Apple Tarte Tatin or Apple Upside Cake
18 October 2011 § 15 Comments
I love tarte tartin - plenty of butter and caramelized apples with a flaky, light pastry – how could you not like it? As the story goes a group of hotel guests in France certainly enjoyed it back in 1898.
It may be an urban myth but it is a good one – two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin ran the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Bouvron, France. Poor overworked Stéphanie started to make a traditional apple pie but left the apples cooking in butter and sugar and burned them. She then tried to rescue the dish by turning upside down. This pleased the hotel guests et voilà the rest is history.
After the success of our Ottolenghi-athon fellow blogger, Kimberli, of The Mackay Way, asked if I would like to make a tarte tatin with her. She had just been apple picking so I naturally cleared my calendar pretty fast.
Here’s how to make it – first melt the butter on the stovetop in an ovenproof dish or pan.
Then add the sugar and arrange the apple slices on top of the butter. Then boil for about 20 minutes.
Put back on the stovetop on a high heat and cook until the apples brown. Then turn over the apple slices and cook the other side until they are golden and caramelized.
Roll out the pastry (a basic pâte brisée – that’s just French for pie dough) and add a dollop of a mixture of more butter and confectioners’ sugar. This makes the pastry flaky and, you guessed right, buttery.
Yes that is more butter and confectioners sugar
Fold the pastry over the butter and sugar lump to make a parcel and put back into the fridge to rest again.
Roll out the pastry parcel and cover the apple dish.
Bake. Then let cool for a out 15 minutes. Turn over and voilà!
This tarte tatin does come with a health warning. I’m not talking about the three sticks of butter, but the caramel. It is hot, hotter than Hades, which I would imagine is pretty hot.
So no matter how tempting it smells, do not try while cooking, or you may find yourself going to the Burns Unit at your local hospital. Also as the caramelization is done on the stove top be careful with small kids around as the smell is guaranteed to get them interested.
For the full recipe with precise ingredients – always useful for baking - you’ll have to go to Kimberli’s recipe.
I was very happy when I ate their apples
Voila indeed! You are on a roll with the sweets lately – lucky little Ladies!
Beautiful photos and recipe. One of my favourites. And god, sugar can burn. Like steam- that was I mistake I made last week. Ouch
Thanks Tori – will check out our blog soon….watch that hot sugar!
I will never forget the look on your daughter’s face when she realized you were taking a good portion of the tarte tatin home with you for continued enjoyment! I was snickering when I heard her starting to bargain for a big after dinner slice as she hopped into the car! Let’s look at our calendars and recipes for Thanksgiving preview!
GAH!! YUM! GAH!!! Calories!!! YUM! GAH!!! That’s pretty much what I thought when I saw this today. I think it about sums it up…
This looks delicious!!!! Such a great seasonal dessert.
[...] week I shared with you the fabulous tarte tatin recipe that I made with my friend, Kimberli (The Mackay [...]
Nice, nice as usual….when you say boil the apple slices, though, do you mean that i put the piepan on the stovetop over a flame? thank you, Lisa.
alice
Alice – thanks for the compliments. Yes you need to heat the apples in the piepan over a flame. Kimberli printed the full recipe on her blog.
I am drooling over this…love your photos and that you created this with a friend. I will pop over for the full recipe and make soon!
I really am going to try this recipe Lisa because I love This Tarte tatin and I think that I shall serve it with Creme Chantilly or ice-cream just to add on some more calaries !!!!!!!!!!!!! lots of luv Tante mo xxxx
Yes Momo – it definitely needs some extra calories – Creme Fraiche would be good too!
this looks devine!
awwwww! I’d make it, but I love Tarte Tatin so much, i may devour half of this cake!
[...] diva-esque entrance in a mist of liquid nitrogen, sadly not something I will be trying at home, but here’s one tarte tatin you can make at home.. Garnished with flavorful dark opal basil that added s savory bite to the [...]