Bakewell tarts recipe

This Bakewell tarts recipe makes perfect little cakes every time.

These mini tarts are the ideal afternoon treat with a cup of tea, and they're really not difficult to make. For this recipe, we've made our own pastry to make the outer casing, which ensures it's suitably sweet and and rich, to complement the cherry flavour and the almondy frangipane filling. However, if you wanted to skip this step, you could use shop-bought pastry instead. This recipe makes 16 mini tarts and will take around 1 hour and 35 mins to prepare and bake. Keeping them mini means they can be a bite sized treat you can take with you. Think packed lunches, picnics or after school treat you get to enjoy with your friends whilst the kids play. They were created by Molly Bakes.

Ingredients

For the sweet shortcrust pastry:

• 430g plain flour
• 1tsp salt
• 280g unsalted butter, cold
• 130g icing sugar
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 2 large yolks
• 2 large eggs

For the frangipane:

• 220g caster sugar
• 220g unsalted butter, softened
• 1tsp almond extract
• 170g ground almonds
• 50g plain flour
• 4 large eggs

For the filling and topping:

• ½ jar morello cherry preserve
• 200g icing sugar
• 100g flaked almonds
• 16 cherries

Method

1. To make the pastry, sift the flour and the salt together. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix the sugar and lemon zest into the mixture. Add the egg yolks and eggs. Work everything together, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. To make the frangipane, mix the ground almonds and plain flour together, set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until pale. Add one egg at a time into the butter and sugar mixture, sprinkle a little of the flour mix into the wet ingredients to help the eggs bind. Once well incorporated, fold in the rest of the dry ingredients.
3. Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Grease 16 tart moulds with butter (you can also use a muffin tin). Roll out the pastry and line the tart moulds with it. Spoon 1 teaspoon of cherry jam into the base of each mould. Pour the frangipane mixture into a piping bag and pipe it over the top of the cherry jam. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes until the pastry is golden and cooked through. Remove from the oven and transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely.
4. To make the topping, toast the flaked almonds in the oven for 5 minutes. Mix the icing sugar with 4 tablespoons of water and stir until you have a thick paste. Spoon the paste over the tops of the cooled bakewells and sprinkle the flaked almonds on top. Garnish with a cherry.

Top tip for making Bakewell tarts

You can make a raspberry version instead by changing the jam and topping each cake with a fresh raspberry.

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