With an almond cake topping, a sweet pastry shell and a layer of sweet raspberry jam, Congress Tarts and an absolute delight for the taste buds and also incredibly pretty.
Congress Tarts originate from Cornwall in the UK and are really their own version of Bakewell Tarts.
I chose to make my Congress Tarts in egg tartlet cases, partly because they look so pretty and but also because I wanted to have them as a dessert with some custard. I used these tart cases previously for my popular Coconut tarts with strawberry jam recipe, so the temptation to use them again was too great!
If you want your Congress Tarts to be smaller, you can use a cupcake tin instead. I wouldn't recommend using a muffin though, as they tend to be quite deep.
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If you like coconut and cherries you will truly love these Coconut tarts with strawberry jam
Why are these Congress Tarts so good?
Sweet short pastry case✔️
Hiding a raspberry jam centre ✔️
Topped with almond flavoured cake✔️
Perfect hot or cold✔️
Freeze well, defrost as needed✔️
Ingredients and Substitutions
Plain flour: used for the pastry case and the cake topping. You can use self-raising flour for the cake topping and leave out the baking powder.
Eggs: one is used to enrich the pastry, and an egg yolk is used in the cake topping.
Unsalted butter: needs to be cold, i.e. straight from the fridge for our pastry and softened for the cake topping.
Icing sugar: used to sweeten the pastry and give it its shortness.
Baking powder: to help the cake topping rise.
Ground almonds: added for flavour and to add moisture to the cake topping. You can use almond flour instead, however, if your final cake batter is quite stiff you may need to add a little milk to soften it.
Fine salt: added to help bring out flavours.
Caster sugar (superfine sugar): or you can use golden caster sugar, fine sugar is needed for the cake topping rather than coarser granulated sugar, because it melts quicker when baked.
Almond extract: try to use a pure almond extract, for the reasons given below. I always use Nielsen-Massey
Flaked almonds: just a few for decoration.
Instructions
See end of post RECIPE CARD for precise quantities and instructions.
Picture 1: add your flour to your food processor bowl and cover with grated. cold butter. Then whizz until breadcrumb-like in texture.
Picture 1
Picture 2: add your icing sugar and whizz again. Then add your egg yolk and cold water and whizz until its starts to clump together a little.
Picture 3: bring your dough together into a ball, then flatten it, cover within clingfilm (plastic wrap) and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Picture 2 Picture 3
Picture 4: split the dough into 18 balls, flatten into circles and then press into your tartlet cases, pushing the dough up the sides of the case and into the groves. Add raspberry jam to each one and chill again.
Sift together your flour, baking powder and salt together and then mix in your ground almonds.
Picture 5: to make your cake batter, first cream together your butter and sugar until soft and light, then add your whole egg along with a little sifted flour mixture and beat on low until combined. Repeat with your egg yolk.
Picture 4 Picture 5
Picture 6: mix in your almond essence and then the rest of your flour. Beat everything on medium for about 10 seconds until fully combined.
Picture 7: add about a dessertspoonful of cake batter to your tartlet cases. and spread out to cover the jam. Decorate with flaked almonds or cut pastry strips and lay them over the top in a criss-cross.
Picture 6 Picture 7
Bake on a pre-heated baking tray for about 20 minutes until golden all over.
Top Tips
How to make pastry
Please, please don't be put off making your own homemade pastry. I spent many years trying way too hard to get pastry right, assuming there was some sort of magic involved that I just hadn't mastered. I will never forget that doomed batch of mince pies one Christmas Eve firmly wedged into the tin and refusing to disembark....
Then I realised you just need to stick to a few rules to achieve great pastry results:
- stick to the quantities in the recipe, getting pastry right is an exact science;
- if you can, use a food processor, it makes making pastry so simple;
- use butter straight from the fridge and coarsely grate it, this ensures that it is in very small pieces that will quickly churn into the flour before they warm up;
- likewise, ensure your egg yolk is also straight from the fridge;
- use 3-4 tablespoons of ice cold water;
- ALWAYS chill your pastry before rolling it out, this sets the butter and prevents it from shrinking in your pastry cases;
- once you have cut out your pastry cases and added them to your tin(s) chill again for 10-15 minutes to reset.
Variations
Add cold pure orange juice instead of water for a fruity hit to your pastry cases.
Make your own raspberry jam, see recipe for Victoria Sponge, Raspberry Jam and Vanilla Buttercream. Homemade raspberry jam is totally amazing, it has a freshness and a zing to it that you just don't get in shop-bought jam.
Storage
Congress Tarts will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container, you may find that the pastry softens a little after a couple of days, but they are still delicious.
Wrap your Congress Tarts individually in clingfilm (plastic wrap) before you freeze them. The tarts should be consumed within 2 months.
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FAQ
Almond extract is made with natural ingredients whereas almond extract is made synthetically from chemicals. Pure almond extract is the only one that is actually made from pure oil of bitter almond containing actual benzaldehyde.
The shortcrust pastry used in tarts is often sweetened with icing (confectioners) sugar and held together with egg, this gives it a crumbly texture, whereas shop-bought shortcrust pastry is just normal plain pastry and is not sweetened.
Linked Recipes
📖 Recipe
Congress Tarts
Here's what you'll need...
- Food processor optional
- Clingfilm (plastic wrap)
Ingredients you'll need...
Congress Tart Sweet Pastry
- 225 g Plain flour all-purpose flour (1 Cup+ 9 tablespoons)
- 115 g Unsalted butter cold - plus extra to grease tartlet tins (1 stick of butter)
- 50 g Icing sugar confectioners sugar - (½ Cup)
- 1 Large egg yolk cold (extra-large if in US)
- 3 tablespoon Very cold water
Congress Tarts Filling
- 70 g Plain flour all-purpose flour (½ Cup)
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Fine salt
- 70 g Ground almonds (⅔ Cup)
- 70 g Unsalted butter at room temperature (5 tablespoons)
- 70 g Caster sugar super fine sugar (5 tablespoons)
- 1 Large egg at room temperature (US = extra large)
- 1 Large egg yolk at room temperature (US = extra large)
- ½ teaspoon Almond essence
- 135 g Seedless raspberry jam 18 teaspoons
- 1 tablespoon Flaked almonds
Here's what we do...
Congress Tarts Sweet Pastry (see notes below for pastry tips)
- Place your flour into your food processor so that it evenly covers the base of the processor bowl. Or place in a large bowl.
- Grate your cold butter and sprinkle it evenly over your flour.
- Pulse the food processor about 20-25 times to turn the flour and butter into a breadcrumb-like consistency. Alternatively, rub the butter into the flour by rubbing between your fingers.
- Mix in your icing sugar by again pulsing a few times, or mix in with a wooden spoon if making pastry by hand.
- Add your cold egg yolk and evenly sprinkle over 3 tablespoons of cold water.
- Pulse again about 10 times until the mixture just starts to become a bit clumpy.
- Remove your pastry dough and bring it all together into a ball, then flatten the ball so that it is about 1½ inches thick and cover with cling film (plastic wrap).
- Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
- Grease your tartlet tins using your pastry brush, with some spare butter.
- Split your chilled pastry into 18 balls, they should weigh about 28-30 grams each.
- Press the dough ball out flat, so it forms a circle about 5cm in diameter. I do this in the palm of my hand.
- Pop the dough circle into your tartlet case and gently press it into the base and then, moving in a circular motion and starting at the base, push the dough up into the groves, filling all of the tartlet case right to the top.
- Place a teaspoon of raspberry jam (about 7.5 grams) into the base of each tartlet case, and spread out a little to cover the base.
- Place in your refrigerator to chill for 15 minutes, whilst you make your tartlet filling.
Congress Tarts Filling
- Heat your oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Place your large baking tray in your oven to heat.
- Sift together your flour, baking powder and salt and then mix in your ground almonds.
- With your hand mixer beater attachments fitted (not the whisk), beat together your softened butter and caster sugar until light and smooth, this can take a few minutes to achieve.
- Add your full egg and a heaped dessertspoonful of your flour mixture and beat on a low setting until all of the mixture is fully incorporated.
- Repeat the above step with your egg yolk.
- Add your almond essence and beat in on low until just incorporated.
- Add the rest of your flour mixture and beat on a low setting until no flour remains, then turn up your hand mixer to a medium-high setting and beat for about 10 seconds.
- Place a level tablespoon of your filling mixture into each tart and level out slightly, making sure that none of the jam is showing, be gentle so as not to push the jam up the sides of the tart.
- Either decorate with a few flaked almonds or use some of your spare pastry to cut 2 strips of about 5mm and lay them in a criss-cross pattern across the tart. Push the edges onto the pastry at the sides to ensure that they stick.
- Place the tartlets onto your heated baking tray and then bake for 20 minutes, or until golden on top.
- Remove from your oven and leave to cool in the tartlet cases until cool enough to handle, then invert them onto your cooling rack to cool entirely.
Supporting Notes
- stick to the quantities in the recipe, getting pastry right is an exact science;
- if you can, use a food processor, it makes making pastry so simple;
- use butter straight from the fridge and coarsely grate it, this ensures that it is in very small pieces that will quickly churn into the flour before they warm up;
- likewise, ensure your egg yolk is also straight from the fridge;
- use 3-4 tablespoons of ice-cold water;
- ALWAYS chill your pastry before rolling it out, this sets the butter and prevents it from shrinking in your pastry cases;
- once you have cut out your pastry cases and added them to your tin(s) chill again for 10-15 minutes to reset.
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