Tarte Tatin ~ French Apple Tart

Finally! How many days have I not gone around and dreamt about trying to make and taste the famous french apple tart better known as 'Tarte Tatin' which appears to be the only cake to be dedicated an own homepage! I have seen it on my google searches and I saw them making it in the norwegian MasterChef, and I always wondered how it could be severe to succeed with something so easy to make. Tarte Tatin is an upside-down tart in which fruit (apples) are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked with a lid of tart crust or puff pastry on top.

Everything french is so elegant. The people, the language (love it!), their manners, their food, their style, their personalities etc etc, this list could be so long. And not to forget the most important, the french bakery, the french confectionary; a class by itself!
And how can something french not be delicious? I love their sweet eye-candies and wish I could revel in me all those goodies and still keep my shape slim as the petit french women! Well, atleast I wish to create and taste as much as I can of the thousands of treasures the french bakery has to offer.

The story of Tarte Tatin is very interesting as tradition has it that it takes base in 1898 when a tired Stéphanie Tatin manages to almost burn the apples in the pan at l'Hotel Tatin and rescues the situasion by covering the apples with a tart bottom and bake it in the oven for later to turn the pan upside down on a plate. This idea was a great success and harvest apples even today, 110 years later, and is loved everywhere apples are eaten.

I love this apple cake. I love the soft apples which bathes in caramel sauce. And the crunchiness of puff pastry (I cheated a little and used bought puff pastry sheets as I did not have a lot of time, but there is a recipe for the tart crust for those who want to make from scratch). It was a moment of falling in love with it as I was enjoying it warm bite for bite with some vanilla ice cream and black spiced tea. And I had a whole quarter of this cake! I am definitely going to make it often, it goes straight into my 'I-love-recipes'. Je T'aime <3 The next just-have-to-try-it-recipe in my list is french chocolate cake, I can not wait.

 

This recipe is adapted from My French House

Serves 6-8

I n g r e d i e n t s

100 g butter
100 g sugar
1 kg apples
fresh lemon juice

400 g puff pastry (1 sheet of flaky or puff pastry, pre-rolled)

PS! The pan you choose for Tarte Tatin is important as it must be able to withstand cooking on a stove top and in the very hot oven with extremely hot caramelizing sugar. A heavy bottomed seasoned cast-iron pan is preferable (but it is fine with a regular pan as long as you remember to remove the handle before starting since it is going in the oven).

Preheat the oven to 200∞C, 390∞F or gas mark 5. Measure your pan and cut your pastry sheet into a round disc to fit as a lid (a little larger so that you can tuck the edges). Cover the pastry so it doesn’t dry out and put aside for later.


1. Peel the apples and cut into quarters (I cut each apple into eight pieces) removing the core. Brush with lemon juice so they do not brown


2. Melt the butter and sugar together in the pan and slowly cook together until the sugar dissolves


3. Arrange the apple quarters in the sugar mixture in a snug even pattern. Cook over a slow to medium heat for around 20 minutes until the apples are slightly soft and the sugar has begun to caramelize


4. Place the pastry round securely on top of the apples

Bake in the oven on 200C for about 15 to 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown


* Let cool for 5-10 minutes. Place a serving dish over the pan and flip upside down to release the dessert, so that the pastry is underneath.

Serve warm as it is (sprinkle with icing sugar) or with some vanilla ice cream, creme fraiche or turkish yoghurt!

Apprécier le gâteau