Gluten Free Cherry Bakewells

Gluten-free cherry bakewells

This gluten-free cherry bakewell recipe gives the classic and uniquely flavoured dessert you would get with its traditional counterpart. With the marzipan like flavour of the almonds paired with raspberry jam, you’ll enjoy this bakewell recipe from start to finish.

This gluten-free cherry bakewells recipe is a great one to impress guest, especially those who eat gluten-free. It’s a different experience from your usual cake or biscuit, and it has so many different elements for you to enjoy.

We use both raspberry jam and a few fresh raspberries to make these gluten-free bakewell tarts really fruity and fresh and to give them an individual twist.

There are a few steps to this recipe, so read carefully, but the effort of this recipe is totally worth it for the end result.

Instructions:

Shortcrust pastry

1. To make the gluten-free pastry use your fingers to rub the butter and flour together to the consistency of bread crumbs. You can also use a food processor to do this if you prefer.
2. In a mixing bowl, using a hand whisk, mix the caster sugar and egg.
3. Add the sugar egg mix to your breadcrumb mix and mix together.
4. Using your hands, pull the mixture into a dough, kneed briefly and pull together in a pastry ball.
5. Wrap the pastry ball in cellophane and place it into the fridge for about half an hour.
6. When the pastry has cooled, take it out of the fridge and roll it out using a rolling pin.
7. You can roll the pastry out with a sprinkle of gluten-free flour on the surfaces and rolling pin or roll the pastry out between two sheets of parchment paper.
8. Roll them out to about 3-4 mm thick and them using a 10 cm cutter, cut out the shape of your tarts.
9. Butter all of your pastry tart dishes and place the gluten-free pastry circles into their respective tart pans.
10. Pierce the base of each tart with a fork to stop any bubbles from forming within the pastry.

Filling:

1. Using half of the jam, coat the inside of each tart with jam.
2. Place flour and ground almonds in a mixing bowl and mix well until thoroughly combined.
3. In another bowl, using a hand mixer, mix butter and sugar together. Now add the egg and almond extract. Mix them into the butter and sugar.
4. Mix the dry ingredients together with the wet until they are completely combined. Now stir the rest of the jam and fresh raspberries through the mix until they are evenly spread throughout.
5. Pour the filling into each pastry case and then place them into a preheated oven (180 C / 160 c fan assisted).
6. Bake for 20 minutes in the centre of the oven. Keep checking your tarts from around 18 minutes to ensure they aren’t cooking faster in your oven. You may also need to give them a couple more minutes.
7. You will know when the gluten-free bakewells tarts are ready to take out of the oven, and the light and fluffy filling will have risen, and the top will be golden.
8. When ready, let the bakewell tarts cool to room temperature.

Icing:

1. Sieve your icing sugar so there is no clumping in the icing sugar.
2. Add the almond extract and water. Add these gradually so that you can control the consistency of the icing you want. I would make it quite thick and glossy, so it stays well on top of the bakewell tarts.
3. While the icing is still wet, sprinkle few flaked almonds on top of each tart and then add the glace cherries to the tarts. One cherry per tart.

Baking tips:

• When making your shortcrust pastry, keep the butter as cold as possible. You can help to do this by running your hands under cold water for a minute to stop the heat of your hands from transferring to the butter when working with it.

• Before adding the icing, make sure each bakewell tart is cool completely before adding the icing, otherwise it will just melt off of them.

Faq’s

Do I need to use almond extract in this recipe?

You don’t have to but not using it will take away a lot of the almond flavour.

What is the best way to store these gluten-free bakewell tarts?

To keep these gluten-free bakewell tarts lovely and fresh, it is best to store them in an airtight container. They will be ok for up to 5 days but keep them in the fridge.

Can I freeze these gluten-free bakewell tarts?

Yes, you can freeze them in an airtight container. Leave them in their tins as they will freeze better and stay in better shape.

Can I use another type of jam or fruit for this recipe?

Traditionally the bakewell tart recipe uses raspberry jam, however, if you want to try other flavours like strawberry jam them these gluten-free bakewell tarts should still taste great.

Can I make this recipe without icing?

Some people aren’t a fan of icing, so yes, you can make this recipe without the icing. You can sprinkle the flaked almonds directly onto the filling before baking and just add the glacé cherry on afterwards.

Can I make one big tart instead of lots of small ones?

Yes, you absolutely can. Follow the same recipe but use a much larger pastry tin to make your pastry case. You will need to bake this large bakewell for about 40 – 45 minutes altogether.

Baking this classic recipe into a gluten-free bakewell recipe is a lot of fun, but enjoying it afterwards is even better. Eating this bakewell is like having a delicious cake and a tart all at the same time. You can’t get better than that.

Ingredients for the frangipane filling:

• 80g unsalted butter (softened)
• 80g caster sugar
• 80g ground almonds
• 1 tbsp gluten-free plain flour
• 1 medium egg
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 9 tsp raspberry jam
• 75 g fresh raspberries

Icing sugar ingredients:

• 200g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp cold water
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• glacé cherries
• flaked almonds