Tag: lemon - myfrenchtable

Tarte Tatin is a well known french apple tart. Research shows that it is called after two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin who ran a hotel, Hotel Tatin, in Sologne (region about 100km south of Paris).

The most well known story is that one of the sisters dropped the tart after taking it out of the oven and it fell upside down, but she decided to pick it up and serve it anyway with the apples on top and the pastry on the bottom. Apparently on the sisters menu the tart was called a Tarte Solognote after the region they were living in but when the tart became well known and made it to Paris the name was changed to Tarte Tatin after the sisters.

Ingredients :

1 short cut pastry – recipe here (add a tablespoon of sugar to the recipe for a sweet pastry)
4-6 apples
100g sugar
50g soft brown sugar
50g butter
Juice of 1 lemon

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 180°C
Peel and cut apples into quarters and sprinkle the juice of half a lemon over them
Take 100g of the sugar and add in an even layer to a heavy-bottomed saucepan or an oven proof dish suitable for the tart
Heat the sugar over a moderate heat.
Use a silicone spatula or a wooden spoon to move the liquefied sugar from the edges of the saucepan to the center.
Carefully watch the sugar until it reaches exactly the right amber color
Add half the juice to the caramel
If your pan isn’t oven proof and not suitable to use for the tart pour the caramel into the tart dish (otherwise use the same dish)
Place the apples on the caramel (rounded side down), trying to completely cover the base. Add any remaining apples on top of the base layer
Cube the 50g of butter and place on apples
Sprinkle the soft brown sugar over the apples
Cover the apples with the short-cut pastry taking care to press down around the sides of the pan
Sprinkle some sugar over the pastry (this will help prevent the pastry from getting too wet from the apples)
Bake for 30 minutes at 180°C
Remove from oven and using a plate turn the tart upside down but leave in tin/pan for a good 10 minutes before removing (this will avoid any apples sticking to the pan)
Serve warm with some ice-cream

The tarte tatin before cooking

I love lemon flavoured cakes and desserts but I like them to have a really strong lemon flavour so this lemon cake is only going to be the one for you if you really appreciate the tangy fruit too!

The icing is optional as even without, the cake is very lemon-y!

The temperature for the cake is 170°C and it really needs to be no higher, as you can see from the picture my cake got slightly too done on the outside because I wanted to double up and bake it at the same time as a brown bread loaf so everything went in at 180°C – I won’t be making that mistake again!

Ingredients :

175g sugar
120g melted butter
zest of two lemons
3 eggs
150g flour
Juice of two lemons (approx 80g)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

For the icing :

125g icing sugar
25g lemon juice

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 170°C
Melt the butter in the microwave
Mix the butter and sugar together
Add the lemon zest and then the eggs, one by one mixing well after each one
Mix in the flour and baking powder
Pour in the lemon juice and mix well
Pour the mixture into a greased 1lb loaf tin and bake for 40 mins at 170°C (it may need 5 minutes more or less depending on your oven)
When the cake is cooked remove from the tin and wrap immediately in clingfilm while waiting for it to cool, this will keep the cake lovely and moist!
Whisk the icing sugar with the lemon juice
Remove the cake from the clingfilm and place on a grill
Cover the cake with the icing and leave for a few moments for the icing to harden
Eat!

Tarte Tatin

Ingredients :

Method :

Lemon Cake

Ingredients :

Method :