BakeWell Tarts

Well ive been wanting to live in London...the UK ... since i was a kid, and still dream to be settled there . :) But guess ive not done my research well enough, well i did it now :) The Bakewell tart is a traditional English baked cake native to the town of Bakwell. The tart consists of a shortcrust pastry shell, covered in jam and covered with a sponge style filling enriched with ground almonds. This is known as Frangipane. Traditionally the cakes are also covered with nuts such as almonds and peanuts. Normally eggs are a must have in this recipe but chucking them out from recipe's is my mission :) So here is another month of challenge from the Daring Bakers for me! BAKE WELL TARTS :)

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

3 Major elements of a Bake well tart are- Tart, Jam & Frangipane.

Tart Crust(short crust pastry):
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small chunks
2 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed
To make the pastry: combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and mix with hands until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the middle of the pastry. Pour ice water into the well and work it in to bind the dough until it holds together without being too wet or sticky. Form the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. .Press the dough into the pan so it fits tightly; press the edges into the sides of the pan. Shave off the excess hanging dough with a knife. Put the tart in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to relax. Preheat the oven to 180 C .Line the tart with aluminum foil and add pie weights or dried beans to keep the sides of the tart from buckling. Bake for 30 minutes, and then remove the foil and weights.Remember the tart will be cooked again with the filling.,so it should be baked until lightly golden. the second bake. Set aside to cool

For the Jam i used a store bought Strawberry Jam.

Frangipane: This vegetarian recipe is inspired from here.
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Sugar (you could add more if u like it more sweet)
1 cup strawberry puree (just crush fresh strawberries in ur blender)
2 tbs Cornflour
1/2cup all purpose flour
1/4th cup almond flakes
Few drops of lemon juice
Few drops vanilla essence
Mix butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Mix in the strawberry puree and mix well, add rest of the ingredients except flour and almonds, and mix till smooth. Add the flour and blend till mixed well, lastly add the almond flakes and mix it gradually. Pour in the filling in your jam spread ed tart base and bake for about and hour in a pre-heated oven at 180deg.
This might feel like a little shaky even after baking for an hour. But will set after its cool. The best way to know is inserting a knife/toothpick and check if it comes out clean or not.

My Verdict to this months challenge is... shown in the pics below... my 2 yr old daughter 'Kaira' could not wait until the pics were being clicked... she literally had her mouth open as i was clicking... so if the pics dint turn out well.. its cuz she could not resist eating it :)

My next variation for Bakewell Tart is going to be with Nutella filling :0 Flaky pastry crust + Cream Nutellla chocolate +Crumbly soft cake like Fragipane . YUMMMMM!!