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.
Is it really that time already, the time for this month's Daring Baker's Challenge! This is now my third challenge, and I'm still loving it especially the bit you do not get to see, the support and help of our DBers out there, in our DB hidden world. However, if you fancy joining us, take a mosey over to The Daring Kitchen, and there's plenty of information on there about how to get involved.
Anyway, this month's challenge was an english classic: a bakewell tart, or could that be pudding, depending on which way you prefer. Technically, as I understand it, a Bakewell 'pudding' is where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry and baked in puff pastry, where as a Bakewell 'tart' is a rich shortcrust pastry holding jam and an almondy frangipane or sponge-type filling. Our challenge hosts, however, decided to go for a combination, giving us the best of both. So onto the challenge...
The weekend the challenge was announced we were up in the Lakes on holiday, but I was so eager to know what was in store this month I managed to get a connection on my trusty iPhone to find out what it was. Initial thoughts of horror set in, my nut allergy.. Argh how could a Bakewell be a Bakewell without almonds, but my fellow DBers were on hand to help out, and ideas for an alternative filling instead of the frangipane were taken on board, whilst I'd leave out the almonds from the pastry.
Fresh from making pastry from scratch for the Apple Strudel challenge, this time I wasn't about to run out to Waitrose and buy some ready-to-roll pastry. However, I must admit that I didn't make my own jam for the challenge as we already had numerous varieties stashed in the cupboard. In the end, I went with a Bonne Maman Raspberry jam that I sieved to remove the pips. And to deal with the nut-issue in the frangipane, I went for a basic sponge mixture instead. I also decided that rather than make one large tart, I would make six individual portions. I'd wanted an excuse to buy a set of six loose bottomed flan tins, and the challenge was ideal.
I was really pleased with the results! The sponge worked really well and the pastry was nice and buttery, and crumbled just right. I also think the raspberry jam was a good choice, whilst I really like strawberry jam, I think raspberry is that little bit sweeter and fruiter. Overall, the tarts went down well, His Lordship said as soon as he'd finished his first tart, that I could definitely make them again, fantastic!
Bakewell Tart…er…pudding
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
What You'll Need
One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz))Jam or curd, warmed for spreadabilityOne quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds
What You'll Need to Do
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.
Jasmine’s Notes:
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.
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).
Sweet shortcrust pastry
Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Resting Time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment Needed: bowls, box grater, cling film
What You'll Need
225g (8oz) all purpose flour
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
What You'll Need to Do
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:
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
Frangipane
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment Needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula
What You'll Need
125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour
What You'll Need to Do
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:
Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).