Tarte Tatin with Brandy Caramelized Apples

Tender apples, brown sugar, and brandy come together in under 30 minutes of hands-on time for this upside-down French tarte tatin. The easy stovetop caramel step comes from Ferrandi's giant book of French patisserie, and it's easier than the flipping part makes it look.

By Olya Shepard · Baker: Layer Cakes, Cookies & Desserts

Love Apple Desserts? Try Italian Apple Cake and German Apple Sheet Cake as well.

🍎 Tarte Tatin Summary

• 🔪 Peel, core, and slice Granny Smith apples into wedges, about 20-25 per 9-inch pan
• 🧈 Melt butter with brown sugar in a 9-inch cast iron skillet, cook until moistened, about 2-3 minutes
• 🥃 Stir in brandy and simmer until bubbling settles, about 2 more minutes
• 🍏 Add apples to the brown sugar caramel and cook just 1-2 minutes, then remove from heat immediately
• 🥄 Arrange apples tightly in a 9-inch glass pie dish, pour the caramel over top
• 🥚 Beat butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla, then fold in the dry ingredients gently
• 🍰 Pour batter over the apples and bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes, until a tester comes out clean
• ❄️ Cool 15-45 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a plate

What "Caramel" Means in This Recipe

This tarte tatin skips the classic dry or wet sugar caramel, the kind made by melting granulated sugar alone until it hits a deep amber stage. Instead, brown sugar cooks directly in melted butter for about 3 minutes, just until it's fully moistened and starting to bubble, before the brandy goes in. That short window in the butter is what starts building caramel flavor. The sugar isn't just dissolving, it's browning in the fat, and brown sugar's molasses content means it colors and deepens in flavor faster than plain white sugar would at the same stage.

Adding the brandy right after locks in that moment rather than pushing the sugar any further toward a true caramel stage. The brandy simmers in, the apples go in briefly to pick up that flavor, and then the oven and the resting time after baking finish the job of turning everything into a deep, caramel-like syrup around the apples.

🍮 3-Minute Butter-Sugar vs. Extended Cook: Quick Chooser

Same method, same 3-minute butter-and-sugar base - the only decision is whether you stop there or let it go a little further before adding brandy.

🟡 Go with the 3-Minute Standard if...

• You want the tested result exactly as written: butter and brown sugar cooked until moistened and bubbling, about 3 minutes, then brandy added right after
• You'd rather keep this step quick and low-risk, especially for a first attempt
• You want a balanced sweetness that doesn't lean too far into bitter, toasted notes

🟤 Go a Minute or Two Longer if...

• You want a deeper, slightly toastier flavor before the brandy goes in
• You're watching the pan closely and can tell the difference between moistened-and-bubbling and starting-to-darken
• You're comfortable pulling the pan the moment it darkens, since brown sugar can scorch quickly past that point

Can't decide? Stick with the 3-minute mark before adding brandy. That's the timing that's been tested here, and it gives the apples and the oven enough of a head start to finish the caramelizing on their own.

Foolproof Tarte Tatin: The Caramel Apple Dessert

Caramelized upside-down French tarte Tatin with tender apples, brown sugar and brandy done under 30 minutes.

While the cake portion of Tarte Tatin is delicious enough, the real marvelous part are the apples caramelized in brown sugar and brandy. Apple wedges are slightly cooked in a hot butter-sugar-brandy mixture until a caramel-like syrup forms and the apples are tender.

To make Tarte Tatin, caramelize the apples in the brown sugar and brandy mixture in the cast iron skillet. Add them to the 9-inch glass pie baking dish, and then add the cake batter on top of apples.

Origin of Tarte Tatin

While various apple tarte tatin versions are widely sold in Paris bakeries, the legend has it that the very first apple tarte tatin was created purely by accident at the Hotel Tatin in France, run by the Tatin sisters.

One of them set out to make a traditional apple pie, but accidentally overcooked apples in butter and sugar for too long and in her attempt to rescue the dish she put the cake batter on top of the apples and then baked it upside down.

When inverted, apples in sugar produced a tantalizing caramel flavor and the unsuspecting guests (to no surprise) loved this accidental version of the apple dessert so much, that it became the hotel's signature dish.

Special Equipment

The apples in the Apple Tarte Tatin are layered in a 9 inch round cake pan, then topped with the brandy-brown sugar syrup and cake batter. I also used a 9 inch cast iron skillet here to caramelize apples.

I also found this enameled cast iron Tarte Tatin Pan! I didn't use it, but it's fun to know that such a pan exists.

How to Make Tarte Tatin

This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients, measurements & instructions are in the recipe card below. 

1. Caramelize the apples

1. Peel, core and slice 2 Granny Smith apples into wedges. I ended up using about 20 apple wedges for my 9-inch round pan. Set aside.
2. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium skillet (I used a 9 inch cast iron skillet) over medium heat. Add brown sugar and cook until sugar is evenly moistened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons of brandy (it will bubble up) and simmer for 2 more minutes (bubbles will continue).
3. Add apples to the brandied mixture and cook on low heat for only 1 to 2 minutes - and then immediately remove pan from heat to avoid overcooking the apples.

2. Arrange apples in the baking dish

• Immediately move apple slices from the skillet to the 9-inch glass pie baking dish with a serving turner or a fork. Make sure to move them immediately to avoid over-steaming them in the hot cast iron pan.
• Arrange apple slices in a circular pattern in the round baking dish (as many apples as fit - mine fit 25 apple wedges, they can overlap too), making sure all slices fit tightly together.
• Pour hot brandy-brown sugar caramel mixture over the apples and set aside. As you can see they are only slightly cooked

4. Make Cake Batter

• Mix Liquid Ingredients: Mix butter and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed. Lower the speed and beat in both eggs, one at a time. Add ⅓ cup sour cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix until combined.
• Prepare Dry Ingredients: Sift 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt
• Combine: Add dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients gently with a spatula. Don't overmix - it should only take a minute.

5. Assemble Tarte Tatin and Bake

Pour the cake batter evenly over the apples and work with the spatula to even out the top. Move to the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 350 F until a cake tester comes out clean.

When it comes out of the oven, before inverting it upside down - it looks nothing like the final version! But even it this point it looked and smelled pretty yummy to me. I just wanted to tear off a chunk of it right there.

6. Invert

Cool for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto a flat plate with caramelized apples on top.

Tarte Tatin with Brandy Caramelized Apples

Apple Tarte Tatin is a fancy name for apple upside down cake. In this version of the cake, the apples are caramelized in brown sugar and brandy. A perfectly delicious way to celebrate fall! It can be made in less than an hour, so it's a beautiful looking dessert to make when you don't have a lot of time to plan out something more elaborate.

4.80 from 5 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Keyword: Apple Upside Down Cake, Caramelizied Apples, French cake, french dessert, Tarte Tatin

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 8

Author: Olya Shepard

Ingredients

Caramelized Brandied Apples:

• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, more for buttering the pan
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Brandy
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Wet Cake Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons or ½ cup, or 4 oz unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup regular sugar
• 2 extra-large eggs very important, if eggs are small, use 3 eggs!
• ⅓ cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dry Cake Ingredients

• 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• APPLE PREPARATION: Peel, core and slice apples into wedges. I ended up using 25 apple wedges for my 9-inch round pan. Set aside. 
• Melt butter in a medium skillet (I used cast iron skillet) over medium heat. Add brown sugar and cook until sugar is evenly moistened, about 2-3 minutes.  
  
• BRANDY: Stir in brandy (it will bubble up) and simmer for 2 more minutes (bubbles will continue). Add apples to the brandied mixture and cook on low heat for only 1 to 2 minutes - and then remove pan from heat and add vanilla.
  
• To avoid over-steaming the apples in the hot cast iron pan, immediately move apple slices from the skillet to the 9-inch glass pie baking dish, using a serving turner or a fork. 
  
• ARRANGE APPLES: Arrange apple slices in a circular pattern in the round baking dish (as many apples as fit - mine fit 25 apple wedges, they can overlap too), making sure all slices fit tightly together. Pour hot brandy-brown sugar caramel mixture over the apples and set aside.
  
• CAKE LIQUID INGREDIENTS: Mix softened butter and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed. Lower the speed and beat in both eggs, one at a time. Add sour cream, vanilla and mix until combined.
• CAKE DRY INGREDIENTS: These need to be mixed separately from liquid ingredients and folded gently into the liquid cake batter. Sift flour, baking powder and salt and add it to the liquid ingredients gently with a spatula. Don't overmix. It should only take a minute. Done and ready to pour it over the apples.
• PUTTING THE CAKE TOGETHER: Pour the cake batter evenly over the apples (work with the spatula to even out the top) and bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 350 F until a cake tester comes out clean. 
• Cool for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto a flat plate with caramelized apples on top.
  

Calories: 378kcal

Nutrition Facts

Tarte Tatin with Brandy Caramelized Apples

Amount per Serving

Calories

378

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

20

g

31

%

Saturated Fat

 

12

g

75

%

Cholesterol

 

91

mg

30

%

Sodium

 

201

mg

9

%

Potassium

 

114

mg

3

%

Carbohydrates

 

44

g

15

%

Sugar

 

32

g

36

%

Protein

 

3

g

6

%

Vitamin A

 

645

IU

13

%

Calcium

 

57

mg

6

%

Iron

 

1.1

mg

6

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

🍮Quick Pan Notes: Glass vs. Ceramic vs. Cast Iron for Inversion

Cast iron skillet: this is what caramelizes the apples on the stovetop, but if you also bake and invert directly from cast iron, butter the sides heavily first. Cast iron holds caramel more stubbornly than glass or ceramic, so run a knife around the edge before flipping.

Glass pie dish: what this recipe calls for. You can see the caramel color through the sides as it bakes, which helps you judge doneness before flipping. Glass also releases cleanly once the caramel has cooled and set.

Ceramic dish: works the same way as glass for inversion, and holds heat a little longer, so give it an extra few minutes of rest before flipping to let the caramel firm back up.

How to Get Perfect Tarte Tatin Caramel Every Single Time

• Cook sugar to a deep amber before adding butter or apples; undercooked pale caramel will stay thin and won't set.
• Let the baked tart rest in the pan 20-45 minutes so the juices thicken before flipping; turning it out too soon gives syrupy, loose caramel.
• Pack apples tightly so there are no big gaps; loose packing makes apples release more juices into the caramel.

Caramel is burnt, bitter, or crystallized

• Use medium heat and do not walk away; caramel goes from golden to burnt in under a minute.
• Swirl the pan instead of stirring with a spoon to avoid crystallization and hot spots.

Apples are hard, undercooked, or mushy

• Cook apples in the caramel on the stove until they are about three‑quarters cooked and starting to look translucent at the edges before adding pastry.
• Cut apples into even wedges; too thick and they stay firm, too thin and they disintegrate.
• Choose firm eating apples that hold their shape (not very mealy "cooking" apples that turn to sauce).

From Stuck to Stunning: How to Flip Tarte Tatin Without Fear

• Use a heavy, oven‑safe skillet (cast iron or similar) generously buttered on the sides as well as the base so caramel doesn't glue itself to the walls.
• After baking, cool 20-60 minutes so caramel thickens, then run a knife around the edge and invert in one confident, swift motion.
• If some apples stay behind, gently lift them off the pan and place back onto the tart; this is common and completely fixable.

More International Apple Cake Recipes

• Easy Apple Cinnamon Cake
• Easy Jewish Apple Cake
• French Apple Cake
• German Apple Sheet CakeSave