🧑🍳 Stuff to Know Before You Start
Vegan Baking Bonus: Skipping eggs doesn’t mean skipping flavor! This Tarte Tatin often tastes richer and more vibrant, highlighting the fruit’s natural tang and sweetness.
Upside-Down Magic: Tarte Tatin bakes fruit on the bottom with dough on top. After cooling, you flip it over so the fruit side faces up—just like magic.
Cooling Patience: Let it cool before flipping. The fruit and syrup set beautifully, preventing messy spills and letting flavors deepen.
Honey or Maple Syrup: Either sweetener works. Go with honey for a floral note or maple syrup for a toasty, caramel-like flavor.
🥄 Ingredients
- 350–400g “Quetschen” plums (or similar variety)
- 120g flour (plus extra if needed)
- 40g honey (or maple syrup)
- 2g Chinese 5-spice
- 20g corn starch (or tapioca starch)
- 40g olive oil (or other plant-based oil)
- 20g sugar
- 25g water (more or less as needed)
- Pinch of salt (optional, to balance sweetness)
📝 Step by Step
Start the Oven & Slice Plums
Preheat your oven to 180–200°C (350–400°F). Wash and pit your 350–400g Quetschen (or similar plums), cutting them in half. In a bowl, coat the plum halves with 40g honey (or maple syrup) until they’re all lightly sticky.
Build the Fruit Layer
Place the sticky plums cut-side up in your pie dish or tart pan, arranging them in a neat pattern. Make sure they’re snugly packed so there aren’t big gaps once the dough goes on top.
Stir & Knead
In the same bowl (no need to wash it), add 120g flour, 2g Chinese 5-spice, 20g corn starch, 40g olive oil, 20g sugar, and about 25g water. Mix by hand until a dough ball forms. If it’s too dry, add water a splash at a time; if it’s too sticky, add a bit more flour.
Top the Plums
Roll out your dough into a round shape slightly larger than the pie dish. Carefully drape it over the plums, tucking the edges around them if needed. Remember, this will be upside-down—so the fruit is on the bottom for now!
Two-Stage Baking
Bake for 15 minutes at 180–200°C. Then reduce the oven to 150°C (300°F) and bake another 15 minutes or until the crust turns golden. Total bake time is about 30 minutes, though ovens vary.
🍽️ How to Serve This Seasonal Tarte Tatin
- Brunch Bliss: Serve with vegan yogurt or coconut cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
- Dessert Delight: A scoop of dairy-free ice cream or whipped cream takes it over the top.
- Celebrate Seasons: Try other seasonal fruits—like peaches or apricots—in place of plums.
🧠 The Science Behind Success
Why Upside Down? The fruit caramelizes against the bottom of the pan, creating a syrupy jam that fuses with the crust when flipped.
Temperature Tweaks: Higher heat at first browns the crust quickly, while a lower temp finish helps cook the fruit gently without burning the edges.
📖 Tarte Tatin Tradition
This upside-down pie hails from the Loire Valley in France, but it’s famously flexible. Using plums (“Quetschen”) gives the dessert a tangy sweetness—plus that gorgeous purple hue. You’ll find endless variations around the world, each highlighting local, seasonal fruits for maximum flavor.
Veganizing a classic Tarte Tatin is surprisingly easy. Without eggs or butter, you get a delicate, subtly sweet crust that allows the fruit to shine. The hardest part might just be waiting for it to cool before flipping!
❓ Reader Questions Answered
Not at all. Any oven-safe pie dish or baking pan works. Just make sure it’s deep enough to hold the fruit’s juices.
Absolutely. Any firm, flavorful plums—or even apricots—will do. “Quetschen” are a variety known for their sweet-tartness, but others will work fine.
Next time, reduce the first bake stage or lower the oven temp slightly. Keep an eye on the color. A light golden brown is your cue that it’s ready.
Cool completely, cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat slices gently or enjoy them cold. The flavors often intensify on day two!