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.
The Daring Bakers published a bit of history on the Bakewell Tart, and because it was such pleasant reading I copied it here for you.
"This tart, like many of the world's great foods has its own mythic beginnings…or several mythic beginnings. Legend has it in 1820 (or was it in the 1860s?) Mrs. Greaves, landlady of The White Horse Inn in Bakewell, Derbyshire (England), asked her cook to produce a pudding for her guests. Either her instructions could have been clearer or he should have paid better attention to what she said because what he made was not what she asked for. The cook spread the jam on top of the frangipane mixture rather than the other way around. Or maybe instead of a sweet rich shortcrust pastry case to hold the jam for a strawberry tart, he made a regular pastry and mixed the eggs and sugar separately and poured that over the jam—it depends upon which legend you follow."
On that note, I started to bake. Following legends and making legends, I ended up having to substitute corn flour for a portion of the all-purpose flour in the shortbread crust. I know that was not proper, but it was early in the morning, and I was desperate. Assuming the Bakewell fairies can forgive me, I must admit it is quite delicious this way. I had to use 6 ounces of corn flour (not corn meal, corn flour) plus 2 ounces of flour in the crust. It did not roll well, thus I had to press it into the tart pan. Other than that, I think it was a painless substitution.
For my jam filling I spread a thin layer of seedless blackberry jam over the crust. I then tossed 1 cup of blueberries with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract, and then spread the blueberries over the jam. Topped with the frangipane, and baked for 30 minutes. I covered it with foil for the final 5 minutes because it was getting too brown.
If you ground your won almonds for this, you will need about 1 heaping cup of unsalted almonds. I ground mine for about 30 seconds in the food processor.
This was a fun way to start the day.
I ate a slice when it was still warm, and was pleasantly surprised. From the description, I was half-heartedly interested in this dessert. From the tasting, I completely understand why the fame of the Bakewell Tart has traveled over oceans.
Bakewell Tart…er…pudding One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows) Assembling the tart 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. Jasmine’s notes: Sweet shortcrust pastry Prep time: 15-20 minutes 225g (8oz) all purpose flour 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 Jasmine’s notes: Frangipane Prep time: 10-15 minutes 125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened 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. Annemarie’s notes:
Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds
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.
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria
sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you
shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or
through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go
has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db
thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with
a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them
out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup),
depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I
made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while
Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had
fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread
150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into
cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water
• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.
• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one
teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the
almond extract
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour
• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).
