Bakewells and Cakewells

Sunday Afternoon Tease

Yesterday I made a Bakewell Tart with home-made raspberry jam for my current husband; this was only the second time I have ever made a Bakewell and although it is a little time consuming, they are certainly worth the effort.  If it were up to me, I would opt to top my tart more simply with flaked almonds, but the mister likes to have icing and glacé cherries on his; nothing like a pert little cherry on top of a cake to bring out your inner Kenneth Williams (Matron!).

There is something gloriously kitsch about glacé cherries and I like to have a maraschino cherry as a garnish with my Christmas Snowball cocktail.  Oh the glamour of the 1970's, darling!

A few weeks ago, I was inspired to try this Strawberry Cakewell, which is based on a recipe from the Clandestine Cake Club cookbook.  The Cakewell involves a bottom layer of basic sponge cake and a top layer of almond frangipane sponge; this is topped with glacé icing and flaked almonds.  I filled the cake with strawberry jam as it was what I had to hand, but in my humble opinion, raspberry is the ultimate jam of choice for Bakewell or Cakewell.

We had some Autumn raspberries in our garden this year and I conducted a little experiment with making raspberry curd; golly gosh but this stuff smells divine and tastes heavenly.  We have a little pot or two in the fridge and I have a cunning cake plan to use this later in the week.  

TTFN. Galx