A Vegan Apple Tarte Tatin is one of those desserts that looks fancy, but is not so hard to make. Just follow my easy step by step guide and you will be an expert in preparing Tarte Tatins!
You don’t have to be vegan to love this popular Apple Tarte Tatin recipe. It's rich, juicy and absolutely mouthwatering. No one will be able to tell, this tarte doesn't contain any eggs or dairy.
Try my easy vegan twist on this traditional French dessert and it'll sure become your favorite.
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An Apple Tarte Tatin is the quintessential French dessert. Packed with apples and topped with caramel, this vegan Apple Tarte Tatin is perfect for fall.
🥧 What Is Tarte Tatin
Tarte Tatin is a French upside down cake made with caramel, fruit and sweet pastry crust - Pâté Sucrée.
The recipe was invented in 1898 by Tatin sisters, who owned the Lamotte-Beuvron hotel.
Traditionally Tarte Tatin was made with apples, but over the years, new recipes emerged and both sweet and savory tarte tatins became widely popular.
It's not difficult to find tomato or onion tarte tatins, however sweet recipe versions made with apples, pears and other fruits still remain the most popular ones.
Nowadays, many Apple Tarte Tatins involve a puff pastry. If you can find a quality store-bought vegan puff pastry, you can certainly use it and it will speed up the process even more.
However, in my opinion, vegan Apple Tarte Tatin prepared made with Pâté Sucrée is especially delicious.
💭 Here's Why This Vegan Tarte Tatin Recipe Works
- simple ingredients. This vegan apple tart is a dessert that requires minimum ingredients. You probably even have them at home.
- rustic. No need to layer the apples or tuck the dough perfectly. Anyone can do it and. This vegan Apple Tarte Tatin is supposed to look like it's been made in a hurry. That's what makes it so gorgeous.
- delicious. Apples and caramel are best buddies and what other way to experience their delicious combo if not in vegan Apple Tarte Tatin? This gourmet fall cake is so juicy and flavorful, everyone will be asking for seconds.
🍽 Equipment
To make this glorious vegan Apple Tarte Tatin, you don't need the special equipment.
Usually, Tarte Tatin is prepared entirely in the cast iron skillet. However, it's quite heavy and I prefer to make vegan Tarte Tatin in the cake pan.
For this vegan recipe, I recommend using a 9-inch cake pan. You can also use 8-inch cake pan.
Of course, if you want to go the traditional route, make your vegan Apple Tarte Tatin entirely in cast iron skillet.
Ingredients
Here's an overview of the specific ingredients for this recipe. For the exact ingredients and measurements, please scroll to the recipe card below.
Ingredient Notes
- butter. In this vegan Apple Tarte Tatin I used Miyoko's unsalted butter. If you buy a salted butter, omit the salt from the ingredients;
- sugar. Make sure to buy organic cane sugar, as a regular cane sugar is not vegan. Also, I tried this recipe with brown sugar. You can use it too, however I noticed that brown sugar doesn't melt that easy. You can help this process by adding a few tablespoons of cool water, one at a time. Keep adding water at about 1 minute interval until the sugar melts. You can also use coconut sugar or other unrefined sugar.
🔪 Instructions
- Prepare a sweet pastry dough.
In a bowl of food processor add flour, vegan butter and salt. Pulse on high for 5-6 times to break big chunks of butter. The mixture will be crumbly. With a motor running on low add ice cold water and process for 5-7 seconds until the dough starts to pull away from the walls.
If after 7 seconds, the dough doesn't pull away from the walls of food processor, add another tablespoon of ice cold water and process on low for a few more seconds until the dough comes together.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry crust to about 11 inches on a piece of plastic, parchment or wax paper. Wrap the dough with a plastic wrap and put in a fridge.
- Prepare the caramel. Add butter and organic cane sugar to a large pan and on a medium heat. Stir until the butter melts. The mixture will be grainy at first. Add 3 tablespoons of water and cook the caramel stirring from time until the sugar melts, about 10-15 minutes. Water will speed up the process. Keep an eye on the caramel sauce, it should be dark amber in color. Don't overcook.
- Cut the apples. Meanwhile, peel, core and quarter the apples.
- Cook the apples. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Stir the apple slices into the caramel sauce and cook until the apples caramelize turning them every few minutes to coat in caramel. This should take about 12 to 15 minutes. Add in vanilla extract, stir once again and remove apples from the heat.
- Spray the sides and bottom of an 9-inch baking pan with a cooking spray and line with a parchment paper.
- Arrange the apples on the bottom of the pan in the concentric circles Remove the sweet pastry dough from the fridge and place it over the apples. Tuck the sides down around the apples. (It doesn't have to be perfect). Using a knife, make a few slits in the pastry to release the steam.
- Bake vegan Apple Tarte Tatin for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
- Remove tarte from the oven and let it cool until it is barely warm. Place a dish over a cake tin and quickly invert cake onto the plate. Serve immediately.
👩🏻🍳 Chef's Tip To Make This Recipe Perfect
It's normal for the tatin pastry to be a little moist once baked. If you want make sure you vegan apple Tarte Tatin pastry stays as crisp as possible and not soggy, here's what you can do.
- Follow the advice by Gordon Ramsay and peel the apples the day before. Leave them in the fridge overnight. This way, the apples will dry out and release less juices during cooking.
- Don't forget to cut a few slits in the dough to allow the steam to escape.
- Finally, once baked - leave the tarte undisturbed. Do not unmold it and let it cool completely. When it's time to serve Tatin, preheat the oven to 350 F and warm the tarte for about 3-5 minutes. This will help to loosen up the apple-caramel filling and you'll be able to easily remove Tarte Tatin from the pan.
📋 Frequently Asked Questions
It's important not to overcook the caramel. Keep an eye on it at all times and remove from the heat once the caramel turns amber in color.
If you cook it any longer, the tarte might taste slightly bitter from the overcooked caramel.
Pick the type of apple that holds its shape once baked. Gala apples, Pink Lady, Fuji, Honeycrisp or Granny Smith are all great choices.
You can prepare an apple-caramel filling 1 day in advance. Let it cool, cover it with a plastic wrap and store in a fridge. When ready to bake Tarte Tatin, reheat the filling, then cover with the dough and bake.
If you're using a cake pan to bake Tarte Tatin, I recommend to line it (bottom and the sides) with the parchment paper. If you use cast iron pan, make sure to grease it well with a cooking spray.
🍴Serving Suggestions
Vegan Apple Tarte Tatin can be served warm or cold. However, it tastes especially delicious when it's room temperature or warm and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. That way the ice-cream will melt into the apples creating an ultimate vegan Tarte Tatin experience.
Whipped coconut cream is another delicious topping idea.
♨️ Storage Tips
Vegan Apple Tarte Tatin can be stored in a fridge for about 2 days. Please be aware that the longer you store it, the soggier the crust will become. It will however not affect the taste of the tarte.
🍏 Similar Recipes
If you make this recipe, please leave me a comment below and rate it. I always appreciate the feedback. Also, you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.
If you're looking for a quick overview of the recipe, please check out my Vegan Apple Tarte Tatin web-story.
Recipe
Vegan Apple Tarte Tatin
Ingredients
Sweet pastry crust
- 1 ¼ c all-purpose flour
- 7 tablespoon vegan butter
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoon ice cold water
Apple-caramel filling
- 7 large apples Gala, Granny Smith, Daisy
- 5 tablespoon vegan butter
- ¾ c organic cane sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Make a sweet pastry crust
- In a bowl of food processor add flour, vegan butter and salt. Pulse on high for 5-6 times to break big chunks of butter. The mixture will be crumbly. With a motor running on low add ice cold water and process for 5-7 seconds until the dough starts to pull away from the walls.
- If after 7 seconds, the dough doesn't pull away from the walls of food processor, add another tablespoon of ice cold water and process on low for a few more seconds until the dough comes together.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry crust to about 11 inches on a piece of plastic, parchment or wax paper. Wrap the dough with a plastic wrap and put in a fridge.
Prepare the apple-caramel filling
- Add butter and organic cane sugar to a large pan and on a medium heat. Stir until the butter melts. The mixture will be grainy at first. Add 3 tablespoons of water (one at a time, at 1 minute intervals and stirring in between) and cook the caramel stirring from time until the sugar melts, about 10-15 minutes. Water will speed up the process. Keep an eye on the caramel sauce, it should be dark amber in color. Don't overcook.
- Meanwhile, peel, core and quarter the apples.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Stir the apples into the caramel sauce and cook until the apples caramelize turning them every few minutes to coat in caramel. This should take about 12 to 15 minutes. Add in vanilla extract, stir once again and remove apples from the heat.
- Spray the sides and bottom of an 9-inch baking pan with a cooking spray and line with a parchment paper.
- Arrange the apples on the bottom of the pan in the concentric circles Remove the sweet pastry dough from the fridge and place it over the apples. Tuck the sides down around the apples. (It doesn't have to be perfect). Using a knife, make a few slits in the pastry to release the steam.
- Bake vegan Apple Tarte Tatin for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
- Remove tarte from the oven and let it cool until it is barely warm. Place a dish over a cake pan and quickly invert cake onto the plate.
- Serve immediately.
Carol says
A really beautiful recipe and I am wondering about using springform pan and lining it with parchment ? It seems like it would be easier to unmold, I am also thinking that peeling those apples day before is a really good idea and am glad to learn this.
I am in Canda so of course out Thanksgiving was last month, but I am still happy to get these recipes. I won't be waiting for an occasion to make this dessert.
Iryna says
The first time when I made this recipe was actually in a springform pan. However one issue was that the caramel sauce leaked through the tiny openings in between the base of a pan and its sides. So it kept dripping while the cake was baking. I had to put an empty pan under the cake to catch the drippings. That's why when I made the cake again I used a regular cake pan which I lined with parchment paper. It was really easy to flip the cake on a plate and nothing sticked.