Maid of Honor Tarts Recipe
- clemievegancake
- Feb 24
- 3 min read
My take on these traditional old English tarts! A buttery pastry crust, sweet jam centre and a sponge topping.
These Maid of Honor tarts are inspired by the ones my dad used to make us as a child! I didn't even know what they were called until I started researching but I think they are based off an old tart recipe called Maid of Honor. They have a shortcrust pastry case, filled with jam and topped with vanilla sponge. You can just dust the tops with icing sugar, which is how we used to have them when I was young, or I finished mine with a quick hot water icing and glace cherry decoration.
This recipe makes a dozen small Maid of Honor tarts. They will stay fresh for around 4 days in an airtight container or you can freeze them for longer.
Makes 12 small tarts
Pastry ingredients;
250g plain flour
30g caster or granulated sugar
150g vegan block butter
1-3 tbs cold water
Sponge ingredients;
80g plain flour
50g caster or granulated sugar
5g baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
20g sunflower oil
2g apple cider vinegar
85g plant milk
12 tsp jam - I used cherry
5 tbs icing sugar
2 tbs boiling water
12 glace cherries or cherry halves
You will also need; a large mixing bowl, whisk, spoon or small ice cream scoop, rolling pin, large circle cookie cutter, 12 hole tart tin, piping bag - optional
How to make your cakes;
Pre heat the oven to 180°c
Begin making your pastry. In your large mixing bowl add the flour, sugar and vegan butter
Use your fingers to crumble the butter into the dry ingredients to make a fine breadcrumb texture
Add 1 tbs of cold water and use your fingers again to mix it through the pastry dough
Begin to bring the pastry together by gently squashing the dough into a ball
The dough should feel soft and pliable. If the dough is too dry and crumbly, add another tbs of cold water and bring it together again
Try not to overwork the dough as this will make the pastry taste tough
This pastry is quite soft, so if you have time, wrap it in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes until chilled. This will make it easier to work with
While the dough is chilling, make the sponge mixture. Give the mixing bowl a quick wipe out and add the flour, sugar, baking powder and vanilla powder
Give the dry ingredients a quick whisk and add the oil, plant milk and apple cider vinegar
Whisk the sponge batter mixture together until there are no flour lumps. Do not over mix
Set aside the sponge mixture and get your cold pastry out of the fridge. Flour your worktop and rolling pin so that the dough does not stick
Roll out your pastry dough to around 3-4mm thick
Cutout 12 circle shapes and gently press them into the tart tin to make the cake base
Spoon 1 tsp of jam on top of the pastry, then using a spoon or small ice cream, add a scoop of sponge batter on top of the jam. Try to make sure that all the jam is covered by the sponge batter so that it does not leak out during baking
Bake for around 15 minutes until the sponge is lightly golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean. The pastry should be crisp and dry underneath
Leave the cakes to cool
Once cooled, make your hot water icing. Add the icing sugar to the bowl and mix in the boiling water a tbs at a time. The icing should be thick and spoonable
Use a small spoon or piping bag to add a blob of icing to the top of each cake. Place a glace cherry on top of the icing to finish
Now your cakes are ready to eat!
Tips & Tricks!
Try not to overwork the pastry dough, as we want to keep the pastry as light, buttery and crumbly as possible. If you knead it too much it will become tough and chewy to eat.
This is the 12 hole perforated tart tin I use; https://amzn.to/48Fcw04
These are the circle cutters I use; https://amzn.to/3KGUeUu
This is my large rolling pin; https://amzn.to/4pKk9JW
I used cherry jam but any fruit jam would work nicely
If you don't fancy making the hot water icing, you can just dust the tops of the cakes with a little icing sugar
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