Series 7, Episode 5, Bakewell Tart
This is another bake from series 7 that I’ve previously made, though I’m not sure I used this recipe: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marys_bakewell_tart_12584 I did this time though.
I’d run out of my homemade jam so needed to make some more. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find jam sugar, even at the big Tesco, and I was shopping the evening before I was planning to bake it. After spending a bit more time staring at the different types of sugar they have on offer, I noticed that they had a bottle of liquid pectin (which is what they add to sugar to make it jam sugar). I decided to buy it and give it a go.
I had a feeling that the recipe would make more jam than I needed, so I’d only bought 1 pack of raspberries (150g). The recipe on the bottle was for even more jam than this, so I scaled it down a bit.
The jam was a success! It set more than jams I’ve made before and tasted just as good.
I wasn’t looking forward to making the pastry, it always seems to be more effort than it’s worth when you can just buy it ready made. However, this pastry dough was really soft and easy to work with, so I must remember this one for another time.
Here’s the pastry ready to cook:
I never know when to trim the pastry so I left it until the end… I probably shouldn’t have though.
After blind baking, I spread most of the jam in the bottom (there was enough with a little extra), then added the filling. It was difficult to spread the filling out evenly and nicely without jam poking through, this is the best I could do:
I ended up baking this for around 45 minutes because the dough was pretty raw inside – I’m still getting to know my newish oven though so am never sure what temperature to put it on, maybe I was wrong. The filling raised but cracked and collapsed a little:
You can also see a couple of holes from where I’ve stuck a knife in to see whether it was cooked.
I was tempted to make a little bit less icing than the recipe said, because it seemed like a lot. In the end, I think it wasn’t quite enough and I think I should have added a little more water to make it easier to spread:
I think because the icing was too thick it also made the feathering a bit more difficult. It looked ok inside though
I love Bakewell Tart so I think I’d have been happy with it however messy it looked. I think this is one where it tastes better homemade rather than shop bought too, so I know I’ll definitely make this again. I’m starting to get the hang of making jam too and preferring homemade. Maybe next time I’ll make mini ones.
Lily
