Hi all! British Baking Show recipe number two coming at you now! If you read my last post about the Millionaire Shortbreads, you probably understand by now that you should just go watch the show, but just in case- go watch it, it’s worth it!

This recipe was actually a surprise to me. I really don’t enjoy many almond flavored things, so when my sister suggested that we make a Bakewell Tart (traditionally almond and raspberry flavored) I agreed for the fun of making it, totally anticipating not liking it. So, when I dipped my finger in the batter, I was very pleasantly surprised that the almond flavor was much more natural and sweet than a usual almond extract-flavored dessert would be. It ended up being a light and sweet treat that I legitimately enjoyed, much to my sister’s satisfaction. Side note: we used a food scale because everything was in grams and we wanted to have fun with a food scale. I’ve included the approximate conversions for easier baking without a scale! Here’s the recipe:

Pastry Ingredients:

• 280g all purpose flour (1 1/4 cups)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 large egg yolk
• 165g unsalted butter (3/4 cup)
• 65g caster/superfine sugar (1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp)
• pinch salt
• 30g ground almonds (2 tbsp)

Filling Ingredients:

• 300g ground almonds (1 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp)
• 130g caster sugar (a little more than 1/2 cup)
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 2 splashes almond extract
• 6 tbsp raspberry jam (the recipe called for 3 but we decided it would be better with more)
• 2 tbsp flaked almonds

Pastry: In a large bowl, rub together flour, salt, sugar, butter, and ground almonds with your fingers until they come together to look like breadcrumbs.

Add the egg and egg yolk one at a time and mix until a smooth dough is formed.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F and grease and flour a 9″ loose-bottomed tart tin.

Unwrap the cold pastry and roll onto a floured surface. The dough is crumbly so don’t be discouraged if it’s hard to work with at first!

Line the tart tin with the pastry and trim off any excess from the sides. Prick the base with a fork and place parchment over the pastry. Put baking beans/uncooked rice over the parchment to “blind” bake the pastry (aka pre-cook it) for 15 minutes.

Side note: you definitely want to trim off excess pastry. We didn’t because we thought trimming it afterward would give us a cleaner edge. Turns out the pastry falls off the sides anyway and burns on your oven floor, leading to multiple smoke detectors going off. Whoops.

Reduce the oven temperature to 330F. While the pastry cools, mix the ground almonds and caster sugar together until well combined. Add the beaten eggs and almond extract and mix well.

When the pastry is cool, spread an even layer of raspberry jam over the base.

Pour the filling over the raspberry jam and fill the remainder of the pastry.

Top with flaked almonds and bake 25-30 minutes or until the filling is baked through (a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean) and golden brown.

And now go ahead and dig in! Happy baking!