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.

I was very much looking forward to this challenge – it sounded very yummy and the instructions didn’t seem extraordinarily challenging. And I was right! In the end, I think mine might have come out a little bit underbaked – this is one of those baked goods that is difficult to judge its doneness – but it’s edible. And if I don’t wake up in the middle of the night with salmonella or something, I might take it to work to share with my friends there. Might.

We were allowed creative license when it came to the jam – flavorwise and whether or not to make it ourselves. Inspired by my favorite cookies, I decided to do lemon curd and add in some blueberries. And I’ve always wanted to make the lemon curd cake from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook, so I decided to use its accompanying recipe for lemon curd.

Next up was the sweet shortcrust pastry which cake together very well and ended up being very sweet and not too flaky – a nice contrast to the sweet-tartness of the lemon curd. The frangipane went smoothly, too, though I’m very glad the hosts mentioned in the recipe that it would appear to curdle and not to panic because if they hadn’t, well, I definitely would have panicked.

After baking for 30 minutes, it seemed quite jiggly still in the middle, so I left it in for a few more minutes until it seemed to set just a bit more, though, as I said above, I’m not sure that it couldn’t benefit from a few more minutes baking. But the top was fairly dark brown when I pulled it out of the oven and I hadn’t wanted to let it burn.

So, yes, very tasty and pretty easy really – success! Click on the Daring Bakers logo above to click through our blogroll and see lots of other lovely Bakewell Tarts.