First posted June 15th 2014

Exceedingly Good Cakes for the Great British Summer

Despite all the rumours flying round, we hope dear old Mr Kipling, hasn’t advertised his last exceedingly good cake.

These ‘Mr Kipling Tribute ’iced Bakewell tarts are perfect for tea in the garden or picnics: and all the better for being homemade. And if the rain does start to fall whilst you are out and about; you can always cheer yourselves up with a ‘car picnic’ in the time-honoured British tradition.

A food processor will make short work of the pastry, frangipane and even the icing but prepare everything by hand if you prefer. Both varieties of tart are, of course, also lovely plain and un-iced.

Iced Bakewell Tarts

Use bun tins rather than the smaller standard tart tins for these generous tarts.

Makes approximately 18 tarts

Pastry:

• 8oz (220g) plain flour
• Pinch salt
• 4oz (110g) cold butter, diced
• 3 tablespoons cold water

Almond filling or frangipane:

• 4oz (110g) ground almonds
• 4oz (110g) caster sugar
• 2oz (50g) butter
• 1 large egg, beaten
• ½ teaspoon almond essence

Plus

• 8-9 teaspoons raspberry jam, ideally seedless

You will need 2 x greased 12 cup bun tins and a 3 inch (7½ cm) fluted cutter

Preheat oven to180C (fan oven) gas mark 4 or equivalent

Whiz the butter, flour and salt together into fine crumbs. Add the water and whizz until large clumps begin to form. Transfer to a lightly floured board and knead gently into a ball. Roll out to a thickness similar to a pound coin.

Cut into rounds and line the prepared tins.

Cream the butter with the sugar and ground almonds. Stir in the egg and almond essence.

Dab barely ½ teaspoon of jam into each tart and top with a teaspoon of the almond filling, smoothing round the edges.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Glace Icing

The glycerine gives the icing a nice almost stretchy ‘baker’s shop cake’ quality. If you like plenty of icing, you may want to increase quantities by 50%.

• 225g (8oz) icing sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1½ teaspoons glycerine
• Glace cherries to decorate

Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in the juice and glycerine gradually. Beat until glossy.

Alternatively, put the icing sugar into the clean, dry, bowl of your food processor and give it a few turns to eliminate any lumps. Add the juice and glycerine and whiz until smooth. Add a drop more juice if necessary.

Spread over the top of each cooled tart and finish with a glace cherry. Store in an airtight tin.

Iced Lemon Bakewells

Make as before but omit the almond essence in the frangipane, and add the finely grated zest of 2 lemons instead. Use lemon curd in place of raspberry jam.

Tip

Try making up some extra icing and piping the tarts with yellow diagonal lines for a professional look. Yellow chocolate beans also work well as a final decorative touch.