Plum Bakewell Tart – A Traditional British Bake!
For Pastry week this week on Great British Bake Off the remaining bakers were challenged to make Danish pastries for the Signature round, a Bakewell tart for the Technical and filo pastry amuse-bouches for the showstopper. As I was hit by a nasty cold at the end of last week and had no energy left, I went for a plum Bakewell tart as I had no creativity for anything else!
As usual though I didn’t just follow a Bakewell tart recipe from a book, I referred to several recipes for inspiration, tinkered with them and used my own proportions for the pastry and frangipane filling. For the jam layer I chose autumnal damson plum jam as fitting for the season and the mellow fruitfulness which is in full flow, to make a plum Bakewell tart.
I found that making my plum Bakewell tart was not as time-consuming as other technical challenges have been. I didn’t go for feathered icing though, since I didn’t want to add any more sugar, and I think that would have saved some time. It made a delicious and different treat on a Sunday afternoon instead of the usual crumbles!
- 450 g plain flour
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 60 g icing sugar
- 2 medium free-range eggs
- 300 g ground almonds
- 120 g caster sugar
- 5 medium free-range eggs
- 1 tsp French almond extract
- 1 jar damson plum jam you will use approx half
- 25 g icing sugar
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Sift the flour into a large bowl.
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Cut the cold butter into cubes and rub in lightly with your fingertips until the mixture is the texture of fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the icing sugar.
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Add the two eggs, beaten, and bring together to form a smooth dough. Form the pastry into a ball, cover with clingfilm, and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
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In the meantime, grease your tart tin and preheat your oven 180 degrees (fan).
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Once the 30 minutes has passed, roll out the pastry, line the tart tin. Then put baking paper on top the pastry and fill the pastry case with baking beans.
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Bake blind for 15 to 20 minutes, then remove the baking beans, leave the case to cool a little, and reduce the oven temperature to 170 degrees (fan).
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Make the frangipane by mixing the ground almonds and caster sugar in a large bowl, then adding the 5 beaten eggs one by one, mixing between each addition. Add the almond extract.
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Spoon the jam onto the cooled pastry case and spread evenly. Spoon the frangipane on top of the jam and smooth the top.
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Bake for approx 30-40 minutes or until the centre is set when you check with a toothpick and the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
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Make a water icing by mixing the icing sugar with a very small amount of cold water in a small bowl. Drizzle over the top of the Bakewell tart and serve either warm with custard or cold.
For more Bakewell tart recipes, you might like to check out:
- This Bakewell tart from Veggie Desserts
- This Bakewell pudding from Farmersgirl Kitchen
- These cute mini cherry bakewells from Emily’s Recipes and Reviews
Pin for later on Pinterest!
Sending this over to Jenny from Mummy Mishaps for the Great Bloggers Bake Off!
It looks great and I think the plum jam is a good choice, the tart must be yummy.
I love how you’ve done your own thing! It has turned out so well. Looks amazing! x
Absolutely love the idea of using plum jam in your bakewell. A really great bake.
Angela x
Plum jam would be brilliant, almonds and plums are made to go together. Love the look of the top of your tart too, looks nice and crispy and glad you didn’t cover it in sweet sticky icing 🙂
Oh how I love a good Bakewell tart… my granny used to bake them all the time and it always reminds me of her!
Oooh your Bakewell tart looks lovely! I baked one for the first time and it will not be the last! #GBBO
Such a lovely classic and looks gorgeous! I’m absolutely intrigued to try plum jam, it sounds delicious paired with almond flavor!
what a lovely looking bakewell tart Lucy – all that delicious frangipane. i think my tart could have done with a bit more of that to be honest. and using plum jam is a great alternative to raspberry too x
Hope you feel better Lucy. Your tart looks gorgeous. I don’t like loads of icing either and you have made it look very pretty by leaving it off. At least with plum jam you don’t get all the little pips as well.
You make me smile not being able to resist doing things your own way! I’m coming to your on a Sunday afternoon if this is what you serve. Thanks so much for all your support with #BakeoftheWeek xx
Hehe it would be too boring otherwise wouldn’t it! You’re very welcome to come over, shame you are so far away. Would hate to miss Bake of the Week.
[…] used leftover pastry from the bakewell tart I made last week, which I had frozen. The quantities in that recipe makes enough pastry for a large […]
Bakewell tarts are probably one of my favourite British desserts! So delicious and decadent. I remember a time when I didn’t like anything that contained almond flavour (marzipan/frangipane) What?! No idea why 😛 absolutely love it now. I love the sound of a plum bakewell 🙂