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Lazy Cat Kitchen

A food blog with plant-based recipes from all over the world

Vegan bakewell tarts

July 1, 2016 by Ania - 20

aquafaba, easy, french-inspiredgo to recipe

go to recipe

Vegan bakewell tarts

We are still in the middle of a summer heatwave here in Greece, so I was hoping to go without switching the oven on until it gets cooler (erm…October?), but cherries (one of my favourite fruits) are in season and I had to bake something with them!

I love cherries and I love almonds and I’ve been wanting to make a cherry frangipane (or vegan bakewell tarts as they’re known in the UK) for a while now. My first attempt was a bit scary – the frangipane mixture exploded during baking and then solidified into a sticky sugary lace all over the muffin tray – it took me several attempts to clean that stuff off.

I did not expect such a poor result and was a bit stressed as we’ve had so much on recently that I didn’t start experimenting until Wednesday afternoon (I know!) and if I didn’t crack it, there would be no recipe today.

It took me three more goes to get the result I was after and I’m really pleased with the final product. Duncan pronounced it possibly his favourite thing I’ve made since I started the blog so I must be onto something here.

PS: If you make my vegan bakewell tarts, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram as @lazycatkitchen and use the #lazycatkitchen hashtag. I love seeing your takes on my recipes!

cherries for Vegan bakewell tarts

Vegan bakewell tarts side on

Vegan bakewell tarts cross section

Vegan bakewell tarts

5.00 from 2 votes
Print
  • makes: 6
  • prep: 30 min
  • cooking: 50 min

Ingredients

PASTRY CASES

  • 180 g / about 1½ cups white, all-purpose flour, sifted
  • a pinch of salt
  • 2 tbsp icing sugar
  • 45 ml / 3 tbsp olive oil or unmelted coconut oil

FRANGIPANE FILLING

  • 40 ml / 2 tbsp + 2 tsp mild olive oil or refined coconut oil, melted
  • 75 g / 6 tbsp caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp + 2 tsp plain flour
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • 3 tbsp gelatinous aquafaba homemade / from a tin*
  • 120 g finely ground almonds / almond meal
  • 6 cherry halves

Method

PASTRY CASES

  1. Combine sifted flour and icing sugar in a large bowl. Add olive oil and rub it into the dry ingredients with your hands. Finally, add water – be careful, do it gradually – how much water you’ll need depends on how absorbent your flour is. Combine all the ingredients into a dough gently, but do not knead. Wrap it in a piece of cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 mins.
  2. Remove the dough from the fridge and divide into 6 portions. Roll each portion out between two sheets of baking paper until you get a rough circle, about 2 mm in thickness. Place the rolled-out dough over a muffin hole (I used a 12 hole regular muffin tin for my tarts) and gently line the inside of the hole with the pastry. Trim the excess pastry with a sharp knife. Repeat with the remaining holes.
  3. Chill pastry-lined tin in the fridge for about 60 mins.
  4. 45 min into pastry chilling time, preheat the oven to 175° C / 350° F. Line the pastry cases with pieces of baking paper or muffin liners and fill with baking beads or rice.
  5. Blind bake the pastry for 10 mins. Remove the paper and beads and bake for another 5 mins.

FRANGIPANE FILLING

  1. While the pastry cases are baking, prepare the filling. Cream oil and sugar with an electric whisk. Next, whisk in flour. Finally add almond extract and aquafaba, one tablespoon at a time. Whisk well after each portion of aquafaba.
  2. Now fold in ground almonds with a spoon. You should end up with a thick almond batter.
  3. Divide almond batter between pastry cases and place half a cherry on top of each filling – do not press it into the filling much as the filling will rise during baking and you want the cherries to remain visible.
  4. Bake the tarts for about 30-35 minutes, until the filling is nicely browned. Remove from the oven and allow the tarts to cool down before removing them from the mould.

Notes

*For this particular application, aquafaba (chickpea brine) should resemble an egg white in consistency so I recommend making it yourself – here is how. If you must use aquafaba from a tin of chickpeas, pour it into a pot and reduce on the stove by about 2/3. Cool before using to achieve thick, gelatinous aquafaba.

If you want more info on some of the ingredients that we use in our recipes, check out our glossary.
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This recipe has been written by Ania. She is the cook, stylist and photographer behind Lazy Cat Kitchen. You can read about her journey into food blogging here. You can also check her out on Pinterest and Instagram.

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    Comments

    Leave a comment

  1. Sally says

    July 1, 2016 at 3:25 pm

    These look amazing! Definitely saved for later!!!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      July 1, 2016 at 5:14 pm

      Thank you, Sally! So pleased to hear that 🙂

      Reply
  2. Jeannie says

    July 1, 2016 at 3:47 pm

    These look delicious! I’ve been getting cherries from our local CSA for the last couple of weeks. This would be a great way to use them. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      July 1, 2016 at 5:15 pm

      Aw, thanks so much! Yes, perfect way to use cherries, I agree! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Cat Collars says

    July 6, 2016 at 5:22 pm

    Love the blog post above, thank you!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      July 6, 2016 at 5:32 pm

      Thanks 🙂

      Reply
  4. modflowers says

    September 28, 2016 at 8:27 am

    Looks great! Must try experimenting with aquafaba – it’s on my to do list!
    Just one point though – it’s not truly a bakewell tart without a layer of jam between the pastry and the frangipane!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 28, 2016 at 10:39 am

      Thanks and yes, aquafaba is amazing and addictive to work with. Good luck!

      Reply
  5. Roshni says

    May 27, 2017 at 9:26 am

    I tried the recipe, something just didn’t quite work out. My filling turned to a thick dough, more then a cake time filling. 120 grams of ground almond flour was too much. And I tried to find another way to rectify it. I’m not quite sure where it went wrong, I used coconut oil and sugar; which do not really “cream” like butter. The sugar just tried to dissolve into the oil. The aquafaba was tin, and it didn’t whip up or anything either. But too much flour is what killed the filling I think.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      May 27, 2017 at 11:12 am

      Hi Roshni,

      I’m sorry to hear that you had trouble with this recipe. Did you actually fill the tart cases and bake the filling? As I said in the instructions the batter IS MEANT to be thick so what you’ve described isn’t anything to worry about yet. Aquafaba isn’t meant to be whipped either, just added to the ingredients as is. The ratios are definitely correct as my latest recipe for pistachio frangipane tarts is based on this recipe and it worked well. Ania

      Reply
      • Roshni says

        May 28, 2017 at 3:36 am

        Thank you for the quick response. I think it may of been my ground almond flour. I weighed it, but I think it was my flour that made it overly thick and turned it into more of a dough. But I’m going to try again another time. But the taste and methods was good. Thank you!

        Reply
        • Ania says

          May 28, 2017 at 3:28 pm

          No worries! Yes, the almond meal needs to be quite fine, I use coffee grinder rather than food processor if I cannot find ready-made flour in shops. Hope it works out better next time! 🙂 Ania

          Reply
  6. lillian says

    June 26, 2017 at 5:11 am

    Hi! I just made these beautiful looking tarts. They look fab and the filling taste awesome, but the crust came out too hard. What did I do wrong? Is it possible to skip blind baking them? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      June 26, 2017 at 10:13 am

      Hi Lillian,

      Glad to hear you liked the filling, shame about the crust. It sounds like the dough might have been handled too much and gluten activated in the flour making the pastry though. Shortcrust pastry, whether vegan or non-vegan, requires minimal handling for that very reason. As for your question, I haven’t tried, but you could always test on one tart and see how it works out. Good luck and please let me know how you got on. Ania

      Reply
  7. Jess @ Living on leaves says

    September 4, 2017 at 6:34 pm

    Wow!! These look so good, definitely going to try them!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 4, 2017 at 10:40 pm

      Thanks, Jess! 🙂 Ania

      Reply
  8. Jess says

    December 1, 2017 at 7:46 pm

    These look great! Do you think the recipe would work as one big tart, instead of 6 small ones, as well?

    Reply
    • Ania says

      December 1, 2017 at 9:55 pm

      Hi Jess,

      Yes, absolutely! Here is the recipe adapted for a single, large tart! Hope you’ll enjoy it! x Ania

      Reply
  9. Yingcian li says

    September 20, 2020 at 2:59 am

    what is all purpose flour ?it is Low-gluten flour?

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 20, 2020 at 7:13 pm

      No, it’s regular white wheat flour used for many purposes (hence the name) like baking cakes, making pancakes, thickening sauces etc. Hope this helps! Ania

      Reply

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Ania Marcinowska
Hi, I'm Ania. I love good food but I love animals more! Adopting a plant-based diet has been the best decision I've made and that's how this blog was born. It's a space where I want to show you that creating delicious plant-based food isn't actually hard at all.
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