I love almond as a flavour, in general anything made from ground almonds has a beautiful gooey texture that feels super indulgent. I know it’s one of those tastes that some people don’t like, but if you do then this is the free from recipe for you.
I based this tart on a recipe by the queen of the kitchen herself, Mary Berry. The vegan version of a Bakewell Tart tends to set a little softer than one made with egg but it’s deliciously gooey and holds together in a slice, so it’s good enough for me.
This recipe is for the filling, for a gluten free vegan pastry base recipe click here, or you can use ready made pastry.
You will need:
- Standing or hand held mixer
- 23cm (9 inch) pie tin
- Palette knife
- Piping bag
- Cocktail stick
Ingredients:
- Pastry
- 4 tbsp raspberry jam
Filling:
- 60g (4½ tbsp) hard vegetable shortening
- 75g (5½ tbsp) vegan spread
- 150g (¾ cup) caster sugar
- 150g (1¼ cups) ground almonds
- 1 tbsp ground flax seed
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 tsp almond extract
Icing:
- 300g (3 cups) icing/ confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 3 tbsp water
- Pink food colour
Step 1
Make the pastry base according to this recipe or roll out ready to roll gluten free, vegan pastry and blind bake for 10 minutes with baking beads. For those of you who would rather use store bought pastry, Just Roll gluten free pastry is also vegan.
Step 2
If you’ve just finished making the pastry turn the oven down to 180°C (356°F) or preheat the oven if you made the pastry base earlier.
Step 3
Prepare the vegan egg by mixing the flax seed and cold water together and placing in the fridge. Leave until the consistency is like an egg.
Step 4
Meanwhile, spread the 4 tbsp of raspberry jam across the cooled pastry base and set aside.
Step 5
For the filling, cream together the vegetable shortening, vegan spread and sugar until light and fluffy. I used a combination of spread and shortening as the shortening is firmer so holds the batter together, whilst the spread is creamier which just tastes good.
Step 6
Sift in the ground almonds and combine. Once the flax egg resembles the consistency of a beaten egg mix in the flax and almond extract as well.
Step 7
Spoon the batter over the jam until the pastry is about half full and smooth the top with a palette knife. The batter will rise and you don’t want it to overflow so be careful not to overfill. Mine was a little too full so I used some batter in a small ramekin to make a mini tart for my boyfriend.
Bake for 40-45 minutes. Unlike an egg version, this will not be set when it comes out the oven it may wobble and a skewer will not come out clean, but the top will be golden.
Step 8
Leave the tart to cool. If it doesn’t feel set in the middle once cool pop it back in the oven for up to 10 minutes and let cool again.
Step 9
For the icing combine the icing sugar with the almond extract and 2 tbsp of water, mix before slowly adding the final tbsp of water so that you only add as much of the spoonful as you need. The icing should be thick but spreadable. Take 3 tbsp of icing for the pink stripes and mix with pink food colouring before transferring to a piping bag with a small round nozzle (#1). I ran out of icing sugar so didn’t make the full quantity listed therefore I had to skip the pink stripes 😢
Step 10
Smooth the white icing over the tart and immediately pipe parallel pink stripes over the top. Lightly run a cocktail stick perpendicular to the lines going up the tart then again about a centimetre across but in a down direction. Repeat to create a feathered top. Make sure to do this before it starts to dry or the icing will pucker.
Thanks for reading 😊
The Bakery At Home 