Bakewell Tart

 On Friday, my daughter's class is having a Victorian Party in honour of Charles Dickens' story "A Christmas Carol". The students will be dressing as characters of the story and will be going on with their daily routine. So during the discussion about the Victorian Era of England (me being a big fan of Charles Dickens stories) the topic of food came up. So I told her that she had already eaten one of their desserts, and it was the Bakewell Tart.


This is one of my favorite cakes baked in a shortcrust pastry with a layer of fruit preserves or jams baked in between the cake and the pastry. I usually make this Tart for evening tea.


The history of this dessert is that; in the mid nineteenth century, in Bakewell, a town in Derbyshire this tart made its first appearance as the Bakewell Pudding. The famous recipe writer Eliza Action made reference to it in her 'Modern Cookery' book in 1845. The idea of puddings with a jam layer topped with a butter and an egg mixture was part of early British cooking. However the pastry base, a feature of the Bakewell, was not common. Almond flavor was added, firstly with almond essence and later with ground almonds, which changed the texture.


In most recipes require cherry jam. But since I'm not much of a cherry fan, I use black currant, blackberry or raspberry jam. This tart has a sweet almond flavor incorporated with ground almonds in a sponge like cake.