Bake

For the tart dough:

·      Place the sugar, almonds and flour in a bowl and rub together using your hands. Add the butter and keep rubbing the mixture until it looks like breadcrumbs.

·     Add the egg and water a little at a time. Squash and knead the dough together with your hands until you have a smooth dough.

·     Wrap the dough in food wrap and place in the fridge.

·     Warm the oven to 180°C and prepare the tart tin by greasing and dusting with flour.

·     Sprinkle your work surface with flour and begin to roll the pastry out.

·     Carefully fold the pastry over the rolling pin and lift it to place over the tin. Gently push the pastry into position and trim off any edges.

·     Gently prick the pastry with a fork and cover loosely with baking paper.

·     Fill the centre with baking beans and bake for 15 minutes.

·    Take the pastry case out of the oven and spread the raspberry jam evenly over the base – don’t go right to the edge, leave about 1cm jam-free all the way around.

For the jammy sponge:

·       Use a large spoon to mix the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy (this takes about 5 - 10 minutes with a wooden spoon so keep mixing).

·       Gently stir in the flour, eggs and water.

·       Place the mixture in a disposable piping bag and cut off the corner to make a little hole about 1cm wide. Pipe the mixture evenly over the jam layer within the pastry case.

. Smooth the mixture out gently using the back of a round spoon.

·       Bake for 25–30 minutes until the filling is golden. (Test with a knife by placing it in the centre. It should come out clean and the sponge should be firm to the touch).

·       Place on a wire rack and let it cool completely before removing the tart from the tin. 

To make the fondant topping:

·       Put the icing sugar in a mixing bowl with the almond extract.

·       Stir whilst adding a little water until you have a thick, smooth fondant.

·       Place 2 dollops of the fondant in a small bowl and colour it bright red with fruit or colour extract. Place in a disposable piping bag and cut off 2mm off the corner of the bag.

·     Pour the white fondant mixture into the tart tin until level with the top.

·     Pipe lines of red fondant on the tart.

·     Drag a toothpick across the lines to create a feathered effect.

·     Place a red glacé cherry in the centre.

·     Store in an airtight container or freeze until ready to eat!

3 cheers for the tart, hip hip….hooray!