Bakewell Tart Traybake

What do you do when you have a large surplus of shortcrust pastry in the freezer?  Devise sweet ways of using it of course.

We’ve been making a lot of things with this pastry, both savoury and sweet, mainly quiches, but this is one of my favourites and just so easy to make.   

The only thing you’re making from scratch really is the almond sponge as both pastry and jam are ready made.  I did freshly grind the almonds though, instead of using pre ground almonds from a packet.  I think it gives a more crumbly texture to the cake, as freshly ground almonds aren't as fine as those from a packet.  Well, mines aren't anyway.

I went for this recipe because I love this combination of raspberry jam and almond sponge.  Do you know those Raspberry and Almond Bake slices you get in Costas?  Well that is what I order every time I nip in for some latte and that was the taste that I wanted to achieve here too.

I think I managed to achieve it with this flavour combination although the texture of the Costas treat is a lot denser than this.  You don’t have to use raspberry jam for a Bakewell, any flavour is acceptable so just choose what you like.   

Did I mention this is so easy to do?  Just roll out your pastry until it fits into a 30cm by 40 cm baking tray.  Spread over the jam, then the sponge mixture and bake.   

The hardest part of the whole recipe is judging the baking time – if you take out the bake too early you might get a raw pastry bottom, but if you take it out too late you might over bake the cake.  I found about 30 minutes in the oven at 180C was just enough to bake all the pastry and not dry out the cake.

I do think that the addition of almond essence really helps give this sponge an almond kick though, so try to incorporate that if you have some lying around.  Also, I didn’t use sweet shortcrust pastry, just the normal unsweetened kind and I loved the way the plain pastry tasted against the sweet jam and sponge.

Bakewell Tart Traybake (adapted from here)

·         500g shortcrust pastry

·         250g raspberry jam (I used half a 454g jar but you can use more to create a thicker layer of jam)

·         200g butter, softened

·         200 caster sugar

·         ¼ tsp almond essence  

·         4 eggs

·         100g plain flour

·         1 tsp baking powder

·         100g freshly ground almonds

Preheat the oven to 180C, prepare a 30cm x 40cm baking tray.

Roll out the pastry until it just fits into the baking tray – it doesn’t have to be exact but try to make it bigger rather than smaller so that you can fit it up the sides.

Beat the butter, sugar and almond essence together until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Combine the flour, baking powder and ground almonds together and fold these into the butter mixture.

Spread the jam over the pastry, spreading it as evenly as possible with the back of a teaspoon.

Spread the almond sponge mixture over the jam layer trying to cover it as much as possible so that it doesn’t show.

Bake for about 30 minutes.  Allow to cool in tin before slicing.