Cherry Bakewells – VeganMoFo Day 7!

It’s a new week, and so a new weekly theme for VeganMoFo! This week the theme is International Week, with each day being themed for somewhere around the world. We start with close to home – a food from somewhere where you live.

I live in Derbyshire and this county is famous for, alongside its beautiful scenery, the Bakewell Tart. Bakewell is a village in the Peak District and they sell fresh Bakewell Tarts there, although they are decidedly not vegan. Last year for VeganMoFo, I made my own vegan Bakewell Tart, which turned out really well and was very tasty. This year, I decided to go for something a little more portable.

If you’ve ever seen Mr Kipling’s cherry bakewells, that’s pretty much what these are. The raspberry jam is replaced with cherry jam, and the top of the tarts are covered in icing and topped with half a glace cherry. These are really tasty!

Because these are mini tarts, not big ones (I use a muffin tray to make them in), you don’t need to blind bake the pastry. It’ll do just fine baking along with the frangipane.

Cherries and almonds are a classic flavour combination, and these cherry bakewells really let that flavouring shine.

Cherry Bakewells

• Servings: 12
• Print

Ingredients

For the Pastry
• 210g plain flour
• 15g icing/powdered sugar
• pinch salt
• 110g vegan butter, chilled
• 3 tbsp cold water (preferably cold from the fridge!)

For the Frangipane Filling

• 100g vegan butter, melted
• 100g sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 150g ground almonds
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 100g plain flour
• 3 tbsp almond milk (or other vegan milk of choice)
• 3 tbsp cherry jam, warmed

For the Icing

• 200g icing sugar
• 3 tbsp water
• 6 glacé cherries, cut into halves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180C/355F
1. Begin by making the pastry. Mix together the flour and icing sugar until combined.
2. Using your hands, rub in the vegan butter until you get a sandy, breadcrumb looking mixture. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, and mix until a dough forms. Do not overmix!
3. Roll the dough out, and cut into circles to fit your muffin tin. Place the circles in the (greased) muffin tin and press down to fit.
4. Next, make the filling. Combine the melted butter and sugar, and add the almond extract.
5. Stir in the ground almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and flour, until a thick batter is formed. Add the almond milk if necessary.
6. Place a small amount of the cherry jam in the base of each pastry case, trying to divide it mostly equally.
7. Divide the frangipane mixture between the cases, placing it on top of the jam. Try to leave no gaps around the edges – you want the jam to be sealed in so it doesn’t bubble up and overflow.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack until completely cold.
9. Once cold, make the icing. Combine the icing sugar with the water to form a fairly thick glacé icing.
10. Spread the icing over each tart (gently!), and top with a glacé cherry half. Leave to set, and enjoy!

 

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