raspberry bakewell slice

raspberry bakewell slice

• 17 Mar 2024

Do you remember I made a cherry bakewell slice a few months ago. The bars were very tasty but they were topped with icing and I found them to be very sweet. I put the slice in the freezer and I did polish off the whole thing by myself over the course of some months, cutting the slice into tiny morsels.

I wanted to remake them in their original form, using raspberry jam in the filling and topped with flaked almonds. I adapted another Claire Ptak recipe I found here and made a smaller batch in a square 17cm tin. Claire suggests using a mixture of raspberry and strawberry jam in the filling however when I hunted through the fridge I found a pot of homemade rhubarb and raspberry jam which I used instead.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 8 bars. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Raspberry bakewell slice - makes 8 bars
Base
125g plain flour
45g icing sugar

pinch of salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
100g cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup berry jam

Filling
100g softened unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg and 1 yolk
50g ground almonds (I used a combination of blanched and natural meal)
50g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder

Topping
25g flaked almonds
75g fresh/frozen raspberries (optional)

Method

Heat the oven to 180°C conventional. Grease and line a 17cm square tin with baking paper.

For the shortbread base, combine all the ingredients, except the jam, in a food processor and blitz until the mixture has just come together into a ball. Press the pastry evenly into the prepared tin then bake on the centre rack for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let the base cool for 10 minutes before gently spreading the jam over the base.

For the topping, beat the butter and sugar well. Once creamy, add the extract and eggs, then beat well. Add the ground almonds, flour and baking powder just to combine. (I made the topping in the food processor).

Spread the topping evenly over the jam, top with the raspberries if using and then sprinkle with the flaked almonds. Return to the oven for 30-40 minutes and bake until golden and set. Cool for an hour to allow the base to firm before removing from the tin using the baking paper as handles. 

When completely cold, slice into bars. The bars will keep well in an airtight container for up to five days.

They were everything I'd hoped they'd be and so easy to make in the food processor.

See you all again next week with a little something for Easter.

Bye for now,

Jillian