Bakewell tart
Ingredients
Pastry
- 140g Doves Farm Freee plain flour
- 70g cold butter, diced
- 1 medium egg yolk
- 1½-2½ tbsp cold water
- good pinch of salt
Filling
- 90g butter, softened
- 60g caster sugar
- 25g thick goat yogurt
- 3 medium eggs
- 135g ground almonds
- 22g Doves Farm Freee plain flour
- 2 tsp cornflour or potato starch
- ¾ tsp almond extract
- finely grated zest of ¾-1 lemon
- pinch of salt
To assemble
- 2 tbsp raspberry jam
- 70-80g raspberries, optional
- 15-20g flaked almonds
To serve
- softly whipped cream
- berries or tart rhubarb on the side
Method
1. Make the pastry
- Put the flour and salt in a bowl. Rub in the cold butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
- Add the egg yolk and mix through. Add 1½ tbsp cold water first, then a little more only if needed to bring it together.
- Form into a flat disc, wrap, and chill for 30-45 minutes.
2. Line the tin
- Heat the oven to 190°C conventional / 170°C fan.
- Roll the pastry out between 2 sheets of baking paper and line a 20cm tart tin. Keep it fairly thin and trim neatly.
- Prick the base lightly with a fork. Chill the lined tart case for 15-20 minutes.
3. Blind bake
- Line the pastry with baking paper and fill with baking beans.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans, then bake for 5-7 minutes more, until the base looks dry and lightly coloured.
- Lower the oven to 175°C conventional / 155°C fan.
4. Make the filling
- Beat the softened butter and caster sugar until lighter and a little fluffy.
- Beat in the goat yogurt.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Fold in the ground almonds, flour, cornflour, almond extract, lemon zest, and pinch of salt until smooth and evenly combined.
5. Assemble
- Spread the 2 tbsp jam in a thin layer over the base of the tart case.
- Spoon in about half of the frangipane.
- Scatter over the raspberries, if using.
- Spoon over the rest of the frangipane and smooth the top gently.
- Sprinkle with the flaked almonds.
6. Bake
- Bake at 175°C conventional / 155°C fan for 32-40 minutes.
- It is ready when:
- the top is lightly golden
- the edges are set
- the centre has only the slightest wobble
- If it is browning too quickly, loosely cover with foil for the last 8-10 minutes.
7. Cool
- Cool in the tin until just warm or fully cool, then remove.
- For the neatest slices, cool completely before cutting.
- My steer on this version
- For a 20cm tin, this is the version I’d use:
- 3 eggs, not 4
- 90g butter
- 60g sugar
- That keeps it deep enough, but still lighter and low-ish sugar.
- If you want it a little more indulgent
- Increase only the sugar to 65g.
- If you want it sharper/fresher
- Use:
- raspberries in the filling
- and serve with tart rhubarb on the side
- That is probably the nicest balance.
Notes
- Steer for a 20cm tin: 3 eggs (not 4), 90g butter, 60g sugar. Deep enough but lighter and low-ish sugar.
- For more indulgent: increase sugar only to 65g.
- For sharper/fresher: use raspberries in the filling and serve with tart rhubarb on the side.
How this works (the science)
A bakewell is technically a frangipane tart — almond cream filling in a sweet pastry shell. Almonds replace flour in the filling, which is the gluten-free win, and the goat yogurt is a clever low-fat trick.
Pastry
- Doves Farm Freee plain flour at 140g + 70g cold butter (50% fat ratio) is the standard sweet shortcrust ratio. The high butter compensates for the missing gluten — coating starches so they stay tender. Without enough butter, GF pastry tastes like cardboard.
- One egg yolk only (not whole egg). Yolk emulsifies; white would add too much liquid for the GF flour to handle without going tough.
- Minimum water (1½–2½ tbsp). GF flour absorbs water differently — too much and it goes claggy. Add by tablespoon.
- Chill 30–45 min before rolling. Cold butter stays in flakes during baking, mimicking the layered structure gluten would normally provide.
- Blind bake fully before adding wet filling — GF pastry has no gluten to wick moisture, so an under-baked base will go soggy fast.
Filling
- Ground almonds (135g) replace most of the flour. Almonds bring four things: protein (sets in oven for body), fat (tenderness), structure (the granular texture is what frangipane is meant to feel like), and flavour (almond extract amplifies it). The 22g flour + 2 tsp cornflour are just there to bind and prevent splitting — you couldn't go 100% almonds because the filling would be too oily and crumbly.
- Sugar at 60g for a 20cm tart is low. Possible because: ground almonds have natural sweetness; the jam layer (2 tbsp) adds concentrated fruit sugar; raspberries add tart-fruit balance. If you used unsweetened almonds and skipped the jam, you'd need 80g+ sugar.
- Butter (90g) at room temp is creamed with sugar to incorporate air — the only leavening in the filling. No baking powder needed because the eggs (3) provide enough lift via protein expansion in the oven.
- Goat yogurt (25g) is the clever bit. It does three jobs: (1) acid that tenderises the GF flour (similar role to buttermilk in cakes), (2) tang that cuts the almond richness, (3) replaces some of the butter you'd otherwise need for moisture. Net fat is lower than a traditional frangipane.
- Almond extract (¾ tsp) is essential — ground almonds alone don't taste of much almond. Extract concentrates the bitter-almond aromatic (benzaldehyde) that we associate with marzipan and bakewell flavour.
- Lemon zest brightens without acid, balancing the rich almond-butter-egg base.
- Pinch salt sharpens sweetness perception — you read the same sugar as sweeter, so 60g goes further.
- Low oven (175°C / 155°C fan) prevents the eggs in the filling from over-puffing and cracking, and keeps the almonds from turning oily/grainy.
- Slight wobble in the centre when pulled = perfect set after cooling. Bake to firm and it'll be dry.
Why the jam + raspberry combination works
- 2 tbsp jam is a small concentrated hit of sweet/sour fruit on the base — your tongue tastes it first and reads the whole tart as fruitier than it is.
- Fresh raspberries in the filling burst during baking, releasing pockets of tart juice that contrast the rich almond cream. Your palate registers contrast as flavour, so you need less added sugar overall.
Variations
