A Bakewell Tart

Another week, another GBBO technical challenge and another chance to join in with the Great BloggersBake Off for 2016 hosted by Jenny of Mummy Mishaps. This week, which was pastry week, I could have fancied making any of the challenges - I would have loved to have made some signature Danish Pastries and one day I will definitely try making my own show stopping filo pastry but there really was only time for one thing so sticking to my own personal challenge of doing the technical challenge each week I made a Bakewell tart.

Now the jury is out as to what actually constitutes a genuine Bakewell tart

. The only time I have visited the village of Bakewell we were served a wonderful deep and fragrant frangipane tart topped with flaked almonds... no iced top as in Mary Berry's recipe. But staying true to the challenge I went with the same recipe as the contestants were given and started by making my own jam with raspberries and jam sugar which was really quick and easy.

Having part baked my crust, to ensure no soggy bottom, I then spread a thin layer of the homemade jam over the base of the tart. It is important to have enough jam to taste it but not so much that it oozes out the sides when baked. And I should just say that it really is worth making the jam... it tastes so much better than anything shop bought... really fresh and zingy!

It was then baked and iced just like Mary Berry instructs... although as usual the contestants really did not have enough time to allow the tart to cool before icing it.

And hey presto... this is my tart! It took much longer than the allotted time but then I did rest my pastry for  longer before and after rolling it out and I also allowed the tart to become quite cold before icing it. And to be fair I did also make a cheesecake and a lasagne at the same time ready for a big family lunch today!

I have to say I was really pleased with the way it turned out... very moist and almondy with no trace of a soggy bottom but given the choice I would have preferred a flaked almond topping. Although it looks very pretty with the feathered icing it was just a little too sweet for my liking. Not that the rest of the family seem to be complaining as it is disappearing rapidly!

So there we are are... half way through the Bake Off and five technical challenges completed.

And what is really exciting is that last week my lacy pancakes earned me Star Baker!

I was dead chuffed I tell you!

Do follow the links at the bottom of Jenny's post to see what other bakers have made this week.