Made up of a shortcrust pastry tart shell, a layer of jam, frangipane filling, topped with flaked almonds and dusted with icing sugar – it’s no wonder this classic dessert has become much loved British dessert. Traditional Bakewell tarts are made with frangipane (usually made with of eggs and butter). This Vegan Bakewell Tart is made with not only dairy and egg free substitutes – but it’s gluten and grain free as well! Make sure to check out the recipe notes for substitutions and
What is a Bakewell Tart?
There is a surprising amount of debate about what is and what is not technically considered a Bakewell Tart.
The debate stems from the fact that the Bakewell Tart designation seems to be used by some as an umbrella term to include Bakewell Puddings (made with puff pastry and topped with a rich custard on top) and Cherry Bakewells (topped with a layer or fondant icing and as ingle half glacé cherry).
According to the Bakewell Tart purists and Wikipedia:
A Bakewell tart is an English confection consisting of a shortcrust pastry shell beneath layers of jam, frangipane, and a topping of flaked almonds. It is a variant of the Bakewell pudding, closely associated with the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire.
What is Frangipane?
Frangipane is a sweet almond filling typically made up of butter, sugar, beaten egg, ground almonds and flour. You’ll often find it used in cakes, pastries and of course – tarts.
Frangipane has a sweet and nutty flavour with a soft texture. It can be described as something between a sponge cake mixture and custard.
How to Make Vegan Frangipane
Given the fact that traditional frangipane recipes are made up of ingredients that are not exactly vegan friendly – creating an egg free and dairy free frangipane came with its challenges. That being said (with a fair amount of testing) the end result made for a delicious and satisfying almond frangipane made with a couple of easy swaps and simple ingredients.
- Almond milk instead of eggs: Eggs are typically useful in frangipane because they: create stability, provide moisture and thicken the custard. Without eggs, our frangipane won’t have quite as much structure but we’ll still have plenty of moisture thanks to the almond milk.
- Vegan butter instead of dairy butter: This is an easy swap – simply replace the dairy butter for a vegan block butter. I tested my recipe using salted Flora plant butter and Naturli Vegan block. Make sure to use block butters and not spreadable butters from a tub. They just don’t work as well.
- You can use softened or solid coconut oil in place of the vegan butter, but the vegan butter makes for a better tasting frangipane.
How to Make this Vegan Bakewell Tart
Make the Crust
The crust in this recipe is very easy to make. It’s almost identical to my highly rated almond flour pie crust. There’s no need for blind baking, chilling, cold butter or faffing with a food processor. It comes together easily in one large mixing bowl with only a few ingredients.
The recipe provided here is grain free, made with almond flour and tapioca flour (though you can make it using only almond flour!). To make the crust:
- In a large bowl: Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Stir in the melted butter (vegan, of course). Mix into a soft, sandy-mixture.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of water and mix until a smooth dough forms. Only add a little bit of water at a time. Too much water will make rock solid crust.
Once the dough forms, gather it into a large ball and place in the middle of a sheet of parchment paper. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it’s about 11 inches wide in diameter. You want it a little bit larger than your tart pan (9 in/23 cm).
Roll and Bake
After rolling out the dough, slip your hand under the baking paper and gently flip the dough over a lightly greased tart tin. Your crust will break in places after flipping. Gently press the dough back together and fill in any holes with little bits of dough as needed.
Finally, grab a fork and use it to prick a few holes across the bottom of the tin. This will allow air to escape, preventing the crust from bubbling and puffing up as it bakes.
When you’re ready – pop the crust in the oven to pre-bake for about 10 minutes. Cooking the crust on its own first ensures that you end up with a crisp pastry shell perfect for filling with jam and frangipane.
Make the Frangipane
The vegan frangipane comes together quickly and easily while the almond crust bakes. I do recommend using a handheld electric mixer or a stand mixer to beat the butter and sugar together. You can do this by hand but it will take a bit more elbow grease if done manually.
- In a large bowl: combine room temperature butter and sugar. Beat together on high for 1-2 minutes. The mixture should be pale-yellow, light and slightly fluffy.
- Add the remaining dry frangipane ingredients. The ‘dough’ will be quite thick here.
- Add the remaining wet ingredients: almond milk, almond extract and vanilla extract.
The end result should be a slightly sticky, thick batter.
Assemble and Bake
After the crust pre bakes and the frangipane has been prepared – it’s time to assemble your Vegan Bakewell Tart! Don’t worry about waiting for the crust to cool. You can start as soon as you’re ready.
- Spread a thin layer of raspberry jam across the bottom of the crust.
- Add the frangipane. I recommend dolloping the frangipane across the tart – this will make it easier to spread evenly.
- Spread the frangipane mixture over the top – use the back of a wooden spoon or spatula to spread the almond mixture.
- Add toppings! Traditional tarts are typically topped with almond flakes only. I added fresh raspberries purely because it looks better. (This tart was very difficult to photograph without the extract pop of colour!) Feel free to keep it simple or add fresh berries – it’s up to you!
- Bake: This tart takes much longer to bake than traditional Bakewell tarts without the eggs.
Tip!
About halfway through the cook time, add a piece of foil over the top of your tart. Almond flour browns quickly and you ideally want your frangipane to be golden brown. If left uncovered, the top of the tart might burn from 60 minutes in the oven.
Substitutions
- You can use frozen raspberries instead of fresh berries for the topping. Simply toss the berries in a tablespoon of corn starch before adding the tart. The starch will help absorb excess water or moisture while baking.
- Instead of making a raspberry tart, feel free to swap out the raspberries and jam for other fruit. Use blueberry, strawberry, cherry jam or even a combination of different flavours.
- Make sure to lightly grease your tart pan before adding the crust to ensure an easy release.
- Instead of using a tart pan you can use a springform cake tin or loose-bottom pan.
Make the crust with almond flour only:
- Tapioca starch adds stability and texture to the crust. If you’d like to simplify the recipe by narrowing down the flours you can use all almond flour instead of a combination of the two. I recommend adding 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum if you make it without tapioca. It’s not 100% necessary, but it will make for a sturdier, less crumbly crust.
Make the frangipane with all purpose gluten free flour:
- AP gluten free flour is much more accessible and affordable which is why I want to make sure to include an option here for those who don’t need this recipe to be grain free. If you’d like to use a generic gluten free flour blend (homemade or store bought) in the frangipane, simply use 1/4 cup flour instead of the 1/2 cup tapioca flour.
Tip: Use a Scale!
I always recommend to weigh ingredients whenever almond flour is involved. Almond flour measurements can vary wildly when using cup measurements which can have a huge impact on recipes like this.
Vegan Bakewell Tart
Made up of a shortcrust pastry, a layer of jam, frangipane filling, topped with flaked almonds and dusted with icing sugar - this vegan Bakewell tart is a must-make!
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups | 192 g almond flour
- 1/2 cup | 56 g tapioca flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- 3 tablespoons | 42 g melted vegan butter (salted or unsalted)
- 2-3 tablespoons | 30-45 ml water
Frangipane
- 1/3 cup | 75 g softened vegan butter (salted or unsalted)
- 1/2 cup | 100 g white granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup | 56 g tapioca flour (or 1/3 cup | 46 g gluten free all purpose flour + 1 tablespoon corn starch)
- 2 cups | 192 g almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup | 60 ml almond milk
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 cup | 82 g raspberry jam
- 2 tablespoons almond flakes
- Fresh raspberries for topping (optional)
- Icing sugar for dusting on top (optional)
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Lightly grease a 9 inch/23 cm tart pan with a loose-bottom. Set aside.
- In a medium or large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and icing sugar until combined.
- Stir in the melted butter. Add the water 1 tablespoon at a time. Mix until a smooth, soft dough forms.
- Gather dough into a large ball and place in the middle of a sheet of parchment paper. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it's about 11 inches wide in diameter. You want it a little bit larger than your tart pan (9 in/23 cm).
- Transfer the tart pan: slip your hand under the baking paper and gently flip the dough over onto the prepared tart tin. Your crust will break in places after flipping. Gently press the dough back together and fill in any holes with little bits of dough as needed. Prick a few holes into the crust, across the bottom of the pan.
- Place the crust in the oven to pre-bake for 10 minutes.
Filling & Assembly
- In a stand mixer or large bowl: add the softened butter and sugar. Use a handheld mixer or stand mixer and beat on high 1-2 minutes until a paleo-yellow, light and fluffy mixture forms.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix by hand: almond flour, tapioca flour (or gluten free flour) and baking powder. Mix until fully combined.
- Stir the remaining wet ingredients: almond milk, vanilla extract and almond extract. Mix into a thick, sticky paste. Set aside.
- Spread a thin layer of jam across the bottom of the crust. Add the frangipane over the jam and spread evenly over the top. The frangipane might be thick and sticky. Use the back of a spoon or spatula to gently spread it out.
- Optional: Press a few raspberries into the top of the frangipane.
- Sprinkle the flaked almonds over the top.
- Place your tart in the middle of the oven and bake for 55-60 minutes. About halfway through the cook, place a sheet of aluminium foil over the tart to keep the top from browning too much.
- Let cool a minimum of 30 minutes before slicing and serving. The frangipane is best and fully sets when cooled completely. Sprinkle a dusting of icing sugar over the top if desired and serve.
- Keep leftovers in the fridge, loosely covered 3-4 days.
Notes
- I highly recommend using a kitchen scale with this recipe (and whenever almond flour is involved). Almond flour measurements can vary wildly when using cup measurements which can have a huge impact on recipes like this. For best results - use a scale!
- In the frangipane: You need to cream the butter and sugar with an electric or stand mixer but mix in the dry ingredients by hand. If almond flour gets mixed too aggressively it will release excess oils which will make it difficult for the frangipane to fully set.
- Instead of raspberry - feel free to use another type of jam/fruit instead.
Make the crust with almond flour only:
Make the frangipane with all purpose gluten free flour:
Make a GF all purpose flour crust (instead of an almond flour crust)
- Whisk together: 1 1/2 cup (210 g) gluten free all purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon icing sugar.
- Add 1/2 cup (113 g) cold, vegan butter that has been cut into small pieces. Mix into a sandy-mixture.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons cold water. Mix until a soft dough forms.
- Roll out and line a tart pan with crust as you normally would. Prick holes in the bottom of the crust. Chill the dough in the freezer for about 10 minutes before pre baking for 15 minutes.
- Proceed with the recipe as usual.
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