Daring Bakers; Bakewell tart
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.
Let me first start by saying a big thank you to Lisa! I know the reveal date for the Daring Bakers is the 27th of the month, but for some strange reason it had gotten stuck in my mind that it should be the 1st. So I was planning on baking these goodies on the 27th. Thinking I would have plenty of time to take photos the day after… How wrong was I!! Lisa made a comment on one of my other posts saying she was curious on how my bakewell post would turn out.. At which point my alarm bells started to ring…Oops…
The one good thing was that I had been planning on baking them this afternoon anyway, it was just all a bit different than I thought and I would have stupidly posted them a couple of days too late if it hadn’t been for Lisa. So, big thanks Lisa!
As we speak the shells are in the freezer cooling down, but I thought I start writing about my bakewell adventure already now. So will write along as they – hopefully – become ready.
I had never made Bakewell tart before, but I have said the same thing of every Daring Bakers challenge sofar, so maybe I should find a more original line. Haha.. It’s true though. Our baking adventures when I was a kid didn’t go any further then appletart and regular cake. Ofcourse I have baked various other things since living on my own, but there is still loads and loads to learn. As was also the case with this fine exampe of baking.
I started with a slight problem on the butter becoming soft too quickly. As luck would have it, it is an extremely warm and humid day here today. The kind of day you have before a giant thunderstorm (which is what is predicted for the weather later today) so any ingredients that were cool coming out of the fridge warmed up fast. My hands didn’t stay cool for very long either, so I don’t think that helped when grating the butter.
Mixing the ingredients for the Frangipane was straightforward so no surprises there, although I was very happy that they mentioned that it would look a bit curdled. I would have been worried otherwise!
I kept the dough in the fridge for slightly more then half an hour but as soon as I tried to roll them out with the rolling pin, it was pretty obvious that that wouldn’t work. O… gotta run downstairs again..
So the tarts are in the oven now… Ok, where was I… Yes, so when rolling it out, or trying to roll it out it broke instantly. Basically falling apart. So instead of rolling it out; I grabbed a bit and pressed it into the tartforms, making sure to make the dough as even as possible, although I am sure it is not quite.. 🙂 I am not sure what I have done wrong. Possible not cold enough? Would that make it ‘unrollable’? After having them in the freezer for 15 minutes I filled them with various jam-flavours. I did not go for the homemade option. I have made jam once before and thought it was quite a nice thing to do, but I am not a big jam eater so I thought the store bought option would be better. At one of my favorite shops “Dille and Kamille” they sell tiny jars of jam, so you can buy different kinds and still not be stuck with loads of jam. I chose Apple-cinnamon, blueberry, raspberry and I found lemon curd as well (not easy to find here) so I used that too. Not
Not very consistent dough
sure how the lemoncurd will come out, as I’ve never really used it before. But I love the tangy flavour so am thinking it might be good.
I now have to wait for 30 minutes untill they are ready before I can tell you anything else… so till then…
O my god… Those little things turned out to be absolutely delicious. I was a bit anxious that they wouldn’t come out right, as our oven is not the best and half of the tartelets are actually on the too dark side, but just slightly. It just heats unevenly.
After half and hour they were done and ofcourse I managed to throw one on the floor while getting them out of the oven. And why does that always happen with one of the yummiest flavours?? I love apple/cinnamon but that was the one I dropped.. 🙁
The one I just ate was the lemon curd and it was delicious! The frangipane has come out really nice and light and wonderful in texture and flavour and the crust is – I think – how it is supposed to be.. Love it!! Thanks to Jasmine and Annemarie for hosting this one!
Here is the (lengthy) recipe.
Bakewell tart
Ingredients
SHORT CRUST PASTRY
- 225 g 8oz all purpose flour
- 30 g 1oz sugar
- 2.5 ml ½ tsp salt
- 110 g 4oz unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
- 2 2 egg yolks
- 2.5 ml ½ tsp almond extract (optional)
- 15-30 ml 1-2 Tbsp cold water
FRANGIPANE
- 125 g 4.5oz unsalted butter, softened
- 125 g 4.5oz icing sugar
- 3 3 eggs
- 2.5 ml ½ tsp almond extract
- 125 g 4.5oz ground almonds
- 30 g 1oz all purpose flour
PLUS
- Bench flour
- 250 ml 1cup (8 US fl. oz) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
- One handful blanched flaked almonds
SHORT CRUST PASTRY
- 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
FRANGIPANE
- 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 colour.
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.
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
