The Daring Bakers: Bakewell Tart

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.

I love almond desserts, so I was looking forward to making this one. 

The bakewell tart is comprised of three elements: a sweet shortcrust pastry, a layer of jam and an almond frangipane filling. All three are quite simple - especially if using store-bought jam - so I was expecting an effortless evening of baking when I set forth with this recipe. Not so. 

The crust went well enough, except that it was so wet once the eggs were in that I omitted water altogether. Also, it was difficult to roll out - even after over an hour in the fridge - so i ended up pressing it into my tart pan. 

I was intending to make my own jam - rose petal, in fact - but I wasn't able to find roses that could be guaranteed unsprayed in time. I have located a source that will have some for me in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned to see how the jam turns out. I ended up using sour cherry jam that I bought, so this was the easiest step of all!

Now to the filling: It came together easily enough, looked great as I poured it into the pan, spread evenly, I had high hopes. After not quite 30 minutes in the oven, it was quite poofy and quite brown, so I removed it from the oven. After it cooled, I cut into it, and the filling all oozed out. Back into the oven it went for about 15 minutes. After which it was still fairly runny, but I thought it would firm up as it cooled. I was wrong. Finally, after another 20+ minutes it was done on the inside.

I enjoyed this tart, but I wasn't crazy for it. Probably not something I'd make again.