Kent is the birthplace of many well-loved traditional dishes, but most of us just buy the grub off the shelf without any thought of how they got there.

The Gypsy Tart is one of these foods, so, reporter Megan Carr, was challenged to make her own dessert and find out what really goes into the classic treat.

Reporter Megan Carr baking a Gypsy Tart

Originating from the Isle of Sheppey the Gypsy Tart is made with evaporated milk, muscovado sugar, and pastry.

I have many fond memories of the sugary luxury thanks to my mum who would reward my brother and I with one when we'd behaved on shopping trips.

The dish is thought to have been invented by a woman who wanted to feed some malnourished Romani/ Gypsy children with anything she had in her home, so she baked them this tart.

By the 1960s, it had become a staple of school dinners across Kent.

But I never really took much interest into how it was made. It couldn't be difficult right? It's just sugar and pastry.

I was quite wrong. Although the filling isn't too difficult to master I soon discovered that pastry is a lot harder to conquer.

However, if I was going to do it properly I couldn't cheat and had to make my own from scratch.

In the need of some expert help, I headed off to my local bakery in Faversham and spoke to the owner of Crusts.

Gemma Erin has been at the shop for three years and is described as the back bone of the store.

She makes large trays of Gypsy Tarts in the morning that sell out by the early afternoon, and I have to admit they're gorgeous, huge and just £2 a slice!

Speaking about her recipe she said: "We make our own recipe here, on site, and it is very popular.

"People come from all around, even from up North when they're on holiday, and make a beeline for us because they can't get Gypsy Tart anywhere else.

"The secret is all about the blending of the sugar and evaporated milk, if I make a batch in the morning it is usually ready by the afternoon."

The speed the tarts fly off the shelves depends on the day, but the top seller is never stays around for long.

Gemma continued: "We get lots of orders for a whole trays of Gypsy Tarts, usually for birthdays and parties.

"We get 12 slices from a tray and lots of customers are really intrigued by it.

"A lot of people have never actually heard of the tart and those that love it feel that the pastry is just as important as the filling.

"Some people ask for the corner pieces as it has the most pastry."

For the three years that Gemma has sold the sweet treat it has always been a top seller.

She said: "The other cakes we sell come and go but Gypsy Tart is always on sale.

"I think it is because we make it in the traditional way and it took a lot of trial and error and hoping for the best.

"Some people do know the history behind Gypsy Tarts and they're intrigued by it, but a lot of people ask what it is and I say that you can only get it in Kent and they're really surprised.

"I used to live in London and I never knew about the tart before I moved here.

"People that moved away come back occasionally and say that they have missed our Gypsy Tart, so it is definitely very popular.

"I think it sells so well because it is traditional and you can't really get it in a lot of places."

After chatting to Gemma and armed with my new knowledge I had a look online for the best recipes to follow.

Many of them did seem slightly over complicated so I decided on one by Sainsbury's. The only ingredients I needed were:

• Plain flour
• Unsalted butter
• One Egg
• Full-fat evaporated milk
• Dark muscovado sugar

The pastry preparation was pretty simple, I used my fingertips to rub in the butter to the flour until the mixture resembled breadcrumbs.

Then I added the egg and a tablespoon and a half of water to bind everything together. When it was all combined I wrapped it in cling film and popped it in the fridge for half and hour.

It was then time to roll. Thinking I could make it through pastry week on Bake Off I was pretty confident with rolling it.

However, after messing up the shape and not having enough surface area to cover my tin, I had to screw it up and give it another go.

I'm sure my actions would have made Paul Hollywood grimace.

After this I lined my tin with the rolled out pastry and added a sheet of cooking paper on top.

The recipe said I should have used baking beans to help with the blind bake but I used the rice alternative.

It worked pretty well and although I did slightly burn one side of the pastry it was all okay in the end.

Luckily I had yet to cut off any excess pastry which meant any black bits were chopped off too!

After 20 minutes I removed the rice and baking paper and put the pastry back in for another 10 minutes.

As soon as it started to cook again the bottom of the pastry began to rise, not knowing what else to do I pricked some holes in the pastry.

Unfortunately this didn't really do much and the base of my tart did look a little deformed.

Despite this I hoped that my filling would hide all my culinary errors.

To make the filling you whisk together the evaporated milk and the dark muscovado sugar.

I used an electric whisk and kept at it until the mixture was a coffee colour and slightly stiff.

I then poured the sweet mixture into the pastry case and very carefully put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

Due to how much my pastry had risen, a lot of my mixture sadly didn't fit into the case and it had to get thrown away.

Learning from my previous mistake I didn't burn the pastry the second time round and the sugary filling became slightly hard and tacky on top.

After allowing it to cool I put it into the fridge to harden.

As I waited for the tart to cool I thought about what I would do differently next time.

To be honest I would probably just buy it! Or I'd make it easier on myself and get ready-made pastry.

That way I would know that all my mixture would fit into the pastry case and nothing would be wasted.

Although my tart tasted nearly the same as Gemma's it didn't look quite as spectacular. It looked quite sad in comparison.

The Gypsy Tart was a big hit with my family and taste wise you can't really go wrong.

Due to mine being noticeably smaller than the bakery's tart it did actually make it less sickly to eat. But for aesthetic reasons I may leave the pastry making to the professionals!

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