Cranberry Bakewell Tart Recipe – With Almond Frangipane
This Cranberry Bakewell Tart is a delicious winter tart with a sweet pastry base, a layer of cranberry jam or marmalade, soft almond frangipane studded with fresh cranberries and topped with flaked almonds. It has a great balance between the sweet frangipane and the sour cranberries. For this recipe I used Filligans Christmas Marmalade. Other great choices include Morans Mega Jam’s Cranberry Sauce , Wexford Home Preserves Cranberry Sauce, G’s Gourmet Jams Cranberry and Port Sauce.
So how do I make this Cranberry Bakewell Tart from scratch?
We can break this recipe down into 3 simple steps;
- Sweet Pastry
- Almond Frangipane
- Fill and Bake
Sweet Pastry
This recipe starts with a block of sweet pastry. In this recipe, we use a simple sweet shortcrust pastry recipe, also known as Pâte sucrée. You can grab my recipe for it, here. You can also use store bought for this, Just Rol sells an excellent sweet shortcrust pastry, as does Irish brand Rollit which is available in Supervalu and will be available in the Simply Better range soon in Dunnes Stores.
Take your chilled pastry and place onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out evenly to about the thickness of a coin. Line up your tin to make sure you have rolled it out wide enough to cover the bottom of the tin and the sides. Lightly dust the top of the pastry with flour. Using a rolling pin, gently roll the pastry onto the pin. Gently lift the rolling pin over the tart tin and unroll it carefully. Lift the sides of the pastry up and gently press into the corners. Once you have fitted the pastry into the corners, press into the edges of the pastry to trim the excess off. You can use a sharp knife for this too.
Place into the fridge to chill while you prepare the frangipane filling.
Almond Frangipane
This is a super simple almond frangipane recipe flavoured with almond essence. Frangipane is a soft almond cake like batter. To make this frangipane, we begin by adding the room temperature butter and sugar. Beat this together for 2-3 minutes until pale and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the ground almonds and mix until combined. Add the eggs and mix again for a further minute or two until combined. Stir in the almond essence and flour and continue mixing until you have fully incorporated everything.
Fill and Bake
Once you have prepared the frangipane we remove the pastry from the fridge. Take a couple tablespoons of cranberry sauce/jam/marmalade and spread evenly over the base of the raw pastry. Spread all of the frangipane evenly on top. Scatter the cranberries over the frangipane and lightly press them down. Sprinkles flaked almonds all over the tart. Bake for 45-60 minutes until golden brown all over. Allow to cool fully before removing from the tin.
Frequently Asked Questions
To store leftover bakewell tart. tightly wrap in cling film or place into an airtight container. Store in the fridge or in a cool room for up to 5 days.
Yes! Portion any leftovers into slices. Wrap each slice in clingfilm or place into an airtight container or ziploc bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. To defrost, remove a slice from the freezer and leave at room temperature for 30-40 minutes until thawed.
Although they are similar, frangipane is a cake like batter that is made with ground almonds. It is used as a filling for bakewell tarts. Bakewell tart refers to the entire tart, including the pastry, jam and frangipane.
Frangipane is made from creamed butter, sugar, ground almonds, eggs and sometimes almond essence and flour.
They are not the same thing. While they are both almond based, frangipane is a tart filling that needs to be baked to become edible. Marzipan is an edible almond paste that can be used to create edible decorations.
Generally, I don’t blind bake my pastry for bakewell tarts. This is because the frangipane takes 45-60 minutes to cook properly. The pastry would over cook if you blind baked it and baked it again with the frangipane. It is also a generally dry mix compared to a fruit filling so it doesn’t create a soggy base when cooking.
You can use either! Whatever you have on hand will work, fresh or frozen cranberries as long as they are whole.
For more recipes that use frangipane, check out my Rhubarb Bakewell , Apple Almond Squares and Roast Plum Bakewell Tart recipes.
For more Pastry Recipes, check out my Pastry Category, here.
Cranberry Bakewell Tart
Equipment
- 1 10 inch pastry tin
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- 1 Electric whisk or stand mixer with paddle attachment
- 1 spoon or small palette knife
- 1 Rubber spatula
Ingredients
- 1 batch sweet pastry
- 150 grams butter, room temperature
- 150 grams caster sugar
- 150 grams ground almonds
- 3 whole eggs
- 1 tsp almond essence
- 20 grams plain flour
- 150 grams cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 20 grams flaked almonds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170°c(340°f) or 160°c(320°f) if fan assisted.
- Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the sweet pastry evenly and gently. Roll it to the thickness of a coin and big enough to cover the tart tin, making sure to keep turning the pastry and dusting again with flour if needed.
- Lightly dust the top of the rolled pastry and roll up the pastry loosely onto the rolling pin. Place over the tart tin and unroll gently to cover.
- Loosen the side bits of pastry and gently guide it downwards into the corners of the tin. Using your knuckle, gently press the corners in.
- Remove the excess pastry by pressing down on it into the tart tin edges. If you don't have a sharp edge, use a sharp knife.
- Leave in the fridge while you prepare the frangipane.
- In a medium sized bowl or food processor, add the butter and sugar.
- Beat on medium for 2-3 minutes until pale and fluffy.
- Add in the ground almonds and mix until combined.
- Next, add the eggs and almonds essence. Gently mix in the flour with a rubber spatula.
- Remove the pastry from the fridge. Spread a couple tablespoons of jam over the pastry to create an even layer.
- Top the jam with the frangipane and smooth over until even.
- Sprinkle the fresh or frozen cranberries on top and lightly press the cranberries into the frangipane.
- Sprinkle over the flaked almonds.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until the entire tart has an even golden brown colour all over.
- Allow to cool fully before removing from the tin and slicing.
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