Servings:

4 - 6

Level of difficulty:

Easy

Ingredients

Pastry:
100 g plain white flour
50 g unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon caster sugar

Filling:
2 tablespoons seedless raspberry conserve, plus a handful of fresh raspberries (in season)
100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
2 large free range eggs
100g self raising flour
50g ground almonds
few drops bitter almond extract

Topping:
flaked almonds

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C/Gas 4
Grease with soft butter an 8" quiche tin (metal is preferable to porcelain).
Make the pastry by rubbing in the butter into the sifted flour, add the sugar and lastly the egg yolk. Add cold water to mix to a stiff dough. Wrap in a polythene bag and set aside for half an hour to rest.
To make the filling, simply combine the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, ground almonds and almond extract in a food mixer or processer, or beat by hand until all is smooth. It should be a "dropping" consistency. If the mixture feels a bit stiff, add a little milk.
Roll out the pastry and line your prepared tin, making sure there are no bubbles on the surface of the pastry.
Spread the conserve (and fresh raspberries if using) over the pastry, cover with the sponge mix, level with a spatula, and spread flaked almonds generously over the top.
Put the tin onto a baking sheet (to ensure the pastry base becomes nice and crisp) and bake in your pre-heated oven for around 25 minutes. Check after 20 minutes to make sure it is not browning too fast. When it is done, it should yield slightly to your finger.
Remove from oven, let it rest for a short while before turning it out (if you have baked it in a metal flan tin. If using a porcelain dish, there is not need to turn it out.)
Serve warm as a dessert with a dollop of good quality ice cream, some creme fraiche,some pouring cream, or some real custard sauce. It is also delicious served cold, as a cake, in slices.
Bakewell Tart keeps well, for up to a week (if well hidden). May be frozen.
Lemon Curd may be substituted for the conserve, and you could dust the top with icing sugar before serving instead of using flaked almonds.
Fresh plums in season are also delicious instead of using the conserve.