Baking Heaven April 2020

WWW.FOODHEAVENMAG.COM APRIL baking heaven 77

TREACLE TART

DELUXE

This is a classic British tart, made

traditionally using cheap ingredients.

Comforting, sticky, sweet and nostalgic, it

is a dessert that I was fed as a child, and

which, therefore, I love. I have added some

cream and almonds to my recipe, which

although makes it more calorific, I’d say is

definitely worth it. You may find a small

portion of this tart to be enough, due to its

sweetness. My preferred accompaniment

for this is a thick Greek-style yoghurt –

coconut-flavoured, preferably. Not quite the

tinned evaporated milk that my Nana would

have poured over hers! Some consider this

tart to be even better the next day, after an

overnight chilling in the fridge.

SERVES 10 -12

You will need

a loose-bottomed 20x3.5cm

(8x1½in) circular tin

For the pastry case

1 quantity of sweet shortcrust pastry

(see page 74)

For the fi lling

75g (2¾oz) fresh white breadcrumbs

340g (12oz) golden syrup

75g (2¾oz) ground almonds

baked pastry shapes

edible fl owers and herbs

sugar sprinkles

1 Make and rest the pastry following the

recipe on page 74, then line, blind bake

and trim a pastry case. Any leftover

pastry can be cut into decorative shapes,

egg-washed and baked separately to be

used as extra decoration.

2 For the panna cotta, add the milk

and tea bags to a saucepan and bring

to a simmer. Once simmering, switch

off the heat and allow the tea to

infuse for 15 minutes. Remove the tea

bags, giving them a good squeeze

before discarding.

3 Soften the gelatine by soaking the

sheets in a bowl of cold water.

4 Add the cream and sugar to the pan of

infused milk. Slowly bring the mixture to

the boil, stirring now and then to

dissolve the sugar. As soon as boiling

point is reached, turn off the heat.

5 Drain the softened gelatine and pat

dry with kitchen paper before stirring

into the hot cream. When the gelatine

has fully dissolved, pass the mixture

through a fine sieve into a clean bowl

and allow to cool. Once cooled, place in

the fridge, checking and stirring every

so often until the panna cotta starts to

thicken. The ideal pouring consistency

required is that of thick custard.

6 Once thickened, carefully pour into the

prepared pastry case. Any bubbles that

rise to the surface can easily be popped

by running the flame of a blow torch

over the surface, however this isn’t a

necessity, it’s purely for aesthetics.

7 Place back in the fridge until fully set –

this should take around 4 hours.

8 Decorate the tart with a variety of fruits,

baked pastry shapes, petals, edible

flowers, sprinkles and herbs. When

ready to serve, use a hot dry knife to

slice the tart perfectly, wiping the knife

between slicing. Serve with an extra

portion of fruit macerated with a

sprinkling of caster sugar and a splash of

booze, if you like.

SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY