How Two Sisters and a Kitchen Crisis Created This Famous French Tart (Recipe Included)

Some of the best things in French cooking were never planned. They happened by accident, in the middle of a busy kitchen, with a dash of panic and a whole lot of butter. Tarte Tatin is one of those desserts. It’s rustic, rich, and completely irresistible, with a backstory as satisfying as the caramelized apples tucked inside.

Before it became a staple of French menus and cookbooks worldwide, it was just an experiment made in haste by two sisters in a quiet little village. What happened next turned a kitchen mishap into one of the most famous desserts in France.

Let’s go back to where it all began. Here’s the story behind the upside-down tart that started it all, plus a tried-and-tested recipe so you can make your own at home.

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Tarte Tatin History & The Story of the Tatin Sisters

There are several versions of this story about Tarte Tatin’s origin. The most popular one is that it came about as a happy accident in the 1880s.

In a sleepy little village called Lamotte-Beuvron on the banks of the Solonge River, two unmarried sisters (Demoiselles), Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin, ran a hotel.

The story goes that Stéphanie, who did most of the cooking, was overworked in the kitchen one day. She was making an apple pie and had left the apples cooking in butter and sugar.

Smelling burning, she tried to rescue the apples by putting pastry on top, popping the whole thing in the oven to finish it, and then serving it upside down to her guests.

The dessert went down a storm, and so it became a signature dessert of the hotel.

However, it wasn’t until the sisters died that the name Tarte Tatin was bestowed upon the dish.

And believe it or not, there is a brotherhood for the protection of the Tarte Tatin, called Confrérie des Lichonneux de Tarte Tatin.

They originate from the hometown of the Tatin sisters in Lamotte-Beuvron. Their recipe calls for you to serve the dish without any accompaniment.

Julia Child and the Art of a Proper Tarte Tatin

If you’re American and love French food, chances are you’ve got Julia Child to thank for it. She made French cooking feel doable, even in a 1960s kitchen in the suburbs. And yes, she had something to say about Tarte Tatin too.

Julia included a recipe for it in Mastering the Art of French Cooking and often made it on her show. She favored Golden Delicious apples, saying they held their shape well and had the right level of sweetness for this dessert.

But it wasn’t just the apples that mattered. Julia had strong opinions about rolling pins. In one episode of The French Chef, she called the average American rolling pin a “toy” and tossed it over her shoulder before introducing viewers to her own collection.

She kept six heavy-duty rolling pins in a copper pot in her pastry pantry, each chosen for a specific job. Her go-to? A classic French-style rolling pin with no handles and plenty of weight to do the hard work for you.

“I think good rolling pins are awfully important,” she said—and when it comes to pastry, she wasn’t wrong.

So, if you’re making tarte tatin and want to channel your inner Julia, start with good apples, decent butter, and a rolling pin that means business.

What is Tarte Tatin

I’m so glad you asked. Possibly one of the yummiest French desserts I’ve ever made, it’s also one of the simplest, as far as ingredients are concerned.

Tarte Tatin is a dessert that combines pastry with melt-in-your-mouth caramelised apples. Although you can eat it cold, it’s best served hot straight out of the oven.

No complicated list of ingredients as all you need is pastry, apples, butter and sugar, along with some tap water.

What Made Me Attempt Making Tarte Tatin?

Tarte Tatin is, without a doubt, one of my favorite French dessert recipes. I mean, who doesn’t love a combination of caramel, apples, and puff pastry? Living in rural France, it’s on most menus in our local restaurants and auberges.

I wasn’t even put off by the fact that you cook it upside down and have to turn it over once it’s done. That is enough to make anyone want to run from the kitchen.

But as I’ve been slowly working my way through the top ten traditional French Recipes, I knew I had no choice but to try Tarte Tatin.

What’s the difference between Tarte Tatin and an Apple Tart? ​​

Good question. An apple tart, or tarte aux pommes in French, is traditionally cooked in a similar way to a pie. The pastry is filled with fruit, popped in the oven, and baked.

Tarte Tatin is different because the apples are caramelized first on the stovetop. The pastry is then placed on top, and the whole thing is cooked in the oven upside down.

What apples do you use with Tarte Tatin?

Originally, the dish was made with Reine des Reinettes (Pippins), but now pretty much anything goes, depending on your taste.

Some recipes suggest using green apples, like Granny Smith, because the sour taste of the apples offsets the sweetness of the caramel.

I prefer sweeter apples, as I love the mix of different levels of sweetness. The most common are Golden Delicious, Pink Lady, Fuji, and Gala. ​​

What do you cook a Tarte Tatin in?

Again, this is down to personal choice, but as it’s often sold as a one-pot dish, many people opt for an ovenproof pan. That way, you can caramelize the apples in the same dish in which you bake the pastry.

I didn’t do this. Here in France, you can get a specific Tarte Tatin oven-ready tin to bake in the oven.

So, I caramelized my apples on the stove in one pan, then transferred them into the tin, poured over the caramel, and popped the pastry on top before putting it in the oven. It turned out beautifully.

Does the Tarte Tatin recipe use puff pastry?

There are recipes for both shortcrust and puff pastry for this dish, but puff pastry is the most recommended. It’s more buttery and flakier and works better when flipping the dessert over once cooked.

I’ll hold my hands up and admit that I used shop-bought pastry for my recipe because I didn’t trust myself to make my own. Most recipes tell you to do this, so it’s not really cheating.

What to serve with Tarte Tatin

As I said earlier, this dish is best served hot. I kept it simple with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but you could also serve it with whipped cream if you prefer.

However, some say it should be served alone, without anything at all.

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How to make Tarte Tatin from scratch

It’s actually not as hard as you think it is, and the key thing to focus on here is the caramel. If you don’t caramelize enough, you won’t get that lovely dark consistency. If you cook it too much, it will taste burnt and inedible.

But if I can do it without getting it wrong, so can you.

First things first, though: apples go brown very quickly, so you need to remember to soak them in water with lemon juice to prevent this.

And be warned: When you add the apples to the caramel mix, they’ll release quite a bit of water. Don’t worry, though; this will thicken up if you cook on medium heat.

Famous Tarte Tatin recipes

At the top of the list is Julia Child, the American chef, who made French food accessible to American housewives. Click here for Julia Child’s Tarte Tatin Recipe >>>

As a fan of the Great British Bake Off, and of course the wonderful Mary Berry, I have to include her version with top tips. Click here for Mary Berry’s Tarte Tatin Recipe >>>

Raymond Blanc is about as famous as they come, and his is one of the most searched recipes. Click here for Raymond Blanc’s Tarte Tatin Recipe >>>

And finally, the kitchen goddess herself, Nigella Lawson. I love her version of the individual Tarte Tatin served at a dinner party. Click here for Nigella Lawson’s Tarte Tatin Recipe >>>

FAQS: Tarte Tatin The Upside Down Apple Tart

The 3 Best Books for Making French Pastry at Home

Tarte Tatin

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 hours 35 minutes

4.7 Stars (6 Reviews)

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Ingredients

• 50g of Unsalted Butter (beurre non salé)
• 100g of White Sugar (sucre blanc)
• 1 Sheet of Puff Pastry (pâte feuilletée) defrosted ahead of time
• 3- 4 Golden Delicious Apples quartered (pommes)
• 1 Lemon (citron)
• 3 tbsp Water (eau)

Instructions

Step 1

1. Fill a large bowl with water and add the juice of your lemon. Then preheat your oven to 190C.

Step 2

1. Cut your apples in half and remove the cores. Then cut them into quarters and pop them into the water making sure they’re fully covered. Some people peel the apples, but I didn’t and it helped them to keep their shape and not fall apart. This probably works better with sweet apples rather than sour ones.

Step 3 

1. Grab your pan and put in the sugar, water and butter. Cook over medium heat and stir as it starts to bubble away. Let it simmer away until it starts to turn a dark golden brown.

Step 4 

1. Remove from the heat, drain the apple quarters and dry them on some kitchen roll then add to the pan.

Step 5

1. Return to the heat and let it bubble away. It will release the water from the apple but don’t worry if you keep it on medium heat it will thicken up. Make sure the apples are all coated in the caramel.
2. Remember the caramel is ridiculously hot and will burn you. 

Step 6 

1. Time to transfer the apples to your pan ready to bake. Make sure you arrange them neatly and fill in all the gaps. You can always cut some of the bigger apple pieces to make sure it all fits in.

Step 7

1. Leave the apples to cool and take the pastry out of the fridge. Now I had two packets of pastry, just in case, and I’m glad I did. I removed the first packet from the fridge when I got started to bring it to room temperature. Unfortunately, this made the pastry difficult to manipulate and I how to throw it away. When I used the pastry straight out of the fridge it was a perfect consistency and allowed me to easily use it.
2. Cut out the pastry so it’s 22cm in diameter and then place on top of the cooked apples tucking in any bits that stick out. 

Step 8 

1. Put the dish in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is a lovely golden brown colour. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes then run a knife around the edge to loosen things up. 
2. And this is the tricky part. Make sure you’ve got a big enough serving plate at the ready because you now need to turn the tin upside down so the pastry sits on the plate. Remember, the caramel will still be hot and we don’t want any burns.
3. Once you’ve done this you might find a couple of rogue apple pieces have moved or become dislodged from their original position. Use a pair of tongs so you don’t burn your fingers, and replace them so they look nicely uniform

Step 9 

1. Serve with ice cream, whipped cream or creme fraiche.

Notes

Equipment

22cm Pie tin

Ovenproof Pan

Cooking bowl for soaking lemons

Serving dish for the finished Tarte