Blackcurrant, Lime and Coconut Bakewell Tarts

This week's Great British Bake Off technical challenge was Bakewell tart. I figured I had made a classic bakewell tart before and am a dab hand at frangipane so I made little square shortcrust pastry tarts with a blackcurrant jam, lime and coconut frangipane and a lime feathered icing.

The pastry cases were the biggest challenge I faced. It wasn't easy to create a perfect and elegant case in the square traybake tin I used. But, after some perseverance (and a little patching up) I managed it. They are baked to golden brown and crisp, with no soggy bottoms in sight. I'm not really a big fan of the pastry I made as it was a little flaky and less short and crumbly than normal. I think a little more sugar would have interfered with the gluten that formed to make a better pastry. The flavours are heavenly. You can't get much better than tangy lime with sweet and slightly sharp blackcurrant with a hit of coconut. The icing topping is full of lime flavour but sweet enough to cut through the fruit jam. I have to say, feathering isn't my best skill as I left the icing to set a bit too much before piping on the purple lines. But if I had worked a little quicker I think they would have been spot on.