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You are here: Home / Recipes / Baking (sweet) / Nigella’s Bakewell slices & the Big Bakewell Taste-off

Nigella’s Bakewell slices & the Big Bakewell Taste-off

by Jeanne Horak on July 7, 2006 15 Comments in Baking (sweet)

Nigella bakewell slices

I have a confession:  I had never heard of Bakewell tarts, puddings, slices or any other variant of Bakewell confectionery until I set foot upon these shores.  Clearly the English who colonised my little bit of Africa were not from Derbyshire near the Peak District – this is where you will find the town of Bakewell where the pudding (or tart, depending on your camp) originated and it’s the town that gave the tart its name (rather than the name being purely instructive!).

Of course, the first place that I saw Bakewell tarts was on the supermarket shelves where the ubiquitous Mr Kipling makes sure that we are all well acquainted with his particular version of the Bakewell:  a pastry case with a sickly-sweet looking topping of icing sugar and a glacé cherry plonked in the middle.  Hmm, think I’ll pass on that one!  So when Andrew suggested that we all make a Bakewell tart/pudding to show support for the aparently endangered confection, my first thought was “why on earth would you want to save it??”  But some research convinced me that Mr Kipling’s version is pretty far from the original, and that the original sounded a whole lot better.

I won’t bore you with the details, but the Bakewell pudding is said to originated in Bakewell in the 1860s, allegedly as a result of a cook getting her instructions mixed up and putting the jam under the tart topping instead of over.  Or something like that.  Not to worry – the story is apparently apocryphal.  Either way, your typical Bakewell pudding consists of a pastry crust, spread with jam (raspberry is traditional) and topped with a mixture of egg, butter, sugar and ground almonds.  The name Bakewell tart is apparently a johnny-come-lately as it was always referred to as a pudding in earlier references, and it does seem that the topping was far more eggy in the pudding version.  But I don’t think you would be shunned by polite society if you used “tart” and “pudding” interchangeably these days.

So, there I was, faced with the prospect of making this unfamiliar English confection while trying simultaneously to pack for the Henley foodbloggers’ picnic and entertain my houseguests with a braai (BBQ).  What to do, what to do… But help was at hand in the shape of Nigella Lawson’s Feast, where I found a recipe for Bakewell slices – even more perfect.  These sounded more portable and therefore ideal,  considering I had to drag them clear across London the following day to get them to the picnic!

The recipe was really easy – even though I don’t have a food processor (not in this country, anyway!!).  As I’m not a huge fan of raspberry jam (or indeed any very sweet jam) I used cherry conserve and let me assure you, this is the way forward!! Delicious!  There was (as usual) some drama in that I hadn’t bought enough ground almonds and even after blitzing some of my flaked almonds with my hand blender, I still didn’t have quite what the recipe demanded, so the final taste could have been a bit more almondy.  Oh yes, and while entertaining the abovementioned houseguests I managed to forget about the time so the poor thing spent about 10 minutes longer in the oven than it should have.  But overall this wasn’t fatal and on a balance, the slices were a great success.  Deliciously crumbly shortcrust base; lovely tart cherry conserve and light frangipane with crispy toasted almonds on top.  Mmmmmm!

 

Bakewell mini tarts

 

Bakewell mini tarts

 

And what about the taste-off?  Well, both Andrew and Xochitl brought their Bakewells to the Henley picnic and so we had the unique opportunity to try three very different takes on the same basic idea.  Andrew used a very traditional recipe and, unusually, it contained no almonds.  His  little tartlets (on the left) had lovely crumbly pastry and an appealingly gooey topping – but consensus was that maybe they were a little short on the jam.  Xochitl certainly won on aesthetics:  Her one large tart and three tartlets were the picture of Bakewellian perfection!  The large tart had a raspberry jam filling and the tartlets had figs and honey instead of jam, but sadly I only tasted the large tart.  Xochitl scored points for lots of jam, but her crust was ready-rolled pastry which is never as light as home-made.  As for mine (see below), they obviously suffered from their extended stay in the oven (!), but won points for the crumbly shortcrust base and I have to say that I liked the contrasting tartness of my cherry preserve filling the best out of all three, but that’s purely a matter of personal taste.  A big plus, though, was that the slices were a lot easier to get to the picnic in one piece that anything in the shape of a tart!  But when all is said and done, I’d say we have all done a fab job at keeping the Bakewell alive!

 

Nigella Bakewell slices

 

NIGELLA’S BAKEWELL SLICES

Ingredients:

FOR THE BASE:

225g plain flour

225g butter

pinch of salt

60g icing sugar

FOR THE FILLING:

150g butter

150g ground almonds

150g caster sugar

4 eggs

60g flaked almonds

325g jam (I used cherry conserve)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Mix the flour, icing sugar, salt and butter in a food processor (or alternatively, rub the butter into the dry ingredients) until the mixture is crumbly and beginning to form a ball.

Turn out into a baking tray approx 235 x 300 x 60mm and push the mixture into the base of the tray to form an even crust.  Bake for 20 minutes.

For the topping, melt the butter and set aside.  Toast the flaked almonds in a dry frying pan – watch that they do not catch! Beat together the eggs, sugar and ground almonds.

When the baked crust has been removed from the oven and cooled for about 3 minutes, spread it evenly with jam.  Beat the melted butter into the egg, sugar and almond mix (to make frangipane) and pour this over the jam.  Top with the toasted flaked almonds and bake for 35 minutes till turning golden.

Allow to cool before cutting into 16 slices.

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  1. keiko says

    July 9, 2006 at 12:38 pm

    Oh Jeanne, this looks absolutely lovely! Believe it or not I’m still hoping to make it myself 🙂 Thank you for the wonderful write-up, as always.

    Reply
  2. jr says

    July 10, 2006 at 10:31 am

    great pics and recipes

    Reply
  3. spittoonextra says

    July 12, 2006 at 12:52 am

    Blog Save Our Tart – Bakewell Tarts.

    Foodbloggers have risen to the challenge with gusto – with this list of recipes there should be little chance of the Bakewell Tart disappearing into oblivion. First-time bakewellier A Self-Proclaimed Foodaholic goes the Jamie Oliver route. Sam does too…

    Reply
  4. Duane Bailey says

    July 13, 2006 at 11:14 pm

    Being from Southwestern Colorado I have never heard of Bakewell. It sounds wonderful though.

    Reply
  5. Jeanne says

    July 14, 2006 at 2:26 pm

    Hi Keiko – and thanks for the compliments! I loved your cranberry pistachio bakewells, btw 🙂
    JR – thanks!
    Duane – as I said, we didn’t really have them back home in South Africa either! But if you do try one, I strongly suggest that you make your own as all the commercially-made ones I’ve seen look pretty dire… They keep well for a few days in an airtight container as well.

    Reply
  6. jenjen says

    July 17, 2006 at 3:38 pm

    I love your different version of the tarts, they are inspiring!

    Reply
  7. andrea l w says

    March 21, 2016 at 11:06 am

    Is the oven temperature standard or fan I notice nigella doesn’t. stipulate in her recipes

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      March 21, 2016 at 11:23 am

      Hi Andrea – I use standard, not fan, so that’s the standard oven temp.

      Reply
  8. Robin Gray says

    January 19, 2018 at 9:58 am

    Are you sure about the amount of butter needed for the bottom layer? It was admittedly delicious, but incredibly rich. I hadn’t come across pastry with the same amount of butter as flour.

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      January 19, 2018 at 11:26 am

      Hi Robin, thanks for visiting my blog and glad you enjoyed the slices 🙂 As I say in the title, this is a Nigella recipe that I was merely reproducing and it was so long ago that I blogged this that I am not sure which book (maybe Feast??). But I had a look online and somebody else has also blogged Nigella’s Bakewell slices… and they also use equal amounts of butter and flour (http://www.foreverbaking.co.uk/bakewell-slices/). So it seems that this is just the way Nigella likes them. Hope that answers your question 🙂

      Reply
  9. Trevor Barnett says

    April 13, 2018 at 12:58 pm

    Loved reading the background story. Inspiration and resourcefulness often come from the pressure we experience to deliver something scrumptious for a deadline. Loved the use of the word braai.. I can relate to that. Will post this to friends and family and try it myself.

    Reply
  10. Georgie Billings says

    November 26, 2018 at 12:58 pm

    I love this recipe. I replaced the jam with a layer of homemade mincemeat for the Christmassy treat 🙂

    Reply
  11. Rahila says

    August 2, 2022 at 1:26 pm

    I have been using this recipe since 2007, and it never fails me. What I use as a base is shortbread with pecans.

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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