A tarte tatin has four ingredients: apples, butter, sugar and pastry. That’s the whole shopping list. What makes it good is patience, twice. Once while the caramel turns properly golden, and again while it goes completely cold before the pastry goes on.
This is the version Robert teaches at his cook school, with Pink Lady apples because they hold their shape instead of collapsing into purée. We filmed him making it outside on the terrace at RT Café Grill, on the Vlaze outdoor kitchen we cooked on all summer, with the Solent behind him. It works just as well in an oven at home, and the recipe below is written for that.
Before you start
Use a heavy pan that can go in the oven. The caramel needs even heat, and the whole thing has to be turned upside down at the end, so a flimsy pan or one with a plastic handle won’t do. Cast iron is perfect.
Then read the method through once. Nothing in it is difficult, but the timing is: the caramel has to be cold when the pastry goes on, and the tart has to be only just out of the oven when it’s turned out.
You’ll need
- 5–6Pink Lady apples
- 80gunsalted butter, soft
- 100gcaster sugar
- 250gall-butter puff pastry
- 1cinnamon stick (optional)
- Vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche, to serve
Kit
A heavy ovenproof frying pan, 22–24cm across. Cast iron is ideal, and it’s what Robert uses in the film. A vegetable peeler, a rolling pin and a plate or board a little wider than the pan.
Oven
190°C (170°C fan, gas 5).
Method
1. Butter and sugar
Spread the butter over the base of the pan, or lay it in in thin slices as Robert does, and scatter the sugar evenly over the top.
2. The apples
Peel the apples, cut each in half from top to bottom and scoop out the core. Run the peeler around the cut edges to round them off. Stand the halves on their ends around the pan, packed in tight: they shrink as they cook. Fill the middle with the smaller pieces, and tuck in the cinnamon stick if you’re using it.
3. The caramel
Put the pan on a medium heat and leave it alone. No stirring. The butter and sugar melt, bubble and slowly turn to caramel around the apples. When it’s a deep gold, take the pan off the heat. Then let it cool completely, which is the part people skip.
Letting it cool matters. Hot caramel melts the butter in the pastry before it has a chance to puff, and you end up with a pale, soggy lid. Twenty minutes on the side is time well spent.
4. The pastry
Heat the oven. Roll the pastry out to about 6mm thick, into a circle big enough to cover the apples and reach down the sides of the pan to the caramel. Lay it over and push the edge down into the caramel all the way round.
5. Bake
Bake for about 50 minutes, until the pastry is risen, golden and properly crisp.
6. Turn it out
Leave it for a couple of minutes so the caramel sets slightly. Put your plate or board over the pan, hold the two together with oven gloves and turn them over in one go. Lift the pan off. If some of the apple stays behind, or the caramel won’t let go, warm the pan on the hob for a moment and try again. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche.
On the barbecue
Robert made this one outside, on the Vlaze outdoor kitchen on our terrace, with the ceramic grill set into the counter. If you have a barbecue with a lid, you can do the same. Put the pan straight on the grill with the lid down to make the caramel, lift it off to cool, then pastry on and back in with the lid closed to bake. It needs a cast iron pan, and the handle gets very hot, so keep the gloves nearby.
Vlaze supplied the outdoor kitchen as part of a partnership with Robert. See the rest of the summer we spent cooking on it, including two more films, or visit vlaze.co.
If it goes wrong
- The pastry is pale and soft underneath. Either the caramel was still warm when the pastry went on, or it came out too soon. Next time give it longer on both counts.
- The apples have collapsed. The variety was too soft. Stick to Pink Lady or another firm eating apple that holds its shape.
- The caramel is pale. It came off the heat too early. You want a deep amber gold. Watch the pan, not the clock.
- It won’t come out of the pan. The caramel has set. Warm the pan on the hob for a minute and it will let go.
Suppliers change with the seasons, but you can read about the people we buy from in where our food comes from.
Questions we get asked
What are the best apples for tarte tatin?+
Robert uses Pink Lady, because they stay whole through the long cooking instead of falling apart. Any firm eating apple that holds its shape will work.
Can I use ready-rolled puff pastry?+
Yes, as long as it’s all-butter. Ready-rolled is thinner than the 6mm in the recipe, so start checking it after about 35 minutes.
Can I make tarte tatin ahead?+
It’s best eaten warm, soon after it comes out of the oven. If it has sat in the pan and the caramel has set, warm the pan gently on the hob and it will turn out.
What should I serve with tarte tatin?+
Vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche. Something cold and plain against the hot caramel.
Read next
Partnerships
Outside with Robert
A summer of cooking on the Vlaze outdoor kitchen, with two more films.
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Where Our Food Comes From
The farms, butchers and specialists behind the kitchen.
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The Isle of Wight Larder
What the Island grows, catches and makes, season by season.
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