Friday 26 June 2009

Loose Bottomed Tart*

bake rachel allen We have been enjoying some lovely soft fruits from a friend's garden recently. I cannot decide which is my favourite fruit - the strawberries seem to have been especially good this year. I had some blackcurrants in the fridge, and decided to use them up in a cake.

I modified a recipe from my Rachel Allen book - she uses 12oz cherries, but I think any juicy fruit would work.

12oz fruit [weighed without stones]

5oz self raising flour

pinch of ground cinnamon

2oz caster sugar

1 egg

3½oz melted butter

TOPPING

1 oz EACH of plain flour, caster sugar, cubed butter

¼tsp cinnamon.

8" diameter loose-bottomed/springform tin

  • Preheat oven to 180'C [170' if fan oven] butter sides of tin, and baseline
  • If using cherries, cut in half
  • Sift flour, sugar, cinnamon in large bowl, ,make wall in centre
  • Combine milk, egg, melted butter in another bowl, then stir into dry ingredients to make thick smooth mixture. Pour into tin. Spread fruit evenly over top.
  • Mix topping ingredients in northern bowl, rubbing with fingertips to make crumb-like mixture. Scatter over fruit.
  • Bake 30-35 minutes till golden brown and skewer comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in tin. Remove to wire rack.
  • Dust with icing sugar and serve

Recipe says 'serves 6' but it looks quite rich, I shall aim for 8 slices. Cold butter straight from the fridge can be grated into the flour for the topping. But tonight was very hot, and I found it was going soft really quickly!

DSCF0023

I hope Bob gets back from Worship Practice soon, I think it is time for tea and cake for supper!!

** Back in the 1980s when I used to watch Pebble Mill at One, the resident chef was explaining a similar recipe and said "And for this, I need a loose bottomed tart tin" and the BBC actually received complaints about his impropriety!

6 comments:

  1. That looks delcious! I'm processing blackcurrants like mad at the minute.....and I just happen to have a loose bottomed etc!

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  2. Your cake sounds delicious! The strawberries here have been very good, too. Right now I'm picking up more mulberries than I can use. We like them on cereal and I just saw a recipe for a mulberry smoothie. Might try it!

    It was lovely of you to post a birthday wish for our Abigail! Thank you. I will be meeting our daughter and bring Abigail and Titus back to Indiana to stay with us for a few days.

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  3. I don't think I have ever eaten a mulberry. Aren't they the ones that stain badly??

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  4. Cake and coffee for supper sounds like a delicious menu!!! Yum!

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  5. Happy to report that served with a blob of low fat creme fraiche, Bob declared the cake "delicious!"

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  6. We live in Spain and its cherry season (and other fruits abound) I don't suppose for one minute you have Michael Smiths original cherry recipe. I remember (I think) what went into it i.e. icing sugar for the pastry and the amound mixture that went over the cherries was something like ground almonds, butter, icing sugar and maybe an egg but don't have the exact quantities. love to hear whether you have it. we have just bought a box of cherries !!!

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