The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

If you've read some of my other Daring Bakers' posts, you know that I haven't been totally enamored with the process. For me, it all comes down to the effort-to-deliciousness ratio: if it's hard to make, it better be fricking delicious. February's flourless chocolate cake was ok (operator error, admittedly), March's lasagna was tasty but home improvements clouded my experience, and May's strudel scored basically bottomed out the aforementioned ratio-based rating system.* All of that changed with this month's challenge: "Bakewell Tart," a traditional English dessert consisting of a tart pastry filled with raspberry jam and topped with a delightful frangipane custard.

Make no mistake about it: you're lucky if an appropriate portion of the frangipane custard actually makes it into the oven, because that stuff is delicious: almond-y, rich and slick. And the fact that this recipe yielded what is potentially the most perfect tart crust I have ever produced, I may be a little partial. Freezing the tart crust before baking truly is the key to the shrinkless, shapely crust. I froze this one for at least an hour.


Baked all together, the custard becomes a golden-brown moonscape of almond goodness, almost cake-like in consistency, and darn tasty with that vanilla black pepper ice cream, if I must say.**


You can find the recipe here or here, both with detailed histories of both the dessert and the challenge. I highly recommend it. In fact, this is the first DB challenge recipe that I can legitimately see myself making again in the future. Effort-to-deliciousness ratio: about 60 in favor of the tart!

*Imho. But my humble opinion is all that I care about, really.
**And I must.