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'm not a huge fan of crusts or tarts in general so I quartered the crust and thirded the frangipane. Luckily, I had the right amount of everything because it gets kind of annoying when the small containers start to take over the fridge. I used strawberry jam for 2 tarts and left it plain for one tart because I wasn't sure how much I would like the strawberry and almond together. I remember making frangipane with TWD and really enjoyed the almond filling. Instead of creaming, I used a mini attachment for my handmixer that works like a food processor since there was so little filling and I didn't want the ingredients to stir around the bottom of the mixer bowl. This is how Dorie makes it and it's great because there is no curdling. You're left with a nicely emulsified thick almond cream. The bakewell tart didn't really change my mind about tarts, but I'm more of a cake and cookie girl.

TWD: French Pear Tart..turned Raspberry Almond Cream

Still suffering from the aftermath of holiday eating, I decided to omit the tart shell and just bake the filling with pears. Baking just the filling in a tart pan without actual tart dough would probably start a fire in the oven and since I don't have a tart pan to begin with, it was my chance to use my brand new ramekins from Christmas! Halving the recipe, I managed to fill 2 ramekins with the almond cream, although after seeing the filling rise up like a cake in the oven, I should have divided the filling among 3 or 4. This mini filling job was perfect in my sort of 'food processor' attachment of my handmixer. I didn't have any canned fruit and I was too lazy to cook fresh ones so I threw in some defrosted raspberries. I was only able to carefully pick out a few whole ones and the rest was mush.


The almond cream was absolutely delicious! I'm so glad Dorie picked this recipe, because it's something that looks sophisticated (maybe not mine..haha), but easy to make.

Thanks to Dorie for choosing this recipe, which can be found on her site and in her book Baking: From my Home to Yours Don't forget to checkout the TWD Blogroll!