An easy cherry almond blondie with white chocolate! These gooey cherry bakewell blondies are the blondie bar version of the classic Bakewell tart - a sweet almond dessert with tangy jam. Topped with a quick almond frosting drizzle.
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What is a Bakewell?
A Bakewell is a classic British tart. It's generally characterised by its almond frangipane filling and a jam - usually cherry or raspberry. There's a great divide in terms of whether a bakewell should be topped with just sliced almonds or with a frosting and you'll find both options, if you're looking for a recipe for the tart.
My Bakewell Blondies are a quick and easy blondie bar version of the tart, echoing all the flavors of the original. When I asked my British husband whether it needed frosting, he confirmed that he's team iced bakewell, so these blondies include a quick drizzled almond glaze.
Ingredients
For the Cherry Almond Blondies
- Flour - all purpose flour or plain flour work well in this recipe.
- Almond flour - or a finely ground almond powder.
- Cornstarch - this is cornflour in the UK.
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Sugar - superfine granulated sugar or caster sugar.
- Brown sugar - light brown sugar, firmly packed. This is sometimes called muscovado sugar.
- Eggs - large eggs, ideally at room temperature for baking.
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract - if you don't have almond extract available, this can be left out, but it will help accentuate the almond flavors in the bake. A little goes a long way!
- White chocolate - either white chocolate chips or solid white chocolate chopped into small chunks.
- Cherry jam - either store bought or homemade. A half batch of my easy homemade cherry jam will make enough for this recipe.
- Sliced almonds
And for the topping
Bakewell tarts often have a frosting on top. This isn't strictly necessary with these blondies, but will add a nice simple decorative finish. All you'll need is:
- Powdered sugar - or icing sugar.
- Almond extract - again, this just adds an extra almond kick to the recipe. A little will go a long way, so you only need a tiny bit for this frosting.
- Water
How to Make Bakewell Blondies
These cherry almond blondies are super simple - you'll need an 8" square baking pan, lined with parchment paper or wax paper. This lining may seem a bit of a faff, but it will save you so much time later - you'll be able to lift the baked blondies easily out of the pan without worrying about them sticking!
Almond White Chocolate Blondie Batter
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together your flour, almond flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set this aside for the moment.
Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl, whisk together your melted butter and the sugars until these are well combined and emulsified - about 2 minutes. Then add the eggs, vanilla and almond extract. Beat together until incorporated.
Now add your dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined. Be sure there aren't any clumps of flour, but avoid over mixing. Tip: I recommend doing this with a spatula to avoid overmixing and also because the mixture will be very thick and difficult to clean from a whisk! Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl as you mix to get any patches of dry ingredients.
Finally, add your white chocolate chunks or chips and fold to distribute.
Layering Batter and Jam
Spoon about ⅔ of the batter into your lined baking pan. Spread carefully into a smooth layer over the bottom of the pan. Tip: if your parchment is moving a lot while you're trying to spread the batter, try using some butter to grease the side of the pan under the lining - this will help your parchment paper stick to the pan and stay in place. Alternatively, you can use foldback binder clips to clamp the parchment in place on the sides, if you have these in your stationary supply!
Once you have a layer of batter, spoon dollops of your cherry jam over the surface and again spread these evenly. Tip: spooning dollops over the top will help you spread the jam evenly. If you just pour the jam in the centre, this will be more difficult to spread because it will start to mix with the batter.
Finally, spoon dollops of the remaining batter over the top of the jam. Same as with the jam layer, dollops across the top of the jam will be easier to spread gently and evenly than just scooping the whole of the remaining batter into the centre. This will squish the jam out and press it disproportionately to the sides of the blondies.
Once you have a smooth blondie layer, sprinkle the sliced almonds over top.
Bake in the centre of a preheated oven for about 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted about 2 inches from the corner comes out mostly clean. This will help ensure gooey blondies!
Tip: once baked, allow to cool for 2 hours before slicing - this will allow the gooey blondie to set up firm enough to slice more cleanly.
Quick Almond Glaze
This frosting is optional. As I've said above, the question of frosting a bakewell is a bit of a contentious divide amongst some Brits. But to add a bit of decoration to the top and a touch more almond flavor, simply whisk together the powdered sugar, water and almond extract until smooth. Drizzle over the top of the blondies once these have cooled down from the oven.
Slice and serve! I like to cut mine in 16, but you can also make 9 large squares or 12 rectangular slices pretty easily with your 8" square bake.
FAQs
These cherry almond blondies will last for about 4 days at room temperature if stored in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap.
The blondies can also be frozen for up to 3 months. I recommend allowing to cool completely and slicing before placing in a freezer safe container or in a single layer in a freezer bag. Allow to defrost at room temperature before serving. Individual blondie slices often defrost quickly - leave for about an hour before serving and they should be all set!
Absolutely! For this recipe, simply leave out the white chocolate if you prefer not to use this. Leaving the white chocolate out won't impact the baking process or the expected timings.
A cherry bakewell blondie is based off of the classic cherry bakewell tart. This is a moist cherry almond bake. These blondies will be gooey and packed with almond flavor. The softness of the almond blondie will be reminiscent of a frangipane, packed with white chocolate and the tartness of cherry jam cutting through the sweetness.
If you're looking for more blondies try:
- Biscoff Blondies
- Coconut Walnut Paradise Pie Blondies
- Banoffee Blondies
- Cadbury's Creme Egg Blondies
Cherry Bakewell Blondies
Equipment
- 8" square baking tray
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup all purpose flour or plain flour
- ½ cup almond flour or finely ground almonds
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup superfine granulated sugar or caster sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar sometimes called muscovado, firmly packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup cherry jam
- 3 oz white chocolate chips or solid white chocolate cut into chunks
- 1 oz sliced almonds
Ingredients for Topping
- ¼ cup powdered sugar or icing sugar
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
- Line an 8" square baking tray with parchment paper or wax paper and preheat your oven to 325°F (165C/145C Fan).
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, almond flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat or whisk together the melted butter, sugar and brown sugar until well combined and emulsified (about 2 minutes).
- Add the eggs, vanilla and almond extract, beat to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and stir with a spatula until just incorporated.
- Next add the white chocolate chunks and stir to distribute.
- Spoon about ⅔ of the batter into the lined baking pan and spread evenly to create a layer.
- Now dollop the cherry jam over the top of the blondie layer - adding spoonfuls spaced out across the batter will make this easier to spread. Gently spread it into a layer over the blondie.
- Spoon the remaining batter over the cherry jam - again spooning in dollops to make it easier to spread over the jam.
- Finally sprinkle the sliced almonds over the top of the blondie batter.
- Place in the centre of the preheated oven and bake for about 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out mostly clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 2 hours. (see note)
- In a small mixing bowl whisk together the topping ingredients - the powdered sugar, almond extract and water. When ready to serve, drizzle over the top.
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