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Bakewell Pudding
911. Cover a dish with thin paste. Put a layer of jam of any kind, half an inch thick. Take the yolks of five eggs, and the white of one, rather less than one pound of sugar, and four ounces of butter melted, and a few well-pounded almonds. Beat all together until it is well mixed. Pour it into the dish, and bake it in a moderate oven for an hour. They may be baked in pattypans to eat cold. Another, less rich. - The yolks of four eggs, whites of two well beaten, a quarter of a pound of melted butter, two ounces of almonds, sugar to taste, two potatoes boiled, dried, and mashed fine. Line a shallow dish with puff paste, put a layer of jam (strawberry is the best), and pour the batter upon it. Bake it well.
An early printed version of the Derbyshire pudding, closer to a jam-lined egg custard than the almond-sponge "Bakewell tart" of later baking. Two versions are given, the second stretched with mashed potato.
- The paste"Thin paste" here means pastry rolled thin and used to line a shallow pie dish or tart tin, not a lid; the second version specifies puff paste, and the same would suit here. Chill the lined dish before filling so the butter-heavy custard does not soak the base; a 9-inch dish suits the first quantity.
- Moderate oven350F/180C. An hour at that heat sets the filling gently; if the top begins to colour hard before the centre firms, drop to 325F rather than shortening the time.
- The sugar is the thing to adjustJust under a pound of sugar to five yolks and four ounces of butter is very sweet even before the jam layer. Six to eight ounces gives a filling that tastes of almond and butter rather than syrup, though it will be a little softer.
- Almonds"Well-pounded almonds" means blanched sweet almonds ground fine. The first version gives no quantity beyond "a few"; the second calls for two ounces, and shop-bought ground almonds will serve. Period recipes sometimes called for a bitter almond or two for flavour, which this one does not, and none should be added.
- Jam layerHalf an inch of jam is generous by modern taste and will bubble up the sides. A scant quarter-inch of a firm, well-set preserve spreads more evenly and is less likely to boil over.
- PattypansSmall shallow tartlet tins. Lined and filled at that size they need roughly 20-25 minutes at 350F; the recipe notes they may be baked this way to eat cold, when the custard has firmed.
- The potato versionBoiled, dried and mashed potato acts as a cheap extender and gives a denser, more cake-like filling. Use a floury potato, mash it while hot with no liquid added, and pass it through a sieve so no lumps survive in the batter.
- Yield and donenessThe first mixture in a 9-inch dish serves six to eight. It is done when the centre is just set with a slight wobble; carried further the yolk-rich filling weeps and turns grainy.
Bakewell, in Derbyshire, gave its name to two related things that are still argued over: the pudding, a pastry case spread with jam and filled with a rich egg-and-butter mixture, and the later tart, in which the filling is a proper almond frangipane on shortcrust. The version here belongs firmly to the first family, and the mashed-potato variant shows how a household could thin out an expensive egg-and-almond filling. The dish's origin is traditionally traced to an accident at a Bakewell inn in the early nineteenth century, a story repeated in almost every account but not supported by any contemporary record; what is documented is that recipes under the name were circulating in print by the 1840s.