Saturday, June 27, 2009

Daring Bakers~June Challenge~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.
Prior to the challenge, I had no idea what a bakewell tart was. According to Wikipedia, a pastry with an almond filling. I did not want to attempt the challenge this month, partially due to the pictures and the description of the tart (I knew it was not going to be my favorite kind of dessert), and the other reason being laziness.

Well, I decided to make the tart...and since I was in a rush while making it, it didn't come out that well. I was trying to make it to a Cocktail Party at Aaron's house and misjudged the timing of preparing and baking the tart. I also used ingredients that I had in the house....

Unfortunately, that meant that my jam filling between the pastry crust and almond cake consisted of grape jelly (the cause of the oozing syrup in the picture) and some frozen blueberries. I don't know what I was thinking....I don't even eat grape jelly in the first place, but we had it in the fridge because Mike likes jelly. After I made the tart and Mike came home, he said, "That's a really runny grape jelly, I don't think you should have baked with it. Did you add any thickeners?"
FYI, Mike is the non-food scientist in the house. Arg...Let me reiterate, I WASN'T THINKING STRAIGHT. I was even wishing, "Man I wish I could double the baking temperature so I can shorten the baking time." My friends were really nice as they tried to conjure up positive comments about the tart, but overall the tart was one of my disasters in the kitchen. My lesson learned through this experience, baking should be fun and not rushed.

If you would like to check out other Daring Bakers attempts at this month's challenge, check out the blog roll.

6 comments:

Chou said...

I should've taken a picture of the truly disasterous parts of mine for you to laugh at. Great lesson! We're coming out the last week in August, will you be around?

Amanda said...

Mine was disastrous too! I guess it tasted alright, but it was just more mushy than tarty or cakey.

Lisa said...

I'd never heard of a bakewell tart, either. It actually looks pretty tasty, even with the runny jam. In any case—we all have disasters! Hopefully the fun cocktail party made up for it.

Diana said...

Aww I'm sorry Lauren. It's not my favorite dessert either.

genkitummy said...

chou-yay! i get to see you in august!

amanda-the pictures of your tarts looked great!

thanks lisa. and yes, the cocktail party made up for it!

diana-yeah, i don't think i'll be making the tart again. but i am excited about july's challenge!

jasmine said...

Oh dear -- but you gave me a good laugh (re: not eating grape jelly)...I'm in full agreement about not being rushed in the kitchen...you can always taste it in the end results. Hopefully you'll come back to this when you've got a mo...

Thanks for participating.
j