Ingredients

• 375g/13oz ready-made sweet shortcrust pastry
• 200g/7oz butter
• softened
• plus extra for greasing
• 200g/7oz caster sugar
• 3 large free-range eggs
• 200g/7oz plain flour
• plus extra for dusting
• 125g/4½oz ground almonds
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 150g/5oz apricot jam
• warmed until melted
• 8 fresh apricots
• stones removed
• cut into quarters

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3. Grease a 30x23cm/12x9in cake tin with butter and line with baking paper.
• Roll out the pastry onto a lightly floured work surface until it is slightly larger than the cake tin and 0.5cm/¼in thick.
• Roll the pastry onto a rolling pin
• then line the cake tin with the pastry
• pressing it gently into the corners and trimming away any excess. Chill in the fridge while you make the filling.
• Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl for 5 minutes
• until pale
• fluffy and well combined. Alternatively
• use a free-standing food mixer to do this.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time
• waiting until each has been incorporated into the mixture before adding the next.
• Fold in the flour
• ground almonds and baking powder.
• Brush the pastry with the warmed apricot jam
• then spoon in the filling mixture and smooth the top with a palette knife. Decorate the top of the filling with the apricot halves.
• Bake the tart in the oven for 30-35 minutes
• until the filling has risen and is golden-brown
• and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (if it doesn’t
• return the bake to the oven for a further 5 minutes). Set aside to cool
• in the tin
• on a wire rack
• then remove from the tin and cut into rectangles to serve.