English Cherry Bakewell Tart

This old-fashioned English dessert features crisp pastry, cherry jam, almond frangipane and a silky smooth seal of royal icing.

The Bakewell tart that’s known throughout England today is actually a dressed up version of an earlier, more old-fashioned pudding - the Bakewell Pudding - which comes from the small town of Bakewell in Derbyshire. Compared to the tart, the pudding is a sloppier affair of almonds, butter and cherries, all baked together in a dish and served as a cuddling, weighty dessert with custard. You can still eat the original Bakewell pudding in Bakewell today, but the flavours of this pudding were evolved and refined into the Bakewell tart that’s known today, still comforting and still naughtily sweet. You can actually use any fruit jam you like for bakewell tart: raspberry, blackcurrant, blueberry are all wonderful. I would argue cherry is the best contender for this, as the flavours of almond and cherry have always a very special relationship. The pastry for this is baked blind - don’t panic, I will guide you through that - then it’s filled with tangy cherry jam, almond frangipane and the deal is ultimately sealed with a layer of silky royal icing. It’s a really special teatime treat that will hopefully never go out of style. Let’s go!