Bakewell Slice
Bakewell Slice: Tart turned slice, almondy goodness
So this treat is traditionally a tart with a pastry crust, jammy layer and almondy frangipane. Delicious. Then they go and ruin it by covering it with that sickly white fondant icing and top it with a glacé cherry so it looks like a British girls boob in the middle of winter. Hang on…maybe that’s what they were going for? Is that where the name came from? Maybe Bakewell was a person and the boob was belonging to his tart? Have I solved the mystery of the name, because Wikipedia didn’t really know.
Anyway, I’ve made it into a slice because its my blog and I can do what I like. I’ve used cherries because I love them, but would work with other frozen fruit, you might just need to adjust liquid levels.
For the base…
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour, sifted
- Pinch of sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
For the jam…
- 650 grams frozen cherries
- 50 mls water (may need a little more depending on juice content of your fruit)
- 1/4 cup honey
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 tablespoon of arrowroot
For the top…
- 1 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 cup honey
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- Small handful of flaked almonds
First step is to make the jam. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan together and bring to a simmer. Let it simmer away for around 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. By this stage the liquid should have reduced and it will have thickened and become syrupy.
Make a slurry with the arrowroot and a couple of tablespoons of cool water and stir it through the fruit. It should thicken to a jam consistency almost immediately. When it does, remove it from heat. It will thicken more on standing.
Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Line a square cake tin ( mine was 23cm X 23cm) with baking paper. No need to grease tin, just cut the paper to oversize and push it into the tin. You need to make the paper large enough that there is overhang, as you will use this to lift the whole cooked slice out of the tin when done.
In a bowl mix all the dry base ingredients together.
Add the wet ingredients and mix together thoroughly.
Tip the dough into the lined tin and push down to a even compacted layer, all the way to corners.
Bake for 10 minutes.
While that’s in the oven, prepare the topping. Whizz everything together in your food processor, or whisk together thoroughly in a bowl.
Remove base from oven and increase temperature to 180 degrees Celsius.
Pour over jam and spread it evenly all the way to edges.
Pour over the topping and spread it evenly all the way to edges.
Sprinkle over the flaked almonds.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes.
Let it cool in tin then lift the whole thing out using the paper. Cut into squares. Keeps well in fridge.
*TIP* try to have your eggs at room temperature for the topping. Adding cold eggs straight from the fridge can cause the coconut oil to start to solidify and stop it from being evenly dispersed throughout mixture.
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