Bakewell Tart

I first heard about a bakewell tart while reading about the Daring Bakers June 2009 Challenge on Almost Bourdain. I love frangipane and I started dreaming about a tart filled with lovely almondy frangipane and a rich deep strawberry jam...

I went back to the source. The Daring Bakers June 2009 Challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. Both Jasmine and Annemarie have detailed the rich history of the bakewell tart and posted the recipe to be used by the Daring Bakers. Now, I've always been in awe of the things the Daring Baker's make. I could never do what they do. I was a little intimidated by a recipe that called for making my own pastry (pastry is not my friend) plus frangipane and homemade jam or curd (the last one was optional). In the end I bookmarked many of the DB's creations and then forgot about it as time went on.

Then I read this post on Smitten Kitchen and that brought it all back. I still wasn't too keen on the whole making pastry business so I cheated and bought some premade sweet minature pastry shells. I also bought my jam, but I bought the fanciest jam I could find. I did make my own frangipane though.


When you take the Sandra Lee approach to baking, sometimes the results can be a bit hit or miss. Luckily, my pastry shells were very nice and the jam was good too. They were a lovely afternoon tea, and they looked pretty too.

I'm glad I did try them and I don't regret not doing it the Daring Baker's way. After all, it was very much an experiment to see what making my own frangipane was like. Plus I got to take photos of my new tea set!

There are oodles of recipes out there for this particular Daring Bakers Challenge, but the core recipe can be found on Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Ambrosia and Nectar.