I made this for the first time five years ago, and five years on I find myself still very much in love with it. This is a dessert that contains no cream and is largely fruit based, which makes it a light and refreshing treat for anytime of the day. However, because it is so time-consuming and tedious to make, we normally only make it for special occasions like birthdays or to celebrate important milestones. That being said, I have had it for my birthday almost every year since hahaha xp so I guess that is a rather good indicator of how much love I have for this apple rose tart. I've decided to jot down some of my notes here and whoever is interested is more than welcome to try it out!
For one nine-inch apple rose tart
First, the tart base: you can either use a shortbread style tart shell or a digestive biscuit tart shell for this. Personally, I used to prefer the digestive biscuit based one, but recently I decided that a shortbread tart shell is quite nice too, heh. I would say that for transporting and tart cutting purposes, a shortbread style tart shell will be easier to handle whereas a digestive biscuit base may be a bit more fragile and crumbly. However, if you are having it at home then both will work fine! I used the shortbread recipe from here and baked it for about 35 minutes at 200 degrees until golden brown before glazing with apricot gel when completely cooled. I feel like I tend to overtake my tart shell so it remains firm and not soggy especially if I am serving it the next day. The apricot gel is supposed to prevent the moisture from entering the tart shell and can be obtained quite easily from baking stores.
Second, the apple filling: I use a mixture of three different types of apples for this as I feel like the variety provides a more interesting textural difference even after the apples have been cooked. Six to seven apples normally suffice -- 3-4 granny smith apples, 1 fuji apple, 1 pink lady apple. Peel the apples and cut them into approximately 1-2cm cubes. I feel that this size provides the best balance between cooking time and texture. In a large non-stick pan, add approximately 30-40g of butter, 3 tbsp sugar (white/brown), 1-2 tsp cinnamon powder (depending on how much you like cinnamon), 1 tbsp lemon juice and all the apple cubes. Cover and let the apples simmer in their own juices, opening the lid and stirring occasionally when the mixture is getting too wet. The apples should finish cooking in about 10-15 minutes. Adjust to taste accordingly. Then let it cool to room temperature with the lid open to allow for maximum evaporation.
Third, the apple 'roses' topping: I used three and a half pink lady apples for this. You can use another variety of apples if you wish, but try to choose bright red crisp textured apples. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Using only the red parts of the apple, remove the core and slice the apple thinly (approximately 1mm thickness). The apple slices should not be too thin, otherwise they become too flimsy to work with. However, if they are sliced too thick, they lose that delicate look that defines each rose petal. I sliced mine by hand, but whatever works for you. In a large bowl, add approximately 100g castor sugar and dissolve that in 100ml water, then add 50ml lemon juice. Taste to ensure that it is sweet enough. The level of sweetness should be similar to the apple slices. When you are finished slicing the apples, quickly toss them in this solution ensuring that each apple slice is coated.Then spread out the apple slices on a baking tray and bake for 3 minutes at 200 degrees. I used a small toaster oven for mine, so I had to do them in three batches. Check that they are soft enough to be pliable, then leave them to cool. The short baking time is to ensure that you retain the bright red colour of the apple skins whilst the lemon helps prevent oxidisation and also provides some tartness to contrast the sweet cooked apple filling.
Lastly, assembly of the tart: fill the tart shell with the cooked apple filling, smoothening it out slightly, then start assembling the edible apple roses and arrange them on the apple tart by placing them directly on the cooked apple filling. What I do to fold the apple roses, is to find three small apple slices for the centre of the rose, placing them on a flat surface slightly overlapping so that the non-skin side of the apple slices form a straight line. Then roll it up tightly, before adding more slices of apple as individual petals. The rose may seem a bit squished initially, but that's ok, after placing roses to cover most of the tart surface, using a toothpick gently open up each petal so the roses look more natural and in bloom. I did not glaze my roses, but you can do so using apricot gel, especially if you forgot to taste your lemon-sugar solution and find the apple slices too sour for your liking haha xp The roses will initially have a clear red-pink edge to each petal, but after a few hours, the colour will leach to the pale yellow part of the apple slices, colouring it pink. I think they look lovely either way, so I guess it's up to you how far ahead you would like to make it. I normally add fresh herbs/flowers just before serving, as I find that these can start getting a bit shrivelled if left on the tart for too long.
Hope this acts as a good guide for those interested in trying your hand at it!
Carina xx
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