Ingredient

Bakewell tart

A Bakewell tart is shortcrust pastry, a layer of jam, and frangipane — an almond sponge — baked until golden. It is frequently confused with the Bakewell pudding, which is an older and quite different thing, and the confusion is worth clearing up because they are not variations of each other.

Tart, pudding and cherry Bakewell

Bakewell pudding

The older one, and the Derbyshire original. Puff pastry, jam, and a rich set custard of egg and almond — closer to a baked custard than to a sponge. Served warm, and it wobbles.

Bakewell tart

Shortcrust, jam, and frangipane — an almond sponge, which sets firm and cake-like. The modern and far more common version.

Cherry Bakewell

A Bakewell tart with a layer of white icing and a glacé cherry on top. Individual, iced, and firmly a supermarket-era thing.

Which is "correct"

The pudding has the historical claim and the tart has the popularity. They are different desserts, and calling either wrong is a losing argument in Derbyshire.

Frangipane

Ground almonds, butter, sugar and egg, in roughly equal weights, sometimes with a little flour. Not marzipan, which is almonds and sugar with no butter or egg.

What frangipane does in the oven

Frangipane is a sponge with ground almonds in place of most of the flour. That substitution changes how it behaves.

Ground almonds contain no gluten and a great deal of fat, so frangipane cannot build the elastic structure a flour sponge does. It sets through egg coagulation rather than through gluten, which is why it is dense, moist and slightly fudgy rather than light and airy, and why it stays moist for days where a plain sponge dries out.

It also means frangipane rises modestly and evenly rather than doming, so the surface bakes flat and golden and takes a decoration well.

The practical consequences: do not overbeat it once the eggs are in, since there is no gluten to develop but you can force the emulsion to split; add the eggs gradually to the creamed butter and sugar so it does not curdle; and do not overbake it, because the fat and the almonds go from moist to dry quite suddenly.

The method

1. Make shortcrust pastry, rest it, line the tin, and chill it again.
2. Blind bake the case until pale golden and dry. This matters more here than in most tarts, because jam and frangipane are both wet and will otherwise sit on raw pastry.
3. Brush the hot base with a little beaten egg white and return it to the oven for a minute. It seals the pastry against the jam.
4. Spread a thin layer of jam — raspberry traditionally, or cherry. Thin: too much jam boils, rises through the frangipane and makes the base wet.
5. Cream butter and caster sugar until pale, then beat in eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of the ground almonds if it looks like splitting.
6. Fold in ground almonds, a little flour, and almond extract if you are using it — sparingly, since it is very strong.
7. Spread the frangipane gently over the jam and level it. Scatter flaked almonds over the top.
8. Bake at a moderate temperature until risen, golden and just firm in the centre. A skewer should come out with a crumb or two rather than clean.
9. Cool in the tin. It firms as it cools and is fragile while hot.

What goes wrong

• Soggy base. Not blind baked, not sealed, or too much jam. All three are common and all three are avoidable.
• Jam risen through the frangipane. Too thick a layer, or a very loose jam. Use a thin layer of a firm-set jam.
• Split frangipane. Eggs added too fast or too cold. Add them one at a time with a spoonful of almonds.
• Dry. Overbaked. Frangipane goes from moist to dry quickly at the end.
• Overpoweringly almond. Almond extract is very strong. A few drops, not a teaspoon.
• Shrunken pastry case. Not rested, or stretched into the tin. Rest it and ease it in rather than pulling.

Common questions