Jam and cornflake tart: a school dinner classic I’ve been meaning to make for ages!
What can I say? I had cornflakes to use up! I found quite a few recipes which said to use ready-to-roll, shop bought-pastry. And that’s a good option if you’re in a hurry, but making the pastry isn’t that tricky if you have the ingredients and time. I used this recipe from Baking Mad.
Jam and cornflake tart is an old school classic. Another one I think many people would have had served with custard.
Ingredients
For the pastry:
- 180 g / 6.4 oz plain flour (and a bit more to dust your rolling surface and rolling pin)
- 80 g / 2.8 oz butter or baking margarine (although butter is slightly better for pastry)
- 30 ml / 1 fl oz cold water
- For blind baking, you’ll need baking beans or a substitute such as rice, lentils, dried peas or beans.
For the filling:
- 135 g / 4.5 oz golden syrup
- 65 g / 2.2 oz butter or baking margarine (margarine is OK for this)
- 30 g / 1 oz dark muscovado sugar (if you only have caster, granular or light brown sugar I think you can use this too and it’ll be fine!)
- 100 g / 3.5 oz cornflakes
- 100 g / 3.5 oz strawberry jam (seeded or jelly jam and you could also use raspberry or whatever flavour you prefer)
Method
Pastry first! You can put the ingredients in a stand mixer and whizz them together, but I prefer to make it by hand. Use your fingers to rub the butter and flour together, then add the water and bring the ingredients together into a ball of soft dough.
Wrap the dough in clingfilm (plastic wrap) and pop in the fridge for about an hour.
While that’s chilling, grease your tart tin/ flan dish with a little butter or margarine. My flan dish is approx. 21 cm (8.25 inches) in diameter. The original recipe calls for a 23-cm (9 inches) diameter tin. So anywhere around there and you’ll be fine.
Now it’ll be ready to roll. Dust your rolling surface with flour and roll your pastry into a circle around 28 cm in diameter (about the length of a piece of A4 paper). To make this easier you can put the pastry between two sheets of greaseproof paper or under the piece of clingfilm you had it wrapped in. The pastry should be quite thin at this point – don’t worry, that’s ok!
Drape your pastry circle over your tin. Rolling it over the rolling pin or sliding it off the greaseproof paper can make this operation a bit easier. Press it gently into the tin and around the sides. If you have any large pieces of dough hanging over the sides, remove them, but don’t trim the sides to the top of the tin just yet.
Put your lined tin back in the fridge for another 30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C (160 fan)/ Gas Mark 4 / 350 degrees F. Blind bake the pastry by putting a piece of greaseproof paper over the pastry case and filling the middle with baking beans or a substitute (I used rice), spreading the beans out to the edges of the case. Put the pastry case in the oven for 12-15 minutes. If your oven tends towards “hot” (like mine does), go for 12 minutes.
Take the tin out and carefully trim the edges of the pastry to the top of the tin using a sharp knife. Put it back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes. This should prevent the dreaded soggy bottom!
Remove the pastry case from the oven (leave the oven on) and put to one side while you make the filling.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter, sugar and syrup, stirring until you have a smooth mixture. Stir in the cornflakes and mix gently until all the cereal is coated in the liquid mixture.
Spread the jam evenly over the base of your pastry case. It doesn’t matter if the case is still warm, it will help the jam to spread.
Pour the cornflake mixture over the jam, spread out evenly and press down gently to form a compact layer without any gaps.
Put the jam and cornflake tart back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Remove and leave to cool and harden before serving.
I couldn’t wait to let it cool and set properly before cutting it because I was under great pressure from my kids to serve it. This explains why the jam ran out, as you can see in the next picture!
This old school jam and cornflake tart can also be served warm with custard. In an air-tight container it should keep for a few days.
A plea from this baker/writer
If you’ve read this far and have found this recipe, or any of my recipes useful, please consider returning the favour by buying one of my books! The ebooks cost less than a coffee and they are free with Kindle Unlimited.
Claire Huston / Art and Soul
FAQs
A firm school favourite, our easy cornflake tart has a sweet, crumbly pastry base topped with jam and cornflakes. Best served drizzled in a large helping of custard.
How do you thicken jam for tarts? ›
Fine jam tarts
If your jam was somewhat runny to begin with, the addition of a little liquid pectin, such as Certo, and sugar to taste will help it set.
Why are my cornflake cakes soggy? ›
If there's too much chocolate and not enough cornflakes in this Easter cake, the cornflakes will get soggy. Prevent this from occurring by following the ratio of chocolate to cornflakes listed in the recipe.
Which supermarket sells cornflake tarts? ›
Corn flake & syrup tart | Asda Good Living.
Why is it called cornflake girl? ›
Tori was inspired to write the song after reading Possessing The Secret Of Joy by Alice Walker, which goes into the process of female circumcision in Africa. The song describes women betraying women (these “Cornflake Girls”).
What is the main ingredient in corn flakes? ›
Corn (90%), sugar, salt, barley malt extract, vitamins (vitamin E, niacin, vitamin B6, riboflavin, folate), minerals (iron, zinc oxide).
Does lemon juice thicken jam? ›
With a simple lemon juice trick, your homemade jam will achieve your desired thick texture. Preparing jam is about capturing the sweet essence of the fruit while simultaneously cooking it down to the perfect syrupy consistency.
What if my jam is not sweet enough? ›
What if I open a jar of my jam or jelly and it isn't sweet enough to suit my taste? For an immediate fix, gently stir some additional sweetener into the jar. Another option is to empty the jar into a small saucepan. Add the sweetener you want to the mixture in the pan and bring to a boil, stirring well for 1 minute.
What makes homemade jam thick? ›
If you simply take fruit and cook it with some sugar to sweeten it a little, it will get thick enough to turn into jam by the naturally occurring pectin in the fruit and the process of reduction. Reduction occurs when we simmer the fruit, and the liquid turns to steam and evaporates, which thickens the jam.
How do you make corn flakes taste better? ›
To make cornflakes more delicious you can add almonds,cashew nuts, pistachios,raisins along with milk. Moreover fruits like strawberries,bananas,ripe mango etc.
These Chocolate Cornflake Cakes should be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days. Once they have set, you can either keep them in the muffin pan covered with wrap, or transfer them in an air-tight container. This is to make sure they do not absorb any odours from the fridge.
What is the most expensive cornflake? ›
Things can't be that bad in the US. Someone's prepared to pay £100,000 for a cornflake shaped like Illinois. Two sisters from Virginia have put a Kellogg's Frosted Flake shaped a bit like the state of Illinois up for sale on eBay, and the bidding has risen to over $200,000. Yes, for a cornflake.
What is the history of cornflake tarts? ›
Cornflake tart was a firm favourite on school menus in the 70s and 80s. It's skipped a generation but now it's back! Great with custard. Serves 10-12 portions and weighs approximately 1.5kg.
What is the most delicious corn flakes? ›
Top 50 Scanned: Corn Flakes beta
| Popularity |
|---|
| #1 | Frosted Flakes in a Cup Kellogg's | 1 container |
| #2 | Corn Flakes Kellogg's | 1 cup |
| #3 | Cereal, Corn Flakes Organic 365 Everyday Value | 1.25 cup |
| #4 | Sprouted Corn Flakes Arrowhead Mills | 1 cup |
It's made with rich cream cheese, sour cream for a hint of tang, powdered sugar, and delicious vanilla bean paste, but you can use vanilla extract if that's all you have on hand. The mixture is beat together before some heavy cream is whipped in to help achieve a light and fluffy texture.
What is tart crust made of? ›
Step 1. Make the Dough. By hand: In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry cutter or 2 knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with butter pieces no larger than small peas.
What are the ingredients in Poppins corn flakes? ›
Ingredients: Maize Grits, Sugar, Barley Malt Extract, Salt, Emulsifier (E471 from Fully Hydrogenated Palm Oil). Contains: Barley and Sulfur Dioxide (Sugar). May contain traces of Peanut, Soy Lecithin, Milk Derivatives and Nuts. Free from pork products and their derivatives.
What is custard tart made of? ›
Modern custard tarts are usually made from shortcrust pastry, eggs, sugar, milk or cream, and vanilla, sprinkled with nutmeg and then baked. Unlike egg tart, custard tarts are normally served at room temperature.
