I decided to do a classic bakewell tart, using a variant of the recipe in Paul Hollywoods British Baking. I did this recipe for the first time last year, and I love the use of raspberries, as it gives it a real lightness of texture. I did, however, muck up a bit...
1) Read the recipe. Always, always, read the recipe, even if you think you know it. I misread the final cooking instructions, which were "cook for 10 minutes, do something, then cook for an additional 15 minutes". I scan-read just the second bit, so under-baked it. Novice error, and I sort of knew it wasn't done when I was taking it out.
2) The sweet crust caught a little bit (even under-baked). This is probably as it was quite high sugar content. I could have avoided this by either doing the blind-bake at a lower temperature, or covering it with foil for part of the final bake.
Bakewell Tart - Recipe
The pastry was the same as I used in the Raspberry Tartlets, rolled out to 3mm and used to line a 20cm deep flan tin.
2) Prick the base of the pastry with a fork
3) Line it with cling film, and place in dried rice/baking beans
4) Bake in the oven for 10 minutes
5) Remove the cling film and beans, and bake for another 5 minutes
6) Remove from the oven, and turn oven down to 180'C
Frangipane Ingredients
- 100g butter
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 75g ground almonds
- 50g plain flour
- A few drops of almond essence
2) Beat in the eggs one at a time
3) Beat in the flour and almonds
Assembly
- 100g raspberry jam
- 100g raspberries
- 30g flaked almonds
2) Spread the raspberries out over the flan
3) Put the frangipane into a piping bag, and cut off the end
4) Pipe the frangipane between the raspberries, then over the top
5) Roughly flatten the top, using a fork (I find this is better for holding the flaked almonds)6) Sprinkle the top with the flaked almonds, pressing them in slightly
7) Bake for 20-25 minutes. It's done when the middle of the filling starts to rise and dome.