This fruity gluten free Bakewell tart recipe is a fun British cake that can feed a crowd. Fill it with fresh strawberries and top with almond slivers, this is a delicious classic cake.
Light and fluffy, you will love how this gluten free Bakewell tart just melts in your mouth. Don't forget to check out all of my Best Gluten Free Lemon Desserts recipes. They are sooo worth trying!
Jump to:
What is a Bakewell Tart?
If you have been to England, you may recognize a Bakewell tart. They are a cross between a tart and a cake. You have a gluten free flaky pie crust bottom, with fresh fruit and a light cake-like top layer covered in slivered almonds.
I was really lucky to meet a food blogger friend, April, from the U.K. The story is actually quite funny how we met. We were friends in a food blogger Facebook group. One day I saw a picture she posted on Facebook of her laptop, her feet, and a swimming pool. I recognized exactly where she was visiting...it was 15 minutes away!
We have been lucky enough to get together several times now and we have become close friends. When April was here last week, we decided to get in the kitchen together and make a recipe from each of our blogs.
It's absolutely delicious! Even better? You can use any fresh fruit to make this gluten free tart. This cake is modeled after April's Blackberry Apple Bakewell Tart recipe. If you love European desserts, this Italian Gluten Free Tiramisu is another recipe to make!
Why this Bakewell is great:
This Bakewell tart "cake" is big and feeds a crowd! This Bakewell tart just melts in your mouth. It is a fun cross between a pie and a cake! You have a flaky pie crust on the bottom and then a moist delicious cake on top!
Ingredient notes:
- Gluten free flour blend - I tested this recipe using Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour Blend and King Arthur's Measure for Measure Gluten Free Blend. That doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
- Lemon curd - I used a jar I bought at Trader Joe's, but you can use any brand. You can also make your own homemade lemon curd!
- Strawberries - you can use any fruit you have on-hand :-).
Recipe step by step directions:
Step 1: In a large bowl, add the crust ingredients and whisk to blend. Add in the wet ingredients and mix. The tart crust recipe can be found on my gluten free pie crust recipe.
Step 2: Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix the gluten free tart crust and press into a pan.
Step 3: In a bowl, mix up your cake batter.
Step 4: Spread lemon curd onto the crust. (I used Trader Joe's Lemon Curd for this.) If you love lemon curd, you will want to try these Gluten Free Lemon Filled Cupcakes recipe!!
Step 5: Add your fruit layer. These fresh strawberries are giant-sized. Can you believe how much space each slice takes up in this 9x13 pan?
Step 6: Top with cake batter and slivered almonds.
Step 7: Bake and enjoy!
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ:
Here are some of my favorite fruits to use in a gluten free Bakewell tart including apples, blackberries, blueberries, and pineapple.
You can use any fruit jam in place of the lemon curd.
This cake will keep fresh up to 4 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze this cake and it will keep up to 4 months.
You can make this gluten free Bakewell tart nut-free by omitting the almond flour and substituting an additional 1 cup gluten free flour blend. Skip the slivered almonds on top too.
Reader adaptations:
I baked her Bakewell tart in a springform pan. Made this with apples and maple butter. Added cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Made my own gluten free flour blend."
Jeanette R, blog reader
More Gluten Free Tart Recipes:
📖 Recipe
Gluten Free Strawberry Lemon Bakewell Tart
Equipment
- 9x13 pan
Ingredients
Tart Crust See Note Section!
Cake
- 1 ¼ cups almond flour * see note
- ¾ cup gluten free flour blend * see note
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup lemon curd
- ⅓ cup slivered almonds
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F.
- Prepare the gluten free crust.
- Spread the crust into a 9x13 baking dish and bake for 5 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and spread lemon curd onto the crust. Add the fruit layer on top of the lemon curd.
- In a large bowl, add the first 4 ingredients and whisk to blend.
- In a smaller bowl, add the next 5 ingredients from lemon juice up to sugar. Mix well.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Pour the cake batter onto the fruit layer and spread out. Sprinkle the slivered almonds on top.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is slightly golden like in the pictures.
Notes
- I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure GF and Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 GF blend. That doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
- If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain Xanthan Gum or Guar Gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
- I highly suggest using almond flour and not almond meal. Almond meal is more coarse and will make your donuts grainy.
- To make this recipe nut-free, omit the almond flour and substitute an additional 1 cup gluten free flour blend.
- Use my homemade gluten free pie crust recipe for the crust layer.
- To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the donut. If the toothpick comes out clean, it is done baking. If you see batter or crumbs, the donuts need to bake longer.
- This cake will keep up to 4 days in an air-tight container, or up to 4 months in the freezer.
SPECIAL NOTE
Please know that every gluten free flour blend has a different starch to grain ratio. If you use a blend I didn't test, you may need to adjust your moisture levels in your baked goods.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
If you love the recipes you find on my blog, I would love for you to sign up for my newsletter (and get my free gluten free lemon dessert e-cookbook!)
Susanne
I was all set to make your gluten free strawberry lemon bakewell tart, but I couldn’t find how to make the crust. Since I am new to gluten free baking this is important. I also could not find the video with the steps
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Susanne, I had the link to my pie crust in Step 1, but I added it to the recipe card in case you didn't read my post. I am not able to make videos of all of my recipes. I wish I had the time to make one for every recipe, but each video takes an enormous amount of time to make and edit.
Karen M.
Well, I didn't have the best experience with this recipe. I made the crust from your recipe and it looked the same as yours, and I added the curd (William Sonoma) still looked just like yours. Baked it for 7 min. before the curd and this may have been where I went wrong. I added a thick cherry jam as I didn't have any fresh fruit. The cake part was very good, light and fluffy but the crust was terrible. It came out hard and rubbery. I just ate the cake and jam parts and that was good. I make your recipes all the time and never had a flop. I did use King Arthur one to one flour so maybe that was it. Not sure! Sorry for the review, I really do love all your recipes.
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Karen, I am so sorry this didn't work for you. My thought is in baking the crust without the curd, it hardened too much, especially after baking it again once the cake mix is on. I have made this cake with King Arthur's GF blend as well, so I don't think it was the flour.
Jamie
I don't have a 9 X 13 so I used my 8 X 8 that taper in and a small loaf pan (3 X 5). This recipe turned out great. My friends loved it. However they know me for my lemon curd and this didn't pack enough of that lemon punch for them. Next time I will increase that amount a bit. And possibly buy the proper pan by then.
Sandi Gaertner
I bet your lemon curd would be perfect in this recipe. I am so glad your friends loved it!
Doreen
Hi Sandi, I posted about the egg being in the ingredients list but the recipe didn’t mention where to use it. I decided to take a common sense approach and leave the egg out as I have never heard of an egg being used in a crust recipe.
That being said, I made the tart about an hour ago. It is awesome and even more delicious than I hoped.
Light and fluffy cake on top. I made the recipe as you have it posted with the exception of the berries. I didn’t have strawberries so I used raspberries & Wild Maine blueberries. I added a bit of Almond Extract to the cake batter, And only increased the amount of lemon curd and berries slightly. It smelled so good baking. And when I took it out of the oven I couldn’t wait for it to cool. I let it sit for maybe a half hour and cut into it.
Great Recipe and thank you for sharing, ?
Sandi Gaertner
I am so glad you liked it Doreen 🙂