Bakewell Pudding!

Okay, Raspberry Bakewell Pudding.....its SOOOOO nice! ;oD  So, here's the recipe - it's from the Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain book :o)

Ingredients:
1 loose-bottomed flan time with a diameter of 25cm
1 packet puff pastry
4 - 5 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
150g (5oz) fresh raspberries
100g (just under 4oz) unsalted butter
100g (just under 4oz) caster sugar
5 eggs
150g (5oz) ground almonds
a few drops of almond essence or extract (I used about 2 cap-fuls)
icing sugar and clotted cream to serve (a good creamy vanilla ices cream is just fine!)

Instructions!

Preheat your oven to 190C/Gas 5.  Roll out the pastry and line your flan tin.  We buttered ours and it worked fine, our was non-stick so you can decide which to do :o)  Leave your excess pastry hanging over the edges of the tin, and trim once the tart is assembled.

Carefully spread the raspberry jam on the pastry base.  Take 3 or 4 spoonfuls of raspberries and crush them slightly before placing them evenly over the jam.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Gradually add the eggs one at a time, followed by a good spoonful of the ground almonds .  Repeat alternating eggs and almonds until they have all been used up.  Add a few drops of almond essence/extract (I LOVE almonds, so I used the cap of the bottle.  2 capfuls were just right!).  Pour this mixture into the pastry case and grntly spread the mixture evenly with a palette knife.  You can trim off the excess pastry now or once cooked - it's up to you.  We trimmed it before it went into the oven, and used the remainders to make "Chocolate Pastries" (see blog contents).  Bake your tart on the middle shelf of the oven for 35-45 minutes, until lightly browned on top.

Dust with icing sugar and serve with clotted cream, cream or ice cream!  Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm!!

Top Tip:  Multitask your Bakewell Pudding with Sunday Roast!  When we made this, we were having a Sunday Roast.  We decided to make the Bakewell Pudding first thing, and set it on a cooling tray whilst the Sunday Roast was being made.  We left it in the tin, and after the oven was finished with and turned off, we put the tart back into the oven on a low shelf and took the ice cream out of the freezer while we ate the roast dinner.  After dinner, we took dessert out of the oven, out of the tin (loose-bottomed tins are ideal for this kind of dessert!), dusted with icing sugar, and served with soft ice cream.  MMmm Mmmm MMmm! ;oD