Plum Tarte Tatin recipe

With apples and plums hanging off the tree ready to be picked, it's the perfect time of year to make fruit tarts and desserts. I'm not quite ready for a pie or a crumble, though.

A recent episode of The Great British Bakeoff saw contestants grapple with fruit tatin. A classic dessert that the experts on cooking shows often dismiss as fairly simple stuff (I’m looking at you, Greg and John), the spareness of its ingredient list is deceptive.

The caramelisation, the amount of juice your chosen soft fruit produces – and what you decide to do about it – as well as the pastry itself, all pose pitfalls. I fell victim to the first of those pitfalls when I attempted to make my first ever caramel and ended up with gooey buttery sludge.

I consulted the Sweet Tarte blog for directions because baker Rachel had come up with a delicious-looking plum tarte tatin. Exactly what I hoped to make.

Unfortunately, rather than the glorious tarte she conjured up, I created nothing more than an icky mess using the butter and sugar caramel mix she suggested. My skillet pan perhaps wasn't ideal. It's a griddle pan, to be honest. But it was the only heavy-bottomed pan I have that can go in the oven.

Undeterred, I've had another attempt today as my punnet of plums won't stand too much more delay. I'd love to be using homegrown, but my young tree failed to crop.

I chose a different caramelisation method with only sugar, based on the directions on Sara Buenfield's BBC Good Food recipe.

This time, I used a heavy saucepan and transferred the sticky caramel mixture into a shallow baking dish for the cooking part. To try and keep the caramel from setting immediately, I placed the glass dish on top of the gas ring I’d extinguished moments earlier, so at least there was some heat. A swift smear with the flat of a knife meant I was able to spread the caramel across most of the dish before placing the plums cut side down and folding the shop-bought puff pastry over the top. There was very little to show for my 4oz of molten brown sugar though.

While the caramel experiment was taking place, I had the stoned plums in a glass dish and sprinkled a generous amount of caster sugar over the top. This helped soften them up, as I didn’t want to precook them or to peel off their skins. There wasn’t really much juice to worry about at this stage. However, I should have paid attention to Rachel’s comments about the excess juice as I also ended up with some in the bottom of the dish. Thankfully, when turned out my tarte, there was only a little seepage and the pastry was largely fine.

Next time I’ll get rid of any juice I can before placing the fruit in the dish to cook. I'll also invest in an ovenproof pan so I don’t have to dance about the kitchen transferring dangerously hot substances. I might even end up with some caramel on top of my fruit.

Plum Tarte Tatin

4oz caster sugar
teaspoon of butter [optional]
400g of very ripe plums, stoned and halved
extra caster sugar to sprinkle over plums
chilled puff pastry


Preheat the oven to 200-220 degrees
Wash, half and stone the plums. Place in a bowl, cut-side up, and sprinkle over around 1oz of caster sugar
Make the caramel by swirling a pan of caster sugar over a medium heat. Stir to prevent sticking. Wait until the sugar is properly liquid, not just slightly runny. It should be golden brown.
Place the plums face down into the caramel mixture, remove from the heat and allow to cool
When you’re ready to cook the tarte, gently place a sheet of chilled puff pastry over the top of the dish, trimming off any overhanging pastry. Press down only the very edges, not on the fruit itself.
Transfer the tarte to the centre of the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes.

When the pastry is all puffed up and has some colour, take it out the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Get a serving dish or large platter. Gently place it face down over the top of the tarte. Ensure you’re wearing an oven glove on the hand that goes under the tarte dish as fruit retains its heat in a big way. Put the other hand on top of the serving platter and quickly invert the tarte so the plums are exposed. You may need to use a flat knife to help release the pastry of the tarte from the dish you cooked it in.

Once the tarte has cooled, serve warm with cream or custard.