Two Different Things, One Town, Decades of Confusion

The Bakewell tart you buy in a supermarket and the Bakewell pudding you get in the town itself are not the same product. They share a name, a location, and a general commitment to almonds and jam, but they diverge on almost everything else: pastry, texture, filling composition, and the kind of person who argues passionately about each.

Getting this straight before your visit saves confusion and improves the experience considerably.

The Bakewell Pudding

The pudding came first. The origin story, which locals tell with the confidence of people who have told it many times, involves a cook at the Rutland Arms Hotel in Bakewell who made a mistake. In the 1820s, so the story goes, the cook was supposed to make a strawberry tart but stirred the almond egg mixture into the pastry case rather than spreading it separately. The result was different from the intended dish and apparently delicious enough to become the town's signature product.

This is probably not entirely accurate. But the pudding itself is very real.

What makes the pudding distinct:

  • Pastry: flaky pastry rather than shortcrust, more like rough puff than a standard tart case
  • Filling: a layer of jam (traditionally strawberry or raspberry) topped with a rich egg and almond mixture, not marzipan or ground almonds in the modern commercial sense but a custard-like filling that sets soft rather than firm
  • Texture: the filling remains slightly wobbly. It is richer and more eggy than the tart
  • Appearance: oval or round, rustic, nothing like the neat triangular slices in supermarkets

The Original Bakewell Pudding Shop on The Square claims the original recipe and has been selling the pudding since the 19th century. Bloomers is the other well-known producer. Both have loyal supporters and both are worth trying.

The pudding is best eaten on the day it is made, slightly warm, with cream or ice cream. It does not travel well, which is part of why it remains relatively local.

The Bakewell Tart

The tart is what most people outside Derbyshire mean when they say "Bakewell." It is a shortcrust pastry case, a layer of jam, a layer of frangipane (ground almond mixture), and often a topping of icing or flaked almonds. The Mr Kipling version with the glace cherry on top is a third, more distant relative and should not be brought up in polite conversation within Bakewell.

The tart is more structurally stable, travels better, and has become the mass-market version partly for those reasons. It is also genuinely good in its own right when made well. Local bakeries in Bakewell produce tarts with better pastry and fresher frangipane than anything you will find in a supermarket.

The tart is not an inferior product. It is a different product. The category error is treating them as versions of the same thing rather than two distinct foods that happen to share geography.

The Actual Argument

The argument locals have is less about which tastes better and more about which is authentic. The pudding predates the tart, so pudding partisans have history on their side. Tart advocates note that more people enjoy the tart's format and that authenticity is a complicated standard to apply to baked goods.

Neither side is entirely right. Both are worth eating while you are there.

What to Order and Where

For the pudding: The Original Bakewell Pudding Shop and Bloomers are the two institutions. Both are on or near the central square. Buy a whole pudding or a slice to eat in. The shop versions are the most authentic expressions of what the pudding actually is.

For the tart: Most bakeries and tea rooms in Bakewell sell a version. The Lavender Tea Rooms and several others on the main streets produce good ones. The tart is also excellent from the Farmers' Market stalls if you visit on the last Saturday of the month.

For both: Nothing stops you buying a slice of each and deciding for yourself. This is the correct approach and the one the town implicitly encourages.

A Note on Taking Them Home

The pudding is sold boxed for travel and survives a car journey. It does not survive more than a day or two, so eat it promptly. The tart travels better and is generally more robust. Both make good gifts for people at home who have never had either, with the caveat that the pudding requires explanation.

The ConciseTravel Peak District guide covers the Bakewell food scene in fuller context, alongside other local food worth tracking down in the national park.