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I’m back, sorry for the gap between posts, I do work 29 hours a week and I’m studying 90 credits this year on my degree so I’ve been a busy Bee recently, especially since starting studying at the start of October. In hindsight I should have gone on holiday a week or so earlier, but isn’t hindsight such a glorious thing ey.  As soon as we got back from Vietnam I then had my head in the books. Hence no blog posts nor much posted on social media. If only I could make delicious food full time with you all!!

So I can’t lie this was my second attempt at this recipe. My first attempt which I did a couple months ago, before Vietnam was delicious but was slightly over and unevenly cooked due to my broken oven. So, had it of gone perfect, you would have had this recipe weeks ago. Instead I gave it another bash and here you are my lovely folk!!

I know what you’re all thinking; I’m doing a food blog without a functioning oven??? Not such a wise idea, I know.  But it did work, well kinda, as long as I had the oven on full blast, it cooked my food, slowly but it cooked. And there were certain parts of the oven which were hotter than others, so we just did a switcharoo of the food to try and even the cooking out. Anyways, eventually it resulted in buying a new one as the oven man couldn’t fix it, well he could of; but it would of cost just as much to buy the two broken parts than to replace the oven.

Now getting the new oven was a palaver in itself, I just don’t have much luck with ovens.  The oven arrived promptly after ordering, the delivery man threw it in my doorway and I slid it out the way in my living room.

Now, I’m not one to rush things (i.e the job looked way too complicated and blerrghhh), so I waited until someone could come and help, which in most cases it’s my mum or grandad. My mum is pretty hands on; she’ll give anything a go, so she came round eagerly and ready to help. Though this is where the needed help came to an abrupt end.

We had got the old oven out, un plugged it, carried it together out of the way into the living room, grabbed some scissors to open the new oven in the box and that’s when it went belly up. I actually thought there was a waterfall in there; this lovely relaxing noise of water came flowing out the box. WTF!!! Yes you guessed it from the description of the delivery; the oven door was all over my floor, waaahhhhhh!!! I still had no oven and now I had an absolute mess to clean up too!!! Little bits of glass scratching away on my wooden floor!!!!

So I psyched myself up to call the company, expecting to put up an argument. No way was I going to get the blame for this bodge job. Like really, who throws a big heavy box full of glass????

And to my surprise, the girl said ‘no problem, I’ll get another ordered to be delivered tomorrow with another delivery company’, no joke, no questions asked or anything. So my only theory is that the girl was sick to her back teeth of the same complaint or she really hates her job. Either way, Kerchiiiing!!

So back to zee Tart. I obviously used my Blackberry and ginger jam (see previous post) and some of the 100’s of blackberries I still have in the freezer. Now, I am not one to blow my own trumpet, but this stomped all over the typical cherry Bakewell tart. You can ask my food tasters of the first attempt.

I also wanted to make sure of an even bake, so I did a bit of research to see how others chefs do this. Mary bloody Berry says to cover in tin foil when baking. DO NOT do this, was a blooming disaster. I nearly ruined attempt 2. I repeat do not cover in foil, well not at least until it’s partially cooked otherwise you lose any pretty pattern you made with your berries. So yeah, you nearly didn’t get any photos.

So as you can see from the picture above, I did cheat slightly (don’t judge), I used pre rolled pastry. Though some call it cheating, I call it being clever. Personally I don’t mind pre rolled pastry, I think it quick, easy and still tasty. Yeah homemade pastry would be much tastier but it’s much more time consuming, and previously mentioned I work and study, so I prefer to spend my time making and trying these recipes to share with you all. If you do want a recipe for sweet shortcrust pastry , give me a shout.

This is a very simple recipe, I loved making it. I hope you do too, if you try it, please share a picture of yours. Also if you use a smaller tin to me, please reduce the butter, sugar and almonds to 90g, flour to 35g and then just use 2 eggs.

Ingredients

130g butter at room temperature

130g caster sugar

130g ground almond

50g plain flour

3 eggs

One teaspoon of Almond essence

Jam of which I used about 3-4 tablespoons

Sweet short crust pastry

Fresh blackberries, around 15-20 I used

Flaked almond to sprinkle on top.

Equipment

Tart Tin

Wooden Spoon

Baking paper

Baking Beans

Recipe

1. Turn on oven to 180C fan/200c/gas mark 6
2. Put the sheet of pastry over the tart tin, you may need to re-roll slightly to ensure it covers the full tart tin. Make sure the pastry overlaps the side slightly.
3. Press the pastry into the creases; don’t be too harsh, we don’t want any holes. Make sure you don’t chop off the excess at this point as the pasty may shrink slightly.
4. Then put it in the fridge 15 minutes.
5. Take out, prick the base with a fork then cover in baking paper and fill with thin layer of baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes. This is to ensure we don’t get a soggy bottom, we don’t want to upset Paul Hollywood do we now.
6. In the meantime beat you butter and sugar until light, smooth and fluffy.
7. Add your eggs one at a time, keep mixing.
8. Add your almond essence, ground almonds and flour and mix thoroughly until incorporated.
9. Take your pastry out of the oven and let it cool. Don’t forget to remove your beans and baking paper.
10. Trim off the excess pasty.
11. Add your jam and spread it evenly on the base. Add more or less depending how much you like jam, I didn’t hold back. But don’t add too much that it seeps out.
12. Add your cake mixture on top and spread evenly, be careful not to move the mixture too much, do small dollops and spread carefully so the jam doesn’t move.
13. I then pressed in my berries in a pretty pattern and as evenly as possible and sprinkled with flaked almonds.
14. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden, if you’re unsure if its cooked through, stick a skewer in. If it comes out clean, it done, if not, stick it back in for a little longer but keep your eye on it.
15. Voila!!! Your Bakewell tart is ready to eat, its best served warm with cream and a proper Yorkshire Brew, Enjoy!!

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