Vegan Cherry Bakewells
Vegan cherry bakewells - this vegan version of the classic British bake are easy to make and taste just like you remember! A crisp shortcrust pastry case is filled with jam and vegan frangipane, and topped with icing and a glacé cherry. Just like Mr Kipling!
Servings 12 tarts
Ingredients
Pastry:
- 280 g (2 ¼ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons icing (powdered) sugar
- 160 g (⅔ cup) vegan block butter/margarine (I use Naturli Vegan Block) cold and diced
- 1 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon cold Vodka (or water)
- about 1 Tablespoon ice cold water
Frangipane:
- 100 g (3 ½ oz) ground almonds
- 30 g (¼ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 5 g (½ Tablespoon) cornflour (cornstarch) (or more plain flour)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 70 g (⅓ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
- 50 g (3 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) melted vegan block butter
- 50 ml (3 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) unsweetened non-dairy milk
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 12 teaspoons jam (I use berries and cherries flavour)
Icing:
- 200 g (1 + ⅔ cup) icing (powdered) sugar sifted
- drop of almond extract
- 6 glacé cherries halved
Instructions
- Start by making the pastry. Place the plain flour, icing sugar and salt in a large bowl and whisk to mix or place them in a food processor and pulse until combined.
- Add the cold diced vegan block butter and rub it in using your fingers or blend with the food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs and no lumps of fat remain.
- Add the cold vodka (or water) and vinegar and mix; drizzle in a little cold water as needed to bring the pastry together into a ball.
- Cover the pastry and pop it in the fridge for half an hour until it has firmed up a bit.
- Once the pastry has chilled, roll it out thinly on a floured surface. Use an approx 10-11cm cutter to cut out rounds (I use a small fluted tart tin as I don't have a cutter big enough).
- Line a 12 cup muffin tray with strips of baking parchment - this makes it easy to get the baked tarts out of the tin. Gently press the pastry rounds into the prepared tin.
- Re-roll the pastry scraps and cut out more rounds as needed until you have filled all 12 cavities.
- Place the muffin tray in the freezer for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/375°F/gas mark 5 and prepare the filling.
- To make the frangipane, whisk together the ground almonds, plain flour, cornflour, baking powder and sugar.
- Add the milk, melted butter and almond extract and whisk until smooth.
- Place a teaspoon of jam in the bottom of each of the pastry cases. Divide the frangipane evenly between the cases and spread it level, making sure that the jam is fully covered.
- Bake the tarts for 25 minutes until golden. If the frangipane has puffed up too much, gently press it back down a little.
- Lift the tarts out of the tin using the strips of baking parchment and place them on a wire rack to cool.
- Once the tarts are cool make the icing. Place the sifted icing sugar in a bowl and add a drop of almond extract. Stir in a little cold water, a drop at a time, until you have a very stiff but spreadable icing.
- Spread a generous spoonful of the icing over the top of each tart and place half a glacé cherry on each. Allow the icing to set before serving.
Notes
- As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
- You will probably have a bit of waste pastry, but it is better to not have to re-roll it too many times to cut out enough rounds. Overworked pastry is tough.
- The icing needs to be very thick so that it doesn't run off the tops of the tarts. It should be quite stiff but still spreadable and if you stir it the top should smooth out after about 7 seconds.
- It may be a good idea to ice one tart, give it a minute for the icing to settle and then see how it looks. If the icing is too runny then stir in some more sifted icing sugar, and if it is too thick then add a drop of water (literally a drop at a time!).