Could You Eat an Entire Bakewell Tart in 45 Minutes? A New Peak District Challenge Wants to Find Out

Imagine being presented with an entire 12-slice Bakewell Tart and told you have 45 minutes to finish it. No sharing. No taking slices home for later. Just you, a giant tart and a steadily ticking clock.

Confident? So was professional competitive eater Leah Shutkever. After all, this is someone who has broken more than 40 Guinness World Records, built a social media following of millions and made a career out of eating things most of us would struggle to finish in several sittings.

Even so, the challenge proved rather more difficult than it first appeared (scroll down to watch the video!)

Leah travelled to Bakewell earlier this month to become the first person to attempt The Bakewell Tart Shop's brand-new Bakewell Tart Challenge, launched ahead of National Bakewell Tart Day on 24th June. The rules are simple enough. Finish an entire Bakewell 'Party' Tart within 45 minutes and you'll earn a place on the shop's Wall of Fame, a branded apron, a water bottle and a full refund of the £50 entry fee.

On paper, that may not sound too intimidating. After all, it's only cake.

Or is it?

As anyone who has ever enthusiastically ordered dessert before realising they were already completely full will know, there comes a point where even the most delicious sweet treat starts to feel like hard work. We were there to watch Leah's attempt, and it quickly became clear that a giant Bakewell Tart sits firmly in that category.

At one point during the challenge she attempted to rally herself with the simple instruction: "What's the problem? Just eat the cake!"

Moments later came a rather more relatable assessment.

"The problem? I am up to here with cake."

To her credit, Leah battled on and eventually crossed the finish line in an impressive 25 minutes and 51 seconds, as the shop burst into applause and someone thought to crank up "Congratulations and celebrations" on the radio. In that moment, Leah became the first person ever to complete the challenge and establishing the official time to beat. While many of us might need a lie down after two generous slices, she managed the entire tart in well under half an hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ows9GUZfyQ

The challenge was filmed for Leah's social media channels and YouTube account, where the video attracted more than 72,000 views within 48 hours. Across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, she has a combined audience of more than 3.5 million followers, meaning Bakewell's newest challenge has already been introduced to a sizeable audience of would-be competitors.

Duncan Kirk, owner of The Bakewell Tart Shop, says the challenge was designed as a fun way to celebrate National Bakewell Tart Day while shining a spotlight on one of Derbyshire's most famous exports.

"We thought it would be interesting to see whether anyone could take on a giant Bakewell Tart and complete it within 45 minutes," he said. "Leah was the perfect person to launch the challenge. Even with all her experience, there were moments when you could see how difficult it was becoming, which makes her achievement all the more impressive. She has now set the time to beat and we'd love to see whether anyone else is brave enough to have a go."

The challenge also shines a light on a business that has become something of an institution in Bakewell. The family-owned Bakewell Tart Shop occupies the site believed to have first baked Bakewell Tarts commercially more than a century ago and today welcomes around 100,000 visitors every year. National Bakewell Tart Day itself was created by the business as a way of celebrating the iconic Derbyshire bake and its place in British food culture.

As for whether anybody can beat Leah's time, that remains to be seen. There will undoubtedly be people reading this who think they could manage a Bakewell Tart in 45 minutes without too much trouble.

Personally, I suspect reality would arrive somewhere around slice four...

Looking for more information on National Bakewell Tart Day? Read this article.

Think you could take on the Shut's Challenge? Find out more here!