Bakewell Tart

A Bakewell tart is a British sweet made by spreading a thin layer of jam inside a crumbly tart shell, adding a thick layer of almond batter on top, and baking it. Its name comes from Bakewell, a town in Derbyshire. The same town’s pudding also contains jam and almonds, but its typical outer case is made of puff pastry. The clues that distinguish the two sweets lie not only in their ingredient names but also in the pastry and the way they bake.

Why the Tart Shell Is Baked First

Shortcrust is a crumbly pastry made by working fat into flour and binding it with a small amount of egg or water. Some recipes (the ingredient proportions and method) rub cold butter into the flour and bring the dough together with egg yolk and cold water. Once the fat is worked in, the dough is gathered, rolled out, lined into a tin, and chilled. Unlike bread dough, it is not kneaded hard, so it bakes to a texture that crumbles apart.

The shell is blind-baked with paper and weights on it, then the weights are removed and the base and rim are lightly browned. The base is cooked through before the moist filling goes in, and the baked shell is cooled before the jam and almond batter are added. Baking the outer case first keeps the pastry crisp even after it is filled, while the inside bakes up moist.

The Jam Layer and the Two Roles of Almonds

The jam may be raspberry, strawberry, or similar. Because it is spread over the base as a single layer rather than mixed into the batter, a thin line of fruit remains in the cross-section. On top of it goes a filling made by mixing butter, sugar, eggs, ground almonds, and so on. In British recipes, this almond filling is called frangipane.

The egg and flour set during baking, forming a soft layer over the jam. The almonds scattered on top play a different role from the ground nuts inside. The ground nuts become part of the batter, bringing aroma and fat, while the flakes on the surface add browning and bite. Even with the same almonds, the texture changes depending on whether they are ground and mixed in or scattered over the top as flakes.

For a cherry Bakewell, the top is covered with white icing after the tart has been baked and cooled. The cherry and icing do not replace the jam layer; they are a finish added on top of it. This white finish is also used on small single-serving versions.

A Town Where the Tart and the Pudding Sit Side by Side

At the local Bakewell Tart Shop, the tart consists of shortcrust layered with raspberry jam and a frangipane of ground almonds and egg, scattered with sliced almonds. The same shop’s pudding layers jam and an almond-and-egg filling in puff pastry and is served warm. Some shops make the pudding soft and custard-like, while others call both fillings frangipane, so the two cannot be told apart by whether they contain almonds.

Nor is the jam always the same kind. One local pudding shop uses seedless strawberry jam for both its tart and its pudding, while King Arthur’s tart recipe uses raspberry. The choice of fruit and whether the seeds are left in also change each shop’s cross-section and mouthfeel.

The Legend of a Mistake at an Inn

According to the pudding legend, when the landlady Ann Greaves asked for a jam tart, the cook poured the egg-and-almond mixture over the jam instead of mixing it into the pastry. The inn is said to be either the White Horse or the Rutland Arms, and the year varies from around 1820 to 1860. According to food historian Ivan Day, the White Horse was demolished in 1803, and the Rutland Arms was built afterward. The inn and the date in the legend differ from one telling to another.

Cookery writings preserve a form earlier than the 1860 account. A manuscript collection begun in 1835, owned and studied by Day, contains a recipe from Hannah Anthony, who was at the Castle Inn. Raspberry preserve and candied lemon peel are placed in the bottom, and a layer of egg, butter, and sugar is added over them in a puff pastry case. The year this recipe was written into the collection is uncertain. A printed recipe appeared in the London magazine “The Magazine of Domestic Economy” in 1836, and it was reprinted in the United States in 1837. The records suggest that several inns and households had different formulas.

When the Tart Took Shape and How Its Baking Styles Spread

It is not clear whether today’s tart of shortcrust and thick almond batter came about at the same time as the pudding of the 1830s. The local tart shop presents photographs of its shop and courtyard from the 1920s as a memory of the time when it handled both sweets. Questions remain about when the present-day tart, with its thick almond layer, took shape.

There is also the Bakewell slice, baked in a large tray and cut into squares. The National Trust’s recipe is one example. It shares the base pastry, the fruit, and the almond top layer, and cutting it after it has cooled lets the soft filling be divided without falling apart. Whether as a round whole tart, a small white-iced cherry Bakewell, or a square slice, the jam and almond layers remain at its heart.

Glossary