Tarte Tatin

Tarte Tatin is one of the best-known cakes in French gastronomy, a dessert that is not difficult to make and that captivates every lover of good pastries.

Famous for being called the upside-down cake since its filling is placed at the bottom of the mold and then covered with a sheet of puff pastry. This cake was created by accident by the Tatin sisters, they were cooking it and they overcooked the apples so as not to waste them, they put dough on top and baked it, then they carefully turned it over, giving rise to this variant.

Ingredients: for a 24 cm mold For the caramel:

• 150 gr of sugar

For the cake:

• 250 gr of sugar
• 7-8 Golden apples
• 300 gr of butter
• 300 ml of water
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 sheet of puff pastry
• Apple or peach jam for shine

Preparation:

1. First we are going to make the caramel, we will put the 150 g of sugar in the 16 cm Optima saucepan and we will leave it on the heat without touching or stirring until the sugar begins to melt and when it is almost all melted and begins to have color we can give a couple of turns.
2. Pour the caramel into the mold and set aside.
3. Wash the apples, peel and cut into quarters, removing the hard skins and seeds. Scrape out the vanilla pod and put the butter, sugar and water into the 16 cm Optima saucepan, let all the butter melt and bring to a boil.
4. When everything is melted and starts to boil, add the apple quarters in batches of 5-6 pieces, this way we will better control the cooking. The quarters should cook for about 10 minutes, they will be ready when we pierce them easily with the tip of a knife.
5. Remove the apples carefully with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate, continue with the rest of the apples in the same way, in batches of 5-6 apple pieces.
6. Place the puff pastry sheet on the counter and turn the caramelized mold upside down to cut a circle of the same size. Store the puff pastry in the refrigerator.
7. Place the apple pieces into the caramelized mold in a fan shape and also distribute them in the center of the mold. They should be well placed without empty spaces.
8. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
9. Take the puff pastry circle out of the refrigerator and prick it with a fork, put it on top of the apples. Bake the cake for about 35 minutes. The ideal is to leave the cake in the mold overnight in the refrigerator and unmold.
10. Paint with peach or apple jam to give a little shine. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a little heavy cream.

Photographs and recipe by Silvia .