Bakewell Tart

A day off work is a day off well spent when there's baking involved. I've gone pretty much my whole life thinking that I don't like Bakewell Tarts until I tried a slice from Pret the other day and realised that I had been living a lie.

This was fairly time consuming to make but was worth every minute of it - I have taste testers who can vouch for that! When it comes to patience, I don't have the most so I took a few shortcuts along the way but it still turned out just fine.

Ingredients;

The pastry

• 200g Plain flour 
• 175g Unsalted butter
• 1 Egg yolk
• 2tbsp Icing sugar

The filling 

• 180g Unsalted butter
• 180g Golden caster sugar
• 3 Medium eggs
• 180g Ground almonds
• 300g Raspberry jam
• 20g Flaked almonds

Method; 

1. Begin by preheating the oven to 160degreesC.
2. Now you need to make the pastry. Place the flour and the butter into a bowl and rub together until a breadcrumb consistency is formed. Then add in the egg yolk and a little water if needed to bring the dough together. Form into a ball and then roll out on a floured work surface. You will need to roll it into a big enough circle to line a 23cm loose bottom tart dish. 
3. Once lined, place the tart dish into the fridge to chill for 15 minutes. 
4. Next you will need to blind bake the tart - do this by covering with tin foil and filling with either baking beans, rice, lentils etc and baking in the oven for 10 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for a further 5 minutes. 
5. After you have blind baked the tart, take out of the oven and leave to cool (I was impatient and it definitely wasn't completely cool when I did the next steps). 
6. To make the filling, start by beating the butter and sugar together until smooth. 
7. Then add in the eggs one at a time and beat on a low speed until each are well combined. 
8. Next, fold in the ground almonds being careful not to beat all the air out that will help the tart to rise. 
9. Now to assemble the tart. Start by spooning the jam onto the pastry and spread out evenly. 
10. Then, carefully spoon the filling on top of the layer of jam. Whilst spreading, try to keep the jam layer and the filling layer separate so they look nice and distinct when you cut into the tart.
11. Finally, sprinkle the flake almonds evenly over the top of the tart and place into the oven to bake for between 30-40 minutes (mine took 36!). The top should be risen, golden brown and shouldn't have too much of a wobble to it. 
12. Leave to cool (again, I was very impatient and keen to eat it whilst it was still warm!) before taking the tart out of the tin.

Enjoy warm with custard as dessert or cooled with a cup of tea in the afternoon! Or for breakfast, lunch or dinner if you really fancy.