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Daring Bakers, June 2009 – Bakewell Tart

Bakewell Tart

The June Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart… er… pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800’s in England.

For this occasion, I made prunus cocomilia jam. This fruit grows wild all over Serbia, and I’ve never seen it sold on the markets. It resembles plum, just, it’s a lot sourer and smaller, can be red or a bit larger, yellow. We used to eat this a lot when we were kids, as they mostly grow in parks or on abandoned fields. And if it’s used for something here it is for making rakija :) Serbian names would be dženarika, dženerika, šljivciga, purkača, ringlov… and while searching the net for it’s common name I found a page saying it was Italian plum. But, I don’t know about that, I know it grows all over the former republic of Yugoslavia. During the communist regime here, the state used to take away land from the farmers to build factories. This happened to my grand grand father’s land in Grocka, and they took half of his household to build jams and preserves factory (Grocka is famous for it’s peaches). When the turbulent times begun, it was shot down like the most of the state’s factories. We sometimes jump over the fence as there’s a lot of dženarika. In 20 years, the nature took over that place :)

Dženarika Jam

Dženarika Jam

500 g dženarika (prunus cocomilia), seeds removed, skins on
300 g sugar
innards of 1 vanilla bean
1 Tbsp Vinjak (Cognac can be used here, but I think it would be a blasphemy not to put Vinjak in here if you can find it ;))

Put fruit, sugar and vanilla in a pot and cook on high heat until it thickens. Don’t worry if there are a large pieces of the fruit. When the jam thickens enough, add Cognac and cook a little more, then, wait until it cools and transfer into jars. Stir occasionally while cooling.

Bakewell Tart

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

225 g flour
30 g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
110 g butter, frozen
2 egg yolks
15-30 ml cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Frangipane

125 g butter, softened
125 g powdered sugar
3 eggs
125 g ground almonds
30 g flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in color and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow color.

Bakewell Tart

Assembling: Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it’s overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the center and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 200C. Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking. Serve warm.

My notes: I don’t know why my paste wasn’t firm. Maybe, because I added too thick layer of jam. It got a lot firmer later when it cooled a bit. The amount was enough for one 20 cm and two 10 cm diameter tart pans.

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39 Comments

  • morgana June 29, 2009 4:07 am

    Mmmmm. Beautiful photos and yummy lookinf Bakewell tarts. Can I have a little piece, please?

  • Jo June 29, 2009 5:34 am

    Hmm I don't think I've ever heard of this fruit before but the jam looks really delicious. Presentation and pictures are amazing.

  • Sweet Corner June 29, 2009 5:43 am

    predivno!! od fotki do recepta pa sve do izvedbe…

  • Conor June 29, 2009 5:47 am

    Such beautiful photos! They make me forget about the rain outside my window :)

  • Rosa’s Yummy Yums June 29, 2009 5:51 am

    What a pretty tart and beautiful presentation! I love that choice of filling!Cheers,Rosa

  • MeetaK June 29, 2009 7:23 am

    wow! what a very pretty tart! lovely presentation!

  • Lisa Michelle June 29, 2009 7:54 am

    Your tarts are stunning, and your jam sounds so exotic and wonderful! Amazing photos too! Great job all around!

  • melrose June 29, 2009 8:05 am

    Od kad' nisam cula rijec dzanarike…odmah me spuca nostalgija:) A tortica je tako zamamna da iako sam danas vec pravila slatko, idem da razvucem jednu malu, taman imam sve kod kuce!!!

  • Xsandra June 29, 2009 9:08 am

    Oh, we know that fruit in Hungary, here we call it ringló.The jam looks delicious! :)

  • threecleversisters June 29, 2009 9:14 am

    Prekrasno! What a beautiful blog! I will definitely be back and try some of this myself! Sara

  • Ria June 29, 2009 9:26 am

    Very pretty tarts and lovely presentation!!

  • singinghorse June 29, 2009 11:50 am

    Your photos are really beautiful and so is your bakewell tart. The jam looks really delicious! Beautifully done!

  • MASATERA June 29, 2009 12:09 pm

    prekrasno, naročito fotke ;)

  • Lou @ Happy Food June 29, 2009 1:18 pm

    Beautiful photos and your tart looks gorgeous too! Your filling sounds amazing. Congratulations :)

  • Gaga June 29, 2009 2:48 pm

    Osećam da je ovo nešto fenomenalno!!!

  • Y June 29, 2009 4:26 pm

    That jam sounds wonderful, especially with vanilla. Beautiful tart too!

  • MAHIMA June 29, 2009 5:24 pm

    Great clicks!! :) tart luks yum :)

  • Engineer Baker June 29, 2009 5:52 pm

    Beautiful! Wishing I lived near you though so I could try out that jam – yum!

  • farida June 29, 2009 6:33 pm

    Your tart looks beautiful, Marija! Your idea with the sour plum filling is great. Sour plums is a rare catch here in California:(

  • Natalie June 29, 2009 8:41 pm

    Oh, such a cute little tart.. and the jam you've used sounds very interesting and delicious.. :)

  • ice tea: sugar high June 29, 2009 9:45 pm

    Your photos are absolutely stunning!. That jam sounds interesting eventhough I don't know what it is. Well done on the challenge

  • Audax June 29, 2009 10:20 pm

    O WOW what beautiful pictures you got on this post and the jam sounds delish. Bravo and kudos on this fab challenge. Cheers from Audax in Australia.

  • Junglefrog June 29, 2009 10:38 pm

    The plums look a bit like the ones we would be able to find here, but not sure if they are the same though. Your bakewell tarts look gorgeous!

  • nlo June 30, 2009 4:59 am

    joj što ovo dobro izgleda odma dobijem želju za praviti ;)))

  • fairy_mi June 30, 2009 7:05 am

    Your tart looks great!The prunus cocomilia jam sounds spectacular, very originalAnd I really like your presentation with those cute flowers!You can smell the summer in the air.Great job!Inbalalso a daring baker

  • sweetakery June 30, 2009 11:23 pm

    beautiful photos..wow just love the one with the cut tart and jam oozing out yummm!

  • Ana-Marija July 1, 2009 8:20 am

    prekrasna fotka džema, bas mi se jako svidja

  • Maya July 1, 2009 9:03 am

    I've been following your beautiful blog for a while now, so it's high time I say hello! :) Truly stunning photos… That spoon of jam looks sooo mouthwatering! This type of plum grows everywhere around my place, too, and we call it ringlo. One of my favorite fruits for preserves!

  • anna July 1, 2009 10:02 am

    That looks delicious! I've definitely never seen that fruit before but it seems tasty.

  • Laura July 1, 2009 12:42 pm

    Beautiful pictures. Fascinating discussion about that jam! Wonderful.

  • Julia @ Mélanger July 1, 2009 1:58 pm

    Wow, these look amazing. I love the top photo with the little fruits. The prunus cocomilia jam sounds so interesting. The fruit do look a little like plums. Lovely, lovely.

  • Clumbsy Cookie July 1, 2009 4:02 pm

    What a cool jam! And your tart is so perfect!

  • MIMIHUMI July 2, 2009 11:59 am

    Prelepo i slike i recept

  • jasmine July 2, 2009 5:57 pm

    Gorgeous photos–really like the little yellow flowers.Thanks for participating.j

  • zurin July 7, 2009 8:52 am

    Gorgeous pictures!!! Love the colours nad the pictures of the ali baba mufins are beautiful too. The cakes must taste soo good as well!

  • Dragana July 8, 2009 6:47 pm

    Marija,I enjoyed reading your story, especially the part about Grocka. My family has property there, but we rarely visit, and nature takes over, as you say! We are planning a trip in the not too distant future.Are the dzenarika the same fruit used to make knedle? We use Italian plums here but unfortunately the season is so short.Lovely pictures as always.

  • Vera July 8, 2009 11:45 pm

    Gorgeous photos!

  • Marija July 9, 2009 4:21 am

    @Dragana – I think it is the same fruit. And please, email me when you come to Serbia, I would love to meet you!

  • Joumana October 7, 2009 1:05 pm

    just discovered your site and it is fabulous!

Comments are closed.