Great British Bakewell

The humble Bakewell Tart is a comforting classic, yet our addition of lemon-curd and zest keep this updated version fresh and fruity, pepping it up with a citrusy tang. If you can stop grateful friends and family from polishing off the lot, you’ll find that the tart keeps incredibly well and tastes even better by the second day.

To feed 10 people you will need:

9 inch flan dish

Approx. 300g shortcrust pastry – Homemade is best, and in the time it would take to go to the shops you could have made it yourself! The quickest, fool-proof method is using a food processor – simply add 200g plain flour, pinch of salt, 50g hard margarine and 50g Trex (or lard – I prefer to use vegetable fat) and blitz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then drizzle in cold water – about 1tbsp at a time – and blitz again until it forms a ball. Leave to rest in fridge for about an hour before using.

Half a jar of raspberry jam

Half a jar of lemon curd

2oz softened butter

4oz caster sugar

2 eggs

4oz ground almonds

4 tbsp cake crumbs or crushed sponge fingers

Rind of 1 lemon

Couple of handfuls of flaked almonds

You will need to:

-          Roll pastry as thin as you dare and line flan dish – I don’t bake blind as it is cooked on the floor of a hot Aga oven which crisped the bottom nicely. If cooking otherwise you might want to bake blind to ensure avoiding the dreaded soggy bottom!

-          Spread raspberry jam over pastry, and then carefully spread lemon curd on top of that. To avoid mixing the two together it’s easiest to blob the lemon curd all over the jam, then spread these gently using the back of a spoon.

-          Make frangipane filling by creaming together the sugar and butter, then add egg, ground almonds, lemon rind and cake crumbs and mix until it forms a sticky dough. Spread this mixture carefully on top of the lemon curd and flatten using the back of a spoon.

-          Sprinkle the flaked almonds on top and bake at 190C for 30-40 mins, or until golden brown.

-          Enjoy straight from the oven with lashings of cream, or cold as an afternoon treat.

C x