This Cherry Bakewell Millionaire Shortbread has an almond and cherry shortbread, homemade caramel and is topped with white chocolate, cherry jam, flaked almonds and glace cherries.

One of my favourite things to do is take a classic flavour like Cherry Bakewell and put a little twist on it. This is one of my absolute favourite millionaire shortbread recipes.

It is just so heavenly and more-ish from the slight hint of almond in the base to the homemade caramel and cherry topping, it is just so insanely good!

How to make Cherry Bakewell Millionaire Shortbread?

I literally adore Millionaire Shortbread; it is one of my favourite ever things to bake and this is the perfect marriage between the two flavours.

The shortbread base is made using only four ingredients. It is one of the simplest things to bake.
I added flaked almonds and cherries to the base as it’s a classic flavour in a traditional cherry Bakewell tart. You could also use an almond extract if you prefer.

If you are making the shortbread using a mixer to make the shortbread cream together the butter and sugar first until it is pale in colour and fluffy and then add the flour, almonds and cherries.

I use a baking spread for the base, but you can use unsalted butter. For the caramel though you need to use unsalted butter.

Related Recipes

Jammie Dodger Millionaire Shortbread

Pecan Millionaire Shortbread

No-Bake Cherry Bakewell Cheesecake

If you are making the shortbread by hand, then make sure you use unsalted butter, and it is cut into small cubes. Rub them together until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Press the shortbread into the base of your tin. I used a 9inch x 9-inch square springform tin. I find the easiest way is to take small pieces of the dough and press them into the tin building it up this way until the entire base is covered and you have used all your shortbread.

Once the shortbread has baked you can make the caramel. The shortbread doesn’t need to be completely cool before you add the caramel on top. I normally make the caramel as soon as I take the shortbread out of the oven, and just leave the shortbread to one side to cool slightly.

Please, please, please make the caramel. The problem If you use shop-bought caramel-like carnations it doesn’t set, so when you cut into the final Cherry Bakewell Millionaire Shortbread the caramel will just splodge out everywhere.

In this recipe, I use caster sugar in the caramel you could use light brown sugar as a substitute. This will just give the caramel a darker colour and a stronger taste.

You need to make sure that all the sugar has dissolved before you bring the caramel to a boil. You will know it has dissolved because if you run your spatula along the bottom of the pot it shouldn’t feel grainy. Also, if you take a small amount out of the pot you shouldn’t see any specks of sugar.

If your caramel is grainy, it just means that the sugar hasn’t dissolved completely.

Another thing to remember when making the caramel is not to leave it unattended at any point. There is a thin line between the caramel being perfect and it being overdone. It also catches quite quickly too, so you need to remember and stir it continuously. If you end up with brown or black specks in your caramel this is just where it has caught on the bottom of the sides of your pot.

Pour the caramel over the shortbread base and pop it into the fridge to set. I find personally, that putting it into the fridge helps it set firmer than leaving it in a cool spot in the kitchen.

Once the caramel has cooled and set completely you can cover it with the chocolate topping. I went with white chocolate just because I thought it would complement the cherries better and when you swirl through the cherry jam you can see the difference in colour.

I decided to swirl the jam through the chocolate similar to what I did with my Jammie Dodger Millionaire Shortbread. Just pop the jam in a heatproof bowl and soften it in the microwave. I then added tablespoons of the jam randomly over the top of the white chocolate. Using a skewer or cocktail stick gently swirl it through. You don’t want to mix it completely you still want to be able to see the lovely swirls of jam.

I finished by sprinkling over some leftover almonds and some glace cherries.

Alternatives

You could only use cherries or only almonds in the base. Just leave the other one out.

Maraschino cherries would also work perfectly in this recipe.

Equipment

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