Bakewell Muffins

One of my favourite treats of all time is the humble bakewell tart! Most would say it’s a heritage dish that can’t be improved...or can it...

A traditional Bakewell tart is made up of shortcrust pastry with a layer of jam and a sponge filling with almonds. This shouldn't be confused with the Bakewell Pudding which is made with flaky pastry, a layer of jam and an egg and almond filling.

The best bakewell tarts come topped with fondant icing and a glace cherry on top!

The key to both of these dishes is the use of almonds.

I’ve really gotten into ground almonds recently, I think they’re excellent to bake with giving an extra rich flavour and a moistness that can’t be achieved using flour alone, so I decided to incorporate them into a muffin sponge, but where there’s almonds, there must be cherries and glace icing!!! And so the Bakewell Muffin was born.

Now...don’t judge...but I’m a big fan of glace cherries! I know they barely resemble the real deal, but the’re so sweet and sticky what’s not to love? The recipe lists “cherries” in general...but if you love glace cherries too go ahead and stick one of them on top! If not, feel free to use fresh...though its probably a good idea to pit them first.

You may notice a few other slightly unusual ingredients on the list for example greek yogurt. I used 0% fat greek yogurt as there is plenty of fat in the sponge coming form the butter so the yogurt is really there for moisture - think of it as an extra creamy and rich version of milk in a normal muffin batter! I think it really adds to the flavour and I will be experimenting with greek yogurt in muffin batters from now on.

My family loved these naughty muffins, they are lovely and rich and moist and sweet and are a perfect summer treat.

Here’s the recipe: