I wish you could have smelled my kitchen while this Apricot Tarte Tatin with Lemon Caramel was baking… This Tarte Tatin is both sweet and tangy and topped with deliciously caramelised Apricots!
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I simply LOVE apricot desserts. Apricots are so underrated when it comes to baking, and that’s really a shame because they make really delicious dessert.
Just like my for my Apricot Crumble, the stars of this recipe are summer Fresh Apricots. This Upside Down Apricot Tart is a delicious way to use this stone fruit this summer!
What is a Tarte Tatin
This is not the first time I share the recipe of a Tarte Tatin, but in case you have missed it, let me take you through it again. The easiest way to describe a Classic French Tarte Tatin is to basically say that it is an Upside-Down Tart.
Like an upside-down cake, it has two elements: a cake dough (here a Pate Sablee Pastry) and a topping, usually a fruit. And just like an upside-down cake, you can pretty much use any fruit you’d like to make a Tarte Tatin.
But this tart doesn’t have to be exclusively a sweet one, you can also make a savoury version of it with a non-sweetened tart pastry and fresh vegetables. To make a Tarte Tatin, you simply need to make a normal tart… but upside-down.
Put the caramelised fruits at the bottom of a pan and cover it with the pastry. Once baked, simply flip the tart you’ve got a delicious Tarte Tatin!
Homemade Pâte Brisée
For this Apricot Tarte Tatin, I used my usual Pâte Brisée recipe. Pate what!? I guess I could have simply called it a Shortcrust Pastry, but the French Pâte Brisée is hard to exactly translate in English.
If you enjoy French Pastry, you know that there are a few different types of Pastries used to make tarts: Pâte Sucrée, Pâte Brisée, Pâte Feuilletée and Pâte Sablée.
Unfortunately, other than for the Pate Feuilletée (Puff Pastry), there are no exact translation for the rest of the pastries. They all tend to be called Shortcrust Pastry in English, although they are in fact slightly different.
So what makes a Pâte Brisée distinctive? As opposed to a Pâte Sucré or a Pâte Sablée that incorporate very soft butter into the dry ingredients, you need to use cold butter to make a Pâte Brisée.
The key is to work the pastry quickly – and use cold ingredients only – so that the butter doesn’t start melting. Out of all the different French Pastries, the Pâte Brisée is the most basic one, and the easiest one too!
You only need 4 basic ingredients:
- Flour
- Sugar
- Butter
- Water
Follow the golden ratio of 2 flour for 1 butter to succeed your Pâte Brisée every single time! Once all the ingredients have been mixed (see the recipe below for the steps), the pastry need to be chilled.
If you bake it when the butter is still slightly warm, it will shrink in the oven. What I love about this recipe is that you can make it in the Food Processor, which makes it even easier to prepare! And it is the most versatile pastry ever!
Check out other recipes I have made using a version of this pastry:
How to make a Lemon Caramel
Now that we have covered one of the two elements of this Apricot Tarte Tatin, let’s talk Caramel. The second element of this recipe is some Caramelised Fruits.
In this case, some delicious Apricots cooked with a Lemon Caramel. There are many ways of making a Caramel, mostly in a pot and often with cream but in our case, the Caramel is made in a Pan.
Nothing complicated here, just all the ingredients mixed in the pan and heated up to reach a caramel:
- Butter
- Brown Sugar
- Lemon Juice
- Water
The addition of the Lemon Juice is a great way to break the sweetness of a Caramel and create a more interesting flavour. I personally LOVE anything tangy and citrusy so it was a no-brainer to add lemon in this recipe.
If you prefer something super sweet, you can also make a caramel without lemon. That being said, I highly recommend making this version of a Lemon Caramel as it is the element that really makes the dessert!
Putting the Tarte Tatin together
Alright; now you’ve got your pastry chilling in the fridge and your Apricots nicely caramelising in a pan. What’s next? Assembling the Apricot Tarte Tatin!
For this recipe, I used a Springform Pan that I lined with Baking Paper to make it easier to flip the tart. You can also use a simple Tart Pan instead, but I highly recommend using one with a removable bottom plate.
The caramel will continue to cook in the oven and could start sticking to the edge of the pan you use.
Place your caramelised Apricots on the bottom of your Pan, the sliced side facing up. Cover your fruits with the rest of your Lemon Caramel and set aside to cool down a bit.
If your fruits are still very hot when you cover them with the pastry, it will start melting the butter. Lastly, roll your Pate Brisee into a circle; it does not have to be perfect.
Place it over the Apricots and make a small hole in the centre of the pastry to allow the steam to come out while baking. And that’s it, your Apricot Tarte Tatin with Lemon Caramel is ready for the oven!
Feeling ‘Upside-Down’? Here are a few other recipe ideas:
- Red Wine Pear Tarte Tatin
- Upside-Down Blackberry Cake
- Persimmon Upside-Down Cake
- Caramelised Apple Upside Down Cake
- Plum Upside Down Cake
Tarte Tatin with Apricot Recipe:
Apricot Tarte Tatin with Lemon Caramel
Ingredients
Pate Brisee
- 1 cup (160 gr) Plain Flour
- 1 tbsp Brown Sugar
- 3 oz (80gr) Cold Butter
- 1/4 cup (60ml) Cold Water
- 1/4 teasp. Cinnamon Powder, Optional
Apricots and Lemon Caramel
- 7 Small Apricots
- 3,5 oz (100gr) Butter
- 1/3 cup (60gr) Brown Sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) Lemon Juice
- 1/4 cup (60ml) Water
Instructions
Pate Brisee
- Put the Flour, Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Powder in the bowl of your food processor and pulse a couple of times to mix the dry ingredients together. (See note 1 if you don’t have a food processor).
- Add in the Cold Butter, cut in small cubes. Pulse to mix the butter with the dry ingredients until you get a sandy / crumbly texture. Try not to over-mix it, you do not want to butter pieces to be too small or start melting.
- Add in the Cold water and mix one more time until the dough starts to come together.
- Transfer the Pate Brisee pastry onto your kitchen bench dusted with a little bit of flour. Roughly assemble the dough into a ball, cover with cling wrap and press on it to flatten it. Place in the fridge to rest.
Apricots and Lemon Caramel
- Wash and slice your Apricots in half.
- In a large pan, melt your Butter and Brown Sugar then add the Lemon Juice and Water. Cover the Lemon Caramel with the Apricots and cook for 20 to 30 minutes on low heat, flipping them a few time to get a nice caramelisation on both sides.
To assemble the Apricot Tarte Tatin with Lemon Caramel
- Preheat your oven on 180’C.
- Line a round springform pan or tart pan with baking paper. Arrange the Apricots on the bottom of the pan, keeping them as tight as possible. The cut side should be facing up.Cover the Apricots with the remaining of the Lemon Caramel that should be left in your pan. Set aside.
- Roll your Pate Brisee into a rough circle and cover the Apricots with it. Press the edges of the pastry to fully cover the apricots. Cut a small hole in the centre of the pastry to allow for the steam to come out while baking.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the Pate Brisee pastry is fully cooked.Carefully remove from the oven (there could be some hot caramel coming out from the bottom of the pan) and place on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes before flipping the Tarte Tatin over. Serve warm.
- If you are not going to serve the Apricot Tarte Tatin straight away, place it back in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes to re-heat it. Alternatively, place it for a few minutes under the oven grill to finish the caramelisation of the tart.
- Optional: sprinkle a little bit of desiccated Coconut and Orange Zest over the tart before serving it.
Notes
- If you are making this pastry without a food processor, sift the dry ingredients in a bowl and cut the cold butter in with a pastry cutter or two fork. Add the water and quickly need the dough into a ball.
Are the apricots fresh, or can dried be used?
Hi Catherine, I have used fresh apricots for this recipe. I am not sure if you would achieve the same result with dried ones, but if you do want to try, I would recommend soaking the dried apricots in water for a few hours to re-hydrate them. Let me know how you go! Cheers