Bakewell tart is voted Britain's favourite baked treat

The Derbyshire dessert beat last year's winner, the Eccles cake, to the top spot

Alexandra Sims
Wednesday 30 September 2015 19:45 BST
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The Bakewell tart has been voted the nation’s favourite baked treat
The Bakewell tart has been voted the nation’s favourite baked treat

The Bakewell tart has been voted the nation’s favourite baked treat, with over a quarter of people naming it their number one dessert.

The English pudding consisting of shortcrust pastry with a layer of jam and sponge flavoured using ground almonds was voted to the top spot by 26 per cent of people in a survey by Craft Bakers’ Week.

Steeped in history and tradition, the tart was voted top in its home county of Derbyshire at 29 per cent, but also seems to be loved elsewhere in the country with Northern Ireland, the North West and the South West also naming it their favourite.

The dessert is claimed to have been invented in the Derbyshire town of Bakewell in the 1860s after a maid mixed up the ingredients for a jam tart, however others say the confectionery can be traced back to the medieval period.

The Bakewell tart beat last year’s winner, the Eccles cake, by a whopping 16 per cent, pushing the Lancashire dessert into second place.

The English Muffin and the Chelsea Bun also scored well, each receiving eight per cent of the vote.

Mike Holling, of Birds Bakery in Derby, said: “We’re not surprised to hear that the Bakewell Tart has been voted the nation’s favourite. It’s a classic! We sell over 1000 large Bakewell Tarts every week along with 2500 small tarts across our stores.”

Hannah Marriage, chair of Craft Bakers’ Week 2015, said: “It is fantastic to see such a strong sense of pride in the country’s historic bakes. Without the hard-working bakeries on the high street these traditional recipes would not be passed down, and we wouldn’t be able to enjoy them as we do.”

Top 10 British Baked Treats:

1 Bakewell tart

2 Eccles cake

3 English muffin

4 Chelsea buns

5 Yorkshire tea cakes

6 Dundee cakes

7 Welsh cakes

8 Lardy cake

9 Dorset apple cake

10 Tottenham cake/ Scottish oatcakes

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