Bakewell Tart

One of my absolute favourite things to bake and eat. Delightfully delicious and easy, if you take your time to place the flaked almonds on top, it can be super striking! I'm also sharing my top tip for an easy glaze that makes this dessert look much more difficult.

This recipe is gluten free but of course can be made with normal flour, including the pastry, omitting the xanthan gum. The frangipane as well can be made with normal flour.

Temperature: 170°C Fan

Blind Baking Time: 20-30 minutes

1. In a stand mixer, with a paddle attachment, mix the flour, xanthan gum and caster sugar together.

2. Add the cold diced butter, continuing to mix with the paddle attachment until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

3. Mix the cold water with the egg yolk and add to the breadcrumb mix, mixing until comes together. There is no gluten to develop. If the dough isn't coming together, you can add a few more drops of water until dough forms.

4. Immediately after the dough comes together, roll the pastry out between two sheets of baking parchment larger than the tin you will be using. Chill for 30 minutes,

5. Preheat the fan oven to 170°C.

6. Keep the tart tin on a tray lined with baking parchment or a silicone baking mat. This will prevent the tart from slipping.

7. Lightly butter the tin. Peel off one of the sheets of baking parchment and use the side with the paper to help work the pastry into all the edges.

8. Remove the paper, trim the edges of the tart and put the baking parchment back on top for blind baking. (Use baking beans, rice or any dried pulses; dried pulses will smell weird)

9. Blind bake at 170°C for 15 minutes with the paper, remove the paper and bake for a further 10 minutes or until lightly golden.

10. Take the tart out and let sit out at room temperature while making the frangipane.

Frangipane

It is very important that all your ingredients are the same temperature, so if you keep your eggs in the fridge, make sure to take them out the night before. The butter needs to be soft enough for creaming and emulsifying and the rest of the ingredients need to be the same temperature otherwise the frangipane mixture will curdle or split.

The butter should just be soft but not melting.

Ingredients:

200g Salted Butter, Soft & Diced

200g Caster Sugar

200g Ground Almonds

3 Medium Eggs

75g Plain Flour (Gluten Free, I use Dove’s)

350g Jam of your choice (I used Blackberry and Apple)

70g Flaked Almonds

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven to 170°C.

2. In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream together the soft butter and the caster sugar until pale.

3. Mix together half the flour and ground almonds.

4. Alternate adding the ground almonds mix and the eggs. Add eggs one by one, scraping down the bowl with every addition. Do not over mix, mix until just combined.

5. If the mixture looks like it is splitting, sprinkle in a tablespoon of a flour at a time. If that doesn’t happen, just fold in the last half of flour.

6. Spread the jam out evenly using the back of a tablespoon or an offset palette knife.

7. Start adding the frangipane using a piping bag or place large tablespoons of frangipane all over the surface of the jam and spreading them out. The level of frangipane should be just slightly below the top of the tart case.

8. Place the almonds on top of the frangipane.

9. Bake for 45-50 minutes until evenly puffed and golden all over.

10. Let cool fully before removing from the tin and glazing.

Glaze

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Apple Jelly

1 tbsp Water

Method:

1. Put apple jelly and water in a bowl and microwave together in 10 second intervals.

2. Mix after every 10 seconds. It should take 30-40 seconds in total. If it is too liquid depending on the apple jelly, add another tablespoon of apple jelly.

3. Pass through a sieve and use while still warm but not excessively hot.

4. Use a pastry brush to gently spread it on the top of the frangipane tart.

Happy Baking! x