From My Kitchen

Almonds? Tick. Raspberries? Tick. Well that’s two of my favourite things right there. There’s nothing not to like about a Bakewell tart in my opinion, and it can only be improved by a slurp of cream or scoop of vanilla ice-cream. A cup of tea would work well too. Maybe an open fire and a good book would be a useful addition. Making your own pastry is of course not necessary (although I did on this occasion), because anything that gets you to the actual eating of the Bakewell tart quicker has got to be A Good Thing.

Ingredients

Pastry:

200g plain flour

1 tbsp icing sugar

125g butter

1 egg yolk

Filling:

200g raspberry jam

180g caster sugar

180g butter

3 large eggs

180g ground almonds

1 tsp almond extract

25g flaked almonds

Method

1. Make the pastry by mixing together the flour and icing sugar, then rubbing in the butter using your fingertips in a kind of slow motion fingerclick movement. Cold hands are good for this. Mine are permanently warm so that makes it more interesting (sticky).
2. Add in the egg yolk and 2 tbsp cold water and use a fork to bring the mixture into a dough, switching to your hand to bring it all together. Wrap in cling film and leave to firm up in the fridge for 10 mins.
3. Roll out your prepared dough (or shop bought, there’s absolutely no judgement from me), on a board dusted with icing sugar and use it to line a 22cm ish tart tin, preferably one with a removable base. I also find it useful to put a circle of greaseproof paper under the pastry, to aid with removal later on. I leave any excess pastry attached at this point, flopped around the edge of the tin. That gets trimmed off at the very end to leave a nice neat edge.
4. Chill for a further 15 mins, and in the mean time heat oven to 160C.
5. Prick the base of the pastry case all over with a fork, then cover in greaseproof, pour in some baking beans (any dried beans or even rice will work) and bake for 15 mins – this is called blind baking.
6. Remove the beans and paper and bake the empty tart case for a further 10 mins by which point it should be golden and cooked. Allow to cool.
7. Make the filling by beating together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
8. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well, then stir in the ground almonds and extract. You’ve just made frangipane!
9. Spread the jam over the cooled pastry case, then pour in the frangipane, level, and sprinkle over the flaked almonds.
10. Bake for 40 minutes until the frangipane is still just a tiny bit wobbly – it’ll firm up as it cools.
11. When you can wait no longer, use a knife to gently carve off the excess pastry, carefully remove from the tin and base, and dust over a little more icing sugar.