Bakewell Pudding
The Famous Bakewell Pudding
Bakewell’s clearest claim to fame is undoubtedly its pudding, which is sent all over the world and a favourite with many celebrities.
There are three bakeries selling the world-famous Bakewell Pudding, and it will come as no surprise that each claims to have the original, secret recipe.
During the summer season, over 12,000 Bakewell puddings are sold each week. The Bakewell Pudding is quite different from the more familiar Bakewell Tart, that is sold commercially by confectioners such as Mr Kipling. Local legend has it that Bakwell Pudding was eaten as far back as the 1500s at Haddon Hall and that it was the favourite dish of Lady Dorothy Vernon who eloped in 1563. Indeed, Trevor Brighton, President of the Bakewell and District Historical Society in 2005, has written a book Bakewell: The Ancient Capital of the Peak. His book was written to celebrate the society's 50th anniversary. In it, he claims that the Bakewell pudding goes back to the Middle Ages and probably has its origins in France.
Bakewell Pudding History
More popular belief has it that the actual appearance of the Bakewell Pudding was 300 years later in the 18602 when Bakewell's coaching inn was the White Horse. The White Horse was built in 1804 on the site of an earlier inn. It is by the roundabout in the centre of Bakewell and is now called the Rutland Arms. Back in the coaching days it was the landlady of the White Horse, Mrs Greaves, who usually did the cooking but on this particular day, when entertaining important guests, the task of making a strawberry tart was left to an inexperienced assistant.
The egg and sugar were omitted while making the pastry. Then the jam was spread over the unusual pastry base, and the egg and sugar mixture, flavoured with almond, was put on top and an extra (secret) ingredient was added. The customers liked this new sweet, and the rest is history. How there are now three ‘secret’ and original recipes is a bit of a mystery but anyone who has ever tasted a slice of warm Bakewell pudding with a drizzle of cream will never return to anything you might buy in a plastic packet in a supermarket.
Never tried a Bakewell Pudding?
So if you are visiting Bakewell and have never tried a Bakewell Pudding then you would be mad not to!
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