Cherry Bakewell Tart Recipe
You’re in for a real treat with this recipe! Honestly you couldn’t get much closer to the Mr Kipling Cherry Bakewell if you tried. And not only that but this Cherry Bakewell recipe is completely vegan. Vegan Cherry Bakewell: A guilt-free alternative to eating a 6-pack of the real thing – and you will barely notice the difference! That’s our slogan for this recipe in case you couldn’t tell. You can even make mini versions in a cupcake tray and voila – your very own Mr Kipling Cherry Bakewell but vegan.
Dairy-free recipes have been essential in our lives and this one is particularly special as it’s been made countless times to get us through our sweet cravings without sacrificing our lives – just joking…but dairy is secretly evil. That being said, dairy-free baking recipes aren’t always as delicious as the original and they don’t have the best reputation for being mouthwatering. The good news is we have lots of them that will change your mind, including this baby.
Making a Cherry Bakewell tart may not seem like the easiest thing to put together but we promise anyone can make this. As daunting as it may seem, it’s only a few components making it seem more complicated than it is – each one is super simple!
What is a Cherry Bakewell?
As Mr Kipling says, “Light pastry cases with a layer of fruity jam, frangipane sponge, soft fondant icing and a hand-placed cherry on top.”
One thing we just need to get off our chest is that the ‘Cherry’ in the name of this tart is a lie. A Bakewell tart is traditionally made with Raspberry Jam. Yes…raspberry. We also felt the same betrayal when we found out. It’s like Santa all over again. The Mr Kipling version uses Raspberry and Plum Jam but we assumed that isn’t something everyone has in the fridge. If you can get your hands on some plum jam then please add it in and comment how it turns out!
A frangipane sponge is simply a cake using ground almonds. Traditionally made with butter and sugar, we’ve adapted this to make the sponge completely vegan! Opting for a vegetable oil instead, you can hardly taste the difference in the moist almond sponge.
What makes this a Vegan Cherry Bakewell?
So if you follow our recipe in making your own fondant icing, then this recipe is vegan. If however, you have got pre rolled icing from the supermarket, check to see if these contain gelatine. If you don’t care if it’s vegan obviously don’t worry about this at all, skip the homemade fondant icing step! If you want that is.
We’re sure that nearly all shop bought pre-made pastry whether it’s puff or shortcrust pastry, is suitable for vegans. We’ve yet to come across one that isn’t. Pre-made pastry is usually created using vegetable oil or margarine, which is why it is suitable for vegetarians and vegans!
Can I substitute some ingredients in my Cherry Bakewell?
Oil:
You can substitute vegetable oil for coconut oil if you prefer or have it handy in the house. We love baking with coconut oil as it enhances the flavour of the overall dish you’re making. This does not fail in this case. For those of you who may be apprehensive about this because almonds means it teeters near the marzipan land. But fear not, we steer clear from that path.
Not being a big fan of marzipan, rest assured with or without coconut oil, that is not a dominant taste here at all. Anyway, back to the matter at hand, we feel that the taste of coconut oil also cancels out any marzipan like flavour. If you do decide to use coconut oil, it will need to be melted down if it’s solid, and measured once it’s in liquid form (melt slightly more as it will reduce).
Jams:
We have tried this recipe using Cherry conserve as an alternative and it’s pretty damn good, so feel free to stay loyal to the Cherry. Or a strawberry jam if you just want to go rogue. If you’re feeling truly authentic, then why not make your own jam? Here’s a couple options you could try that would work well with this recipe:
- Raspberry Chia Jam (for a healthier take)
- Raspberry Plum Jam (inspired for this recipe)
Icing:
So not a substitute per se, but feel free to opt out for the icing sugar glaze. We know that that kind of icing may not be for everyone and can be overly sweet. The recipe still tastes amazing without! Many little cafes and shops through the UK actually sell Bakewell sans icing, topping the cake-like almond frangipane with sliced almonds!
If you do go ahead with it, feel free to play around with how thick you want/can get the icing on your tart.
Can’t stop, won’t stop! This recipe is so versatile and can be transformed into a whole new dish just by the way it’s assembled and presented.
Mini Bakewell Tarts
- Instead of rolling out the big pastry sheet into a tart tin, cut out circular rounds big enough to fit into the holes of a cupcake tin tray.
- Gently press the shortcrust pastry so it sits nicely in the cups. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until slightly golden.
- When pouring the mixture, depending on how high your shell cases cover the cupcake holes, or how deep your tin is, ensure you get an even ratio with the almond sponge mixture, it may be easy to over stuff the tarts with too much throwing overall balance off. Still doesn’t stop it from tasting great though.
Cherry Bakewell Traybake
- Grab a tray a couple of inches deep. Roll out your shortcrust pastry at the bottom. It’s okay if it only reaches the bottom of the tray and not the sides. Continue with the recipe and blind bake for 10 minutes. Layer the rest and continue as the recipe states. You can also opt out of the pastry when making the traybake. Once the cake is cooked in the oven it will hold without any pastry shell. This will also cut off about 20 minutes of your cook!
- Alternatively, you can use a loaf tin and make two batches of Cherry Bakewell slices or if you have a larger square tin or ovenproof dish then go for that!
- Same as usual, roll out pastry so that it fits in the chosen tin and blind bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Option to leave out pastry.
- Layer and continue as the normal recipe states.
- Instead of topping with cherries, you can swirl a bit more of the jam on top so it resembles that iced glaze on the Mr Kipling slices.
Tips
- Roll out your pastry onto a sheet of baking paper so it is easier to place over your tart tin. Alternatively roll your pastry around your rolling pin and gently unroll it over the tin.
- When blind baking your tart shell, you may use baking beads if you have them. You could also place a sheet of baking paper over the pastry and use uncooked rice to fill the tart, which should stop any shrinkage. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t use either. We have made this many times without filling the tart and all that will happen is the sides will be slightly shorter than the sponge. Something we can all live with.
- If you don’t have self-raising flour you can easily make your own at home with just plain flour and baking powder. Follow our how to guide on diy self raising flour to get the ingredient needed whenever recipe calls!
| Prep Time | 25 min |
| Cook Time | 35 min |
| Passive Time | 25 min |
| Servings |
tart
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- 350 g shortcrust pastry homemade or shop bought
- 180 ml vegetable oil
- 300 g raspberry jam
- small handful flaked almonds optional
- 1 glaze fondant icing shop bought or homemade fondant icing recipe
- glace cherries optional
- 170 g self raising flour
- 150 g ground almonds
- 160 g granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 200 ml lukewarm water
Ingredients
Cherry Bakewell Tart
'Frangipane' Almond Sponge
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- Preheat your oven to 190 degrees celsius (170 fan oven).
- Roll out your shortcrust pastry into a circle a couple of inches larger than your tart tin. Place it over your tart tin and pat down carefully to release any air bubbles trapped beneath the surface.
- Bake your tart shell in the oven for 10 minutes then take it out to cool slightly (see tips on the best way to blind bake).
- While your pastry is baking, combine the self-raising flour, ground almonds, sugar and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
- Mix the oil and almond extract into the dry ingredients.
- Slowly add the water and continue to mix until everything is combined. The cake batter will be relatively runny!
- Once your tart shell has come out the oven and has cooled for 10 minutes or so, spread 3-4 large tablespoons of jam over the bottom of the pastry.
- Pour the sponge mixture over the top of the jam. Try to pour it all over rather than filling it from the centre and letting the mixture to move to the sides. This will stop the jam moving to the edges.
- Gently spoon a few teaspoons of jam in a spiral shape around the top of the sponge mixture. Use a knife to swirl it around a little more, being careful not to mix it in too much.
- Sprinkle a small handful of flaked almonds over the tart. Skip this step if you're not using flaked almonds.
- Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 180 degrees (160 fan oven). Bake for a further 25 minutes. Test the sponge with a knife/metal skewer - you shouldn’t see any raw cake batter.
- While your tart is cooling, if you aren’t using pre-made fondant icing, now is a good time to start making your own. The great thing about making your own is that it turns the dish completely vegan! See our how to make fondant icing to make homemade icing for your Bakewell.
- Once your tart has cooled, after 20 minutes or so, pour the icing over the tart and quickly spread to half an inch from the edge. It will set quite fast!
- Add some glacé cherries and enjoy!
Why not try our Cherry Bakewell cookies if you still haven’t had enough of the classic almond cherry combo!
