My take on the famous Bake well pudding

The Inspiration behind this recipe as the name suggests is the  famous Bakewell Pudding.  On my recent travel to the UK, I had visited the market town in peak district called bake well which is famously known for its bake well puddings.  Ironically the name bake well has nothing to with the baking but originates from the name Badkwell  meaning bath springs.  These puddings seem to have a very confusing history , a great deal has been written about the bake well pudding the most popular legend being this pudding was accidently invented by one Mrs Greaves who owned a inn called White Horse  which is now Ruthland Arms, her cook jumbled up the recipe of Jam Tarts which went on to become a hit. 

 

Walking  around the market street of Bake well  there seems to be quiet a few shops claiming to have the original recipe of bake well puddings. British Food Historian Ivan Dey rubbishes this  claim  stating the recipe to be in existence much before the white horse Inn ever existed in fact tracing the history all the way to America.

 I sampled  one  of these inviting   puddings  and my verdict is whatever the history of the puddings be, they are absolutely  delectable with just the right amount of crunch from the flaky pastry and the moist spongy  centre derived from ground almonds and egg batter.

These puddings are made with a base of flaky pastry , which has layer of jam usually raspberry jam and the next layer being a batter made of ground almonds and egg.  I decided to make my own version of bake well pudding,

My version is  a go between a apple pie and bake well pudding, I have used apple preserve instead of the raspberry jam and covered it almond batter and topped it with thin apple slices.  The end result was as delicious as the original bake well pudding.  These go fantastically as afternoon tea time treats or can duel up as an interesting dessert at dinner table served warm with a nice scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

 
Ingredients (Makes 6 medium sized puddings)

350 gms readymade puff pastry (making puff pastry from scratch is too much effort, its best left to professionals alternatively you may use a short crust base as well).
100 gms Apple Jam( you may refer to this linkhttp://veena-cakesbakes.blogspot.in/2011/10/applepear-jam.html)
50 gms unsalted butter
50 gms caster sugar
3 no eggs
70 gms almond flour
Zest of one orange
Pinch of cinnamon
Few drops of almond extract.
01 No Apple
30 gms walnuts

 

 Method

• Take a medium sized pie dish.
• Roll out puff pastry dough to around 1 inch thickness.  With a pastry cutter cut the pastry into round shape.
• Keep the pastry in the pie dish and prick it with a fork in the insides.
• For the batter , cream butter and sugar till its nice and creamy
• Alternatively add the eggs and almond flour, orange zest and almond extract.
• Now take the prepared pie dish and put a layer of apple preserve.
• For the next layer spoon the almond batter.
• Lastly top it up with thinly sliced apple and chopped walnuts .
• Bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 mins.