Vegan English baking: Individual vegan bakewell tarts

This is the first of several English-themed posts that I have planned for October, with the goal of veganising a few of my favourite English baked goods and desserts. I have been meaning to do this for a while, and the combination of Vegan Mofo and our recent time in the U.K. prompted me to jump in now.

Today, we have bakewell tart, a layered dessert of shortcrust pastry, jam and (in non-vegan versions) a baked egg/almond sponge. It isn't a dessert I grew up with and I can't actually remember when I first tried it. I do have a memory of a particularly good slice in an English pub one winter when I was aged 17 (or perhaps 20...), and I know I  have always enjoyed the tart when it has come my way.

The Mr Kipling individual cherry bakewell tarts were also present in my English grandparent's house when we spent Christmas with them and the dessert is thus linked slightly to Christmas in my mind. My individual tarts are somewhat inspired by those commercial versions, with the white icing and cherry topping not being seen in more traditional recipes.

There are a few versions of the history of bakewell tart, all of which emphasise that it should be distinguished from bakewell pudding. Opinion differs on precisely how to make that distinction, but it is generally accepted that the pudding came first (even from as early as Tudor times) and that it uses puff pastry instead of shortcrust pastry. The pudding is also more likely to be served warm.

As for the tart itself, there are several stories regarding its origin. They all feature jam being placed under the eggy sponge mixture by mistake, with the intention being for the jam to go on top. The error was enjoyed and the tart was born. The person most commonly cited as responsible is a servant of the landlady Mrs Greaves, who owned a hotel in the town of Bakewell in the 1820s. Bakewell the town is located in Darbyshire in the Lake District and, sadly, is derived from 'Beadeca's Well' rather than a more literal interpretation of good bakers!

There are quite a few vegan recipes for bakewell tart around. Theresa from The Tropical Vegan posted Flicking the V's Cromwell Tart last year, which recommends marmalade as an alternative to jam. Other recipes can be found here, here and here. The one I used was from Live Long and Vegan and incorporated pastry from scratch and white icing (although no cherries).

Although most of the recipes available make full-sized tarts, I wanted to make individual ones. They seemed more fun, and also more practical - Mr Bite doesn't like almond flavours and thus wouldn't share a larger tart with me.

The tarts are really quite easy to make, and I can say with confidence that they are worth the effort required. I used almond essence in addition to ground almonds, but you could omit this if you want more subtle almond flavours.

Individual vegan bakewell tarts (with a cherry)

Makes 4 small tarts - double the ingredient quantities if desired

Adapated from Live Long and Vegan's Bakewell Tart

Vegan

Print recipe

Ingredients

Dough

50g plain flour 

10g ground almonds

10g icing sugar 

25g non-dairy spread (I used Nuttelex)

Water, as needed to thin out the dough (I used about 1 tsp)

Filling

~4 tbsp jam (I used 100% fruit in strawberry flavour)

25g ground almonds

20g self-raising flour 

15g sugar 

½ tsp baking powder 

1 tsp vegetable oil 

1.5 tbsp cold water 

Few drops almond essence (optional)

Icing

100g icing sugar

1 - 2 tsp water

4 glace cherries

Method

Preheat your oven to 180'C and spray 4 pans of a muffin pan with non-stick oil. Cut circles of non-stick baking paper and line the bottom of each pan.

Dough

Combine the dry dough ingredients, then add the non-dairy spread and mix through with your fingers to create a smooth dough. Add water if required. Roll the dough to about 0.5cm thick and cut into four pieces. Shape into the muffin pans to create a tart base. 

Prick the bottom of each pastry tart with a fork and bake at 180'C for 5 - 7 minutes, or until the pastry is starting to firm up but not yet fully cooked. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

Filling:

While the tarts are cooling, combine the almond meal, self-raising flour, sugar and baking powder for the filling in a small bowl. Add the vegetable oil, water and almond essence and mix to combine.

Add jam to the bottom of each tart shell, enough to cover the base fully. I used about one tablespoon per tart. Then spoon the almond filling mix over the jam and return to the oven (still 180'C) to bake for 12 - 16 minutes, until the topping is risen and a skewer inserted in the tart comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Icing:

To make the icing, combine the icing sugar and water and mix well to combine. The icing should be thick. Spread generously on each cooled tart and top with a cherry. Set in the fridge before eating.

These are not at Mr Kipling standard in appearance, but they were very enjoyable to eat. Using bigger moulds for the pastry shells would help a bit with the neatness too, as my muffin pans weren't perfectly suited to getting shells with sufficient edge.

All in all, I found these very fun to make and very enjoyable to eat in homemade form. I am quite thrilled to know they are available to me egg-free and suspect they may appear in my kitchen again at some stage!

Do you like bakewell tart? If so - icing and cherry, yay or nay?

This post is part of my Vegan Month of Food contributions for October 2012. 

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