : Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the ground almonds, egg and almond extract and mix together.
• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
• Line the pastry case with non-stick baking paper and fill with baking beans or uncooked rice. Bake blind for 15 minutes, then remove the beans and paper and cook for a further 5 minutes to dry out the base. Set aside to cool a little before adding the filling.
• For the filling, spread the base of the pastry case with 4 tablespoons of raspberry jam.
• Spoon the mixture into the pastry case and smooth the surface using a palette knife.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and bake for 25–35 minutes, until golden-brown and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin.
• For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Stir in the almond extract and about 3 tablespoons cold water to make a smooth, fairly thick icing. Place 3 tablespoons of the icing in a separate bowl and add a little pink food colouring gel to make a raspberry coloured icing. Spoon the pink icing into a small piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle or snip the end of the piping bag.
• When the tart has cooled completely, spoon the white icing on top and spread to form a smooth surface. Pipe parallel lines of pink icing over the white icing, then drag a cocktail stick through the lines to create a feathered effect.
• Leave to set, then serve in slices.