My 1st ever Daring Bakers Challenge..

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar.

They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Like many regional dishes there’s no “one way” to make a Bakewell Tart…er…Pudding, but most of today’s versions fall within one of two types. The first is the “pudding” where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the “tart” where a rich shortcrust pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling.

We were challenged to make a combination of the two: a sweet almond-flavoured shortcrust pastry, frangipane and jam.

Some fun facts -

The name is believed to have come from a customer who decided that the tart was "baked well" thus the inn called it their "Bakewell" tart, a pun on the town of Bakewell and a well baked tart.

Also, it was in news recently, cos Bakewell Tart was among the dessert dishes served up by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to world leaders at the G20 summit in London this April , check http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2009/04/jamie-olivers-best-of-britain-g20.html .

Now , lets count the firsts for me here :

• My first Daring Bakers challenge
• My first time making a piecrust on my own
• My first time knowing what a 'frangipane' is

Add to that , I do not use eggs so I had to vegetarian-ise the recipes..anyways ,as usual I almost didnt make it [Im new to this yet, I need to get my time and submissions in line yet..]

Neways, this turned out to be pretty straightforward once I had the required eggless substitutes on hand..all went perfectly well and out came a sweet and moist, yummy tart..or pie as I look at it..

Shortcrust pastry :

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)

1.5 cups APF

1/2 cup butter

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp soda

3 tbsp ice water

> Mix together the flour, butter, sugar,soda and salt. Rub between your fingers till the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs.
> Add the water, continue mixing, then knead into a ball. Place in the fridge for 1 hour.
> Grease a flan/tart tin (approx 22cm). Preheat oven to 400F.
> Roll out the pasty thinly and transfer to the tin. Trim the edges.

Frangipane :

Prep time: 10-15 minutes

1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp Cornflour
4 tbsp APF
1/2 cup ground almonds

2 drops vanilla essence

Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in the cornflour and stir in the flour, almonds and cream. I added some milk since it was too thick - just to make it a bit thicker than cake batter.

Assembling the tart :

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.Remove shell from freezer, pierce with fork all over and blind bake for 10 mins .

Now, remove it , let it cool and spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart.

Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 40 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish.

Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.[I missed this step, the almonds on top wouldve been nice touch]