Picture the scene: it's a beautiful crisp, Sunday Autumnal morning with blue, blue sunshine, autumn leaves crunching and a warm golden sunlight with a cool air. What could be more perfect then a Sunday morning of baking heaven with Mum. The obvious solution to me was to continue my Great British Bake Off adventure with week 6 which was Pastry week for the bakers.
Pastry week on the Great British Bake Off filled me with great excitement. I love, love, love a frangipane tart. You cannot beat that gorgeous Bakewell slice now can you? The combination of raspberry and almond is just heavenly and I do love a frangipani filling I won't lie to you. When I saw that the signature challenge for week 6 was a frangipane tart I was so excited. I came up with loads of different flavour combinations it was really hard to narrow it down to just one. Seeing as it is now officially Autumn I thought I had to go for Autumn fruits and what could be more Autumnal then blackberries and pears. If I was some sort of really organised domesticated super woman I would have gone out and picked fresh blackberries or used some that I had frozen from last year to save for that special baking moment when it arrived. But I'm not so I haven't - sorry. The thought was there so I'm half way there but in the real world with work and college who has time to go blackberry picking?
In my Great Blogging Bake Off Series on my blog I am attempting the signature challenge from each of the episodes to put my own spin on it to imagine what I would do if I were to take part on the show. Does anyone else remember how shocked Mary was from last series when one of the contestants didn't make their own fondant icing in biscuit week? Well being the bake off shop brought pastry wouldn't be acceptable so I have also made my own pastry for this one. Obviously in the really world not everyone has time to do this so shop brought shortcrust pastry would be perfectly acceptable to use. After just rambling on about how in the bake off it's important to make everything yourself I will confess that I didn't make my own jam. To be honest at the time I never really thought to do so. Shocking I know. To be honest I have no idea how to make jam so that was one step too many for me but one day I would like to attempt it so who knows maybe I'll go the whole hog and make everything from tip to toe myself you never know.
Ingredients
Pastry:
125g unsalted butter
250g plain flour
1 egg
Filling:
125g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
150g ground almonds
50g plain flour
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp blackberry jelly
handful of blackberries
2 pears
Method
1) To make your shortcrust pastry you will need to make breadcrumbs in a large mixing bowl.
To do thus I cut my butter into chunks - the longer the butter is out of the fridge the softer it will be and therefore this will make your life a lot easier. Obviously with in reason, not days before we don't want to give everyone food poisoning do we now. Gently and lightly rub the butter and flour in between your fingers until the mixture resembles soft, fine breadcrumbs. This is the most therapeutic experience you will ever experience in your life. If I was a life coach and people came to me because they were suffering from stress I would tell them to make breadcrumbs.
2) In a separate bowl beat your egg with a fork
3) Add the egg to your breadcrumb mixture and stir the ingredients together using your fork before finishing it off with your hands to incorporate the mixture all together to form a round pastry ball.
4) Place your dough in the fridge and chill for 30 minutes
5) In the mean time prepare your tart tin - I used a 23cm loose bottomed flan tin. To do this you need to grease your tin to prevent the tart from sticking once baked
What is it with bakers with tarts and bottoms: loose bottomed and soggy bottom they're obsessed
6) Pre-heat your oven to 200°C/ 180°Fan/ Gas mark 6
7) Once chilled sprinkle your work surface lightly with flour and roll out your pastry to approximately 3mm thick
Frangipane tarts are known for having a nice thin pastry layer at the bottom. Personally I'm not a massive fan of thick pastry so this suits me down to a tee. To roll your pastry try to roll it out in a circle as this will make it easier to cover your tin. Be very kind and gentle to your pastry and don't overwork it or it will be brittle and break. Seeing as you've spent the time making it you should respect it and not ruin it at the last hurdle - it's your baby.
A good tip to cover your case is once rolled, lightly roll half of the pastry onto a rolling pin to help lift the pastry and transfer it to your tart tin.
8) Mould your pastry to your tart tin by lightly pressing around the edges. Don't trim the edges you should do this once baking is complete to get a nice neat finish to your edges as you may find that your pastry shrinks after being in the oven
9) Prick the pastry base lightly with a fork and blind bake for 15 minutes
Blind baking prevents any soggy bottoms to your tart and it will help to ensure that your pastry will be fully baked. By this I mean you won't be left with raw, soggy pastry at the bottom which Mary Berry certainly doesn't approve of.
To blind bake, line your tart with baking parchment or baking paper and fill with baking beans or rice.
10) After blind baking remove the baking parchment and baking beans and return to the oven for a further 8 minutes. Once the pastry is looking golden, remove it from the oven and allow to cool whilst you make your frangipani filling
11) Lower the oven temperature to 180°C/160°Fan/ Gas mark 4
12) To make the filling, first cream together the butter and sugar.
You could use an electric whisk but I find it more satisfying to use the old fashioned method of a wooden spoon. After all I'm a home baker without a set time frame so I can take as long as I want and enjoy it.
13) Mix in the ground almonds, three beaten eggs and your flour
14) Finally mix in your vanilla extract and your batter is complete
15) Gently layer your tart case with the blackberry jelly
I used a blackberry jelly rather then a jam as a jelly is smooth and without pips so you're not trying to get pips out of your teeth after eating it which isn't the most attractive of looks.
16) Layer your frangipani filling on top of the jelly and again lightly smooth it over to get an even distribution being careful not to chip your pastry or to get the jelly mixed into your cake batter. We want those beautiful layers after all
17) Now it's fruit time. Peel and cut your pears and arrange them how ever you wish to with your blackberries. You can be totally spontaneous and free flow. Personally with pears I like the fan effect but like I said it's totally up to you to get creative
18) Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until golden and set. If the centre is taking longer to bake, reduce the oven temperature by 20 degrees to prevent the edges from burning. Once a skewer is inserted and comes out clean you know that your tart is baked
19) Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool before removing it from the tin
I'll let you into a little secret here. I was genuinely and still am really proud of this bake. I've never made a frangipane tart before let alone attempt shortcrust pastry. I don't know why but pastry always leaves me a little nervous as I've never got on that well with pastry before we've always had a rocky relationship but this one worked a treat. The pastry was really light and buttery yet really easy to make. I think it may become a classic staple recipe that will be programmed into my memory so if ever in need of pastry I will automatically turn to this recipe. The tart itself held it's four distinctive layers: pastry, jam, frangipani filling and fruit. I love the combination of the almond, blackberry and pear. The tart itself is really light, fruity and indulgent I would really recommend giving a frangipane tart a go. It's a real treat and crowd pleaser.
Hold on to your socks kids but I had no soggy bottom - yes let me repeat that and shout it from the roof tops - no soggy bottom. This was what I was most nervous about, it sounds silly I know but I didn't want to let Mary down. I felt quite chuffed actually as on the bake off quite a few of the bakers experienced a soggy bottom so this felt like an achievement for me. By blind baking you can be sure to avoid a soggy bottom and instead I was left with a smooth, golden and crisp bottom. Yes we are still talking tarts here. Actually that still didn't help, let me rephrase that we are still talking baking.
Before this post get's censored I just wanted to say thank you for reading this blog post and I hope you are all enjoying accompanying me on my Bake Off adventure. Let me know in the comments if you attempt any of these recipes or if you have attempted any similar in your own bake off challenge. This has been my favourite challenge so far in my bake off series as it was entirely new to me yet very satisfying to make. I enjoyed a new baking challenge. The frangipane tart is just as satisfying to bake as it is to eat. Stay tuned for next week's post with Victorian week - don't hold your breath but that could be an interesting one put it that way. Not sure how I feel about that one to be honest with you all.
Week One: Cakes: Raspberry And Almond Madera Cake
Week Two: Biscuits: Coconut And White Chocolate Biscotti
Week Three: Bread: Sun Dried Tomato And Basil Soda Bread
Week Four: Desserts: Amaretto Creme Brûlée
Week Five: Free Form: Lemon, Honey And Pistachio Polenta Cake
XXX
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