Authentic Cherry Bakewell Recipe Bakewell, England

Add the flour and the butter to a food processor, and pulse until it combines into a mixture resembling breadcrumbs. Whisk the egg yolk, and add it to the food processor. Next, add the cider vinegar and two teaspoons and pulse until it hopefully comes together. It should clump together when you grab a piece of the mixture and press it. Turn onto a working surface and knead for a few seconds, so it comes together into a smooth dough.

Divide into six pieces, 60g/2 oz each, then shape into rounds. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour. Alternatively, you can do the pastry the day before and refrigerate it overnight. If they get too hard from being in the fridge, let them warm up at room temperature. You should be able to press on them a bit, or it will be too hard to roll them out.

Lightly flour your working surface and your rolling pin. Place one round of pastry onto the floured surface and roll out, trying to keep it as round as possible. So, roll it forwards and back one time, then turn it vertically, and roll forwards and back once. Repeat until you get a perfect circle of pastry about 3mm/1/8” thick.

Cut out into a perfectly round shape using a 13.5cm/5.3” ring cutter. Alternatively, you can do it with a knife. Set aside the remaining dough, as you might need it later.

Carefully place the circle of pastry on top of a 10x3cm (4” x 1.2”) fluted cake tin, then snuggle the pastry into the tin and gently and carefully press it into the bottom and the sides. Remember, also push the pastry into the corners of the tin using your fingertip. However, make sure that you leave an extra rim of dough at the top of the tin so that as the pastry shell bakes, it shrinks to the appropriate size, meaning it will not be smaller than the tin it bakes in. If you end up tearing the pastry, patch it up with some of the leftover dough. Finally, prick the bottom of the pastry case with a fork. Repeat the same process with the remaining five pieces of dough.

Arrange the cake tins lined with shortcrust pastry on a large baking tray and refrigerate for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, take the cake tins out of the refrigerator. Make six circles of parchment paper about the same size as the circles of pastry, then squish them in your hands, straighten them, and line each cake tin with one piece of parchment paper, then fill with rice.

Bake in a 180°C/350°F fan-assisted oven for 11 minutes.

Take the tray out of the oven, carefully grab the sides of parchment paper, and lift the bundle of rice out of each pastry shell.

Take the tray out of the oven, carefully grab the sides of parchment paper, and lift the bundle of rice out of each pastry shell.

Bake the pastry shells for 5-6 minutes more until golden.

Take out of the oven and let them cool.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Whisk the eggs and the almond extract. With the mixer beating the butter and sugar, add the whisked eggs in batches. Once the eggs are incorporated, add the ground almonds and the flour, and mix at low speed to combine.

Using a small serrated knife, cut off the excess pastry on top of each cake tin to make it level with the tin. Then, hold the pastry case inside the cake tin, so it doesn’t fall out, and turn it over to remove any crumbs and pieces of pastry.

Spread the bottom of each pastry shell with 1 teaspoon of raspberry jam.

Transfer the frangipane into a piping bag fitted with a small, round tip. If you are to do it with a makeshift piping bag and do not have a nozzle, cut about a 1cm/0.4” tip at the end. Pipe the frangipane on top of the jam, taking care not to disturb it. The tartlets should be about half full — the filling will puff up a bit during baking, and you also need to add the icing, which is why you need to leave a bit of space.

Arrange the tarts on a baking tray and place the tray in a 160°C/320°F fan-assisted oven. Bake for 25-26 minutes.

Let them cool a bit out of the oven, then take them out of the cake tins.

To a large bowl of confectioners' sugar, add water, a bit at a time, stirring and checking the consistency. Aim for a thick but runny consistency. The icing should be lump-free and smooth as well.

Put about three tablespoons of the icing into a separate container and add a bit of the red food coloring gel. Mix until blended and raspberry color.

Make a small piping bag, or use one if you have it, then add the pink icing to that piping bag.

Put a tablespoon of the white icing on top of each tart, then spread it with the back of a teaspoon. Cut the smallest piece off of the top of the piping bag. Pipe parallel pink stripes across each tart. Run a toothpick through the icing perpendicularly to the pink lines to get a feathered effect — run the toothpick in opposite directions.

Once all the tarts are iced, place half a cherry in the center and on top of each.