The Short Truth About This Tart
I've made this recipe more times than I care to count, usually when someone else in the kitchen wants something that looks impressive but actually takes about 50 minutes from start to finish. The Bakewell Tart Recipe Gordon Ramsay shares follows a fairly standard pattern—shortcrust pastry, jam, frangipane—but the execution details matter way more than most people realize. I'm going to walk through it plainly, skip the drama, and mention a few things that will save you from making mistakes I've made. You start with a sweet shortcrust pastry. Standard ratio: 250g plain flour, 125g cold unsalted butter cubed, a pinch of salt, about 60-70ml ice-cold water, and optionally a teaspoon of sugar. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add water gradually—don't dump it all in at once. You want the dough just coming together, not a wet mess. Wrap it, chill for at least 30 minutes, then blind-bake the case at 190°C (fan 170°C) for about 15 minutes with baking beans, then another 5-8 minutes without to dry it out. The jam layer is straightforward. Raspberry or strawberry jam, about 2-3 tablespoons, spread over the cooled pastry base. Don't skip this step or go overboard—the jam provides moisture balance and acidity that cuts through the richness of the frangipane.
For the frangipane, Ramsay's version typically uses 125g softened butter, 125g caster sugar, 125g ground almonds, 2 large eggs, and a tablespoon of flour or breadcrumbs to stabilize it. Cream the butter and sugar until pale, beat in the eggs one at a time, then fold in the ground almonds and flour. Spread over the jam and bake at 180°C (fan 160°C) for 25-30 minutes until set and golden. A skewer test should come out clean or with just moist crumbs. Here's where most people go wrong. The first time I made this using the recipe as written, the frangipane split and separated during baking, leaving a greasy puddle on top and a raw layer underneath. The issue was my butter was too soft when I started creaming, which meant the emulsion broke before it had a chance to set. Cold kitchen temperature also didn't help. My workaround was simple: I kept the butter at a firm-but-creatable consistency, added the eggs one at a time making sure each was fully incorporated before adding the next, and I threw in an extra tablespoon of ground almonds to absorb excess moisture. That fixed it completely. Since then I've never had the same problem. Another thing nobody warns you about: the pastry and frangipane bake at different optimal temperatures. Ramsay's method actually calls for starting the pastry blind at a higher heat, then reducing for the frangipane stage. If you dump everything into the oven at 190°C from the start, your pastry base can cook faster than the centre of the frangipane sets, giving you a raw middle and a over-browned bottom. Lower the temperature after the blind bake and you get even cooking throughout. It's a small adjustment that makes a noticeable difference.
Almonds in this recipe need to be fresh. Ground almonds go rancid faster than most people expect, and old nuts will give your frangipane a slightly bitter, stale taste that you can't really mask. Buy them in smaller quantities and store them in the fridge or freezer. If they smell off, throw them out. It's cheaper than ruining a batch. There's a downside to the blind-baking approach: it adds time and requires extra equipment. If you don't have baking beans or custard glasses to weigh down the pastry, you can use dried pulses from your pantry. But if you're in a hurry, you can skip the blind bake entirely and just line the pastry with foil and bake with the frangipane, though the base will be less crisp and more prone to sogginess from the jam. Trade-offs either way. For finishing, a light dusting of icing sugar worked a decade ago. Nowadays I just leave it plain or brush it with a thin apricot glaze made from warmed jam thinned with a splash of water. The glaze adds shine without making the tart cloyingly sweet, and it helps the frangipane stay fresh-looking for a day or two longer.
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One practical note on scaling: this recipe works fine for a standard 23cm loose-bottomed tart tin. If you double it for a larger event, increase bake time by roughly 5-8 minutes but watch it closely—the centre of a deeper frangipane layer takes longer to set than you'd expect. Trust the skewer test, not the clock.
