Today’s recipe for bakewell cake with homemade marzipan is obviously inspired by Bakewell tart – this much beloved classic British bake. I love it as I love all things frangipane and since cherries, which are often a feature of this bake, are in season right now too I decided that a bakewell cake must be in my recipe developing future.

I wanted to make a fluffy almond scented cake with seasonal fruit and little pockets of marzipan and I must say I am pleased how my bakewell cake came out.

I used cherries as they are very much in season over here right now and cherries are often used in the original Bakewell tart. My ideal fruit to use would be sour cherries, instead of sweet cherries, for the irresistible contrast between tangy fruit and sweet marzipan filling, but unfortunately I have never come across them here, the UK. If you live in continental Europe, you may have more luck – they are popular in my native Poland and Italy too, as far as I am aware. If you can’t find sour cherries, but like the idea of a sour fruit in this context, raspberries and blackberries would both work really well too.

Inspired by far too many almond croissants I ingested in my London youth, I really wanted this bakewell cake to have more than just some almonds in the cake batter and scattered on top. What I was after were little pockets of sweet almond scented frangipane in the middle. I made my own marzipan in my food processor, which is ridiculously easy to make btw, and placed slices of it in between the two cake layers before baking. As the cake bakes around it, the marzipan which is essentially just sugar and ground almonds melts beautifully and so by the end you are left with fruit-studded cake with deliciously sweet pools of melted marzipan in the middle. I find it delightful and I hope you will too.

Oh if you like the idea but are more into pastry, I made several frangipane desserts on this blog already, have a look here:

Vegan raspberry bakewell tart

Vegan fig frangipane tart

Vegan bakewell tart with blackberries

Vegan pistachio frangipane tarts

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

FLOUR:I used plain all purpose flour to make this cake with. If making it gluten-free, substitute it with a good gluten-free flour mix that contains plenty of binding starches and a half a teaspoon of xanthan gum for binding.

ALMOND FLOUR: I used almond flour both in the cake itself, to make it moist and light, and to make homemade marzipan. In the UK almond flour is sold as ground almonds. This can be confusing as in the rest of the world ground almonds are coarser than almond flour so if you live outside of the UK purchase almond flour. If, like me, you live in the UK look for ground almonds in your local supermarket’s baking aisle.

SUGAR: I used two types of sugar in this cake. For the cake itself, I opted for caster sugar as it is a type of sugar with superfine particles, which means it dissolves fully during baking. For the marzipan, I used icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar).

BAKING AGENTS: I used a combination of baking powder and baking soda to make this cake. They are not the same so please do not replace one of these for the other.

VEGAN YOGHURT: I used thick yoghurt to make this cake moist and fluffy – it comes into a chemical reaction with baking soda and gives the cake a good rise. I used plain coconut yoghurt by the Coconut Collaborative as that’s what I like to eat, but any thick yoghurt use enjoy will work just as well.

OIL: Alongside the yoghurt, I used a small amount of neutral flavoured oil to keep this cake moist and fluffy. I used mild olive oil that I use for cooking but grapeseed or rapeseed oil is also a good bet.

LEMON ZEST AND JUICE: I added a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice to the cake to help it rise and a zest of one lemon for a subtle citrusy flavour. If you would like that flavour to be more prominent add a zest of another lemon for good measure.

PLANT MILK: A couple of tablespoons of plant milk helps to achieve the correct dry to wet ingredients ratio, but water would work just as well.

CHERRIES: I used fresh cherries in this cake, but raspberries or blackberries would work just as well. If you can get them – they don’t sell them in UK – sour cherries would offer a fantastic contrast to the sweetness of marzipan. If you cannot get hold of fresh, use frozen.

ALMOND EXTRACT: I used a small amount of almond extract to add an irresistible almond aroma to the marzipan and the cake itself.

HOW TO MAKE IT?

1) MAKE THE MARZIPAN

Put ground almonds and icing sugar in a food processor, pulse them a few times to combine. Add almond extract and trickle in approx. 2 tsp of water whilst pulsing. If the mixture is too dry, trickle in a tiny bit more water – quarter of a teaspoon at the time.

When ready, the mixture should clump together in the palm of your hand and feel like playdough. Empty the food processor and knead the mixture gently until uniform, then roll it into a log. Once the cake batter is ready, slice the marzipan into thin slices to put between the layers of the cake batter.

2) MIX WET INGREDIENTS

Pre-heat the oven, line a baking tin and grab a large mixing bowl. Place all of the wet ingredients – yoghurt, oil, lemon zest and juice, sugar, almond extract and plant milk or water – in the mixing bowl and stir well to combine.

3) ADD DRY INGREDIENTS

Cut pitted cherries into quarters (in the photo I halved them but that was by mistake) and toss in about a tablespoon (12 g / 0.4 oz) of plain flour to coat. Mix plain flour with baking agents and salt and sift them into the wet ingredients in batches. Incorporate the flour into the wet ingredients by making small circles in the middle of the bowl, progressively folding in more and more flour (this minimises lumps). Once incorporated add ground almonds (no need to sift them) and finally fold in floured fruit.

4) LAYER WITH MARIZPAN

Transfer roughly half of the cake batter to the prepared cake tin, top it with slices of homemade marzipan and cover with the remaining batter. Optionally top with flaked almonds. Bake for approximately 45-50 minutes, until golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean.