The origins of the tart are not clear, however the generally accepted story is that it was first made by accident in 1820 when the landlady of the White Horse Inn, (now called the Rutland Arms) left instructions for her cook to make a jam tart. The cook, instead of stirring the eggs and almond paste mixture into the pastry, spread it on top of the jam.[1] When cooked the jam rose through the paste. The result was successful enough for it to become a popular dish at the inn, and commercial variations, usually with icing sugar on top, have spread the name.[2] The name is believed to have come from a customer who decided that the tart was "baked well" thus the inn called it their "Bakewell" tart, a pun on the town of Bakewell and a well baked tart.

 

Many countries have rice puddings, but a sweet pudding of this kind has been so much eaten in Britain since the eighteenth century that it seemed for a while almost a national dish. The British version is at its best when the cream is allowed to bake into a toasty skin on the surface.

 

Pease pudding is a peculiarly British dish, on account of the long-standing perference in Britain for pease over other pulses. It began its career in remote antiquity as pease pottage, a thick porridge made from the dried mealy pease that were a staple food; this was the most usual way of preparing them. Pease pottage and, when available, bacon went together in the diet .  At the beginning of the 17th century the introduction of the pudding cloth allowed pease pudding, a more solid product, to be made. The ingredients consisted only of pease (previouly soaked, if dried pease are used),  flavouring: sugar and pepper, and sometimes mint, were commonly used. The ingredients were mixed and simply cooked in a pudding cloth perhaps alongside a piece of bacon, and for which the pudding would be a  filling accompaniement.