dutch apple tart

dutch apple tart

• 17 Mar 2025

Way back in 2013 I shared a recipe for a Dutch Apple Tart. These days I bake most of my cakes in a small tin and when I checked the recipe it was for a 23 cm tart, even though I'd baked the tart in a 17 cm springform tin. For some reason, I'd not downsized the recipe.

Earlier this year I took out 'Comfort' by Ottolenghi and co-authors Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley and immediately bookmarked the Dutch Apple Cake recipe by Verena Lochmuller. The Dutch Apple Cake is pretty much a Dutch apple tart which has dispensed with the lattice top for a pastry round. It's as much a cake as it is a tart as the pastry shell contains some self raising flour, making it softer than a regular pastry. 

With apples back in the fruit shop I decided to remake the recipe, this time downsizing the recipe to match my 17 cm tin. There was no point re-inventing the wheel, so I used my own pastry recipe but adapted the filling from the recipe in Comfort. The filling recipe contained both black treacle and mahleb, neither of which I had in the cupboard. Instead of treacle, I increased the quantity of brown sugar and I left out the mahleb. My apples being new season were very tart and although I increased the quantity of sugar in the filling, it needed a little more and I've adapted the recipe to reflect this. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17 cm tart. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Dutch Apple Tart (makes one 17 cm tart)
Pastry
100g plain flour 
100g self-raising flour
pinch salt
120g unsalted butter
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 tsp lemon rind
1 egg, beaten
Few tablespoons milk

Filling
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1 cm chunks (280g)
2 Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1 cm chunks (160g)
20g flaked almonds, toasted and roughly crushed
25g raisins soaked in 25ml dark rum (or apple juice)
15g unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp lemon juice
40-55g light soft brown sugar (depends on how tart your apples are)
pinch salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
10g panko breadcrumbs
2 tsp custard powder or semolina

Assembly

2 tsp custard powder or semolina
1-2 tsp white sugar

To serve
Whipped cream

Pastry
In a food processor combine the flours, salt and the sugars. Add the butter and process until the mixture forms breadcrumbs. Add 3/4 of the egg to the flour mixture and reserve the rest.  Add the vanilla extract and a little milk if needed and process until a soft dough forms around the blades. 

Remove the dough from the processor, knead lightly to form a ball, flatten it out slightly before wrapping the dough in plastic and placing in the fridge for 1 hour.

Filling
Place the apples in a microwave safe bowl. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 minutes or until just softened. Cool a little before combining the remaining filling ingredients. Mix together until well combined.

Assembly
Butter a 17 cm round springform cake pan. This is a very soft dough, so generously dust the bench top with flour. Roll out ⅔ of the pastry and line the base and sides of the tin with the pastry. Spoon 2 tsp of custard powder or semolina over the pastry base followed by the filling.

Roll out the remaining dough. Cut the dough into 1-cm strips and layer them over the apple filling to form a lattice. Fold down the excess pastry to cover the lattice and press to seal. Brush the remaining egg over the lattice then sprinkle the top of the tart with a little extra sugar. If you don’t feel like making a lattice, just roll out the pastry into a round large enough to cover the top of the tart. Press to seal, remove any excess pastry then brush the pastry with the egg and sprinkle with sugar.

Place the tart on a baking tray and bake on the middle shelf of the preheated 180°C, conventional oven, for about 1 hour 15 minutes. I covered the top of the tart with foil after 30 minutes to prevent it over browning. The apples were still a little uncooked so I left the tart in the switched off oven for a further 15 minutes.

Remove the tart from the oven and leave it to cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours. Carefully run a small knife between the tart and the sides of the tin before releasing the spring lock. Cut into thick wedges and serve with the whipped cream served on the side. 

The almonds added a little bit of texture to the filling and the sugar, a little crunch to the pastry. Topped with a dollop of cream this made for a nice comforting dessert and good enough for my brother to ask for a second slice.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian