This beautiful and stunning cardamom & apple rose tart tastes just like a classic apple pie with a buttery crust, but with an added hint of cardamom and cinnamon spices that pair perfectly with the apples.
How to Bake a Beautiful and Stunning Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart
Inspired by the layered petals of a blooming rose, this cardamom & apple rose tart recipe is guaranteed to impress those lucky enough to have a slice. The rose apple tart has a buttery, pâte brisée tart shell, filled with a thin layer of caramelized sugar elevated with cardamom and cinnamon spices, and finished with an ornately arranged apple-slice “rose” to create the perfect dessert.
One of my favorite parts of baking and pastry is the opportunity to challenge yourself in making even more beautiful and tasty desserts than the last one– this Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart was exactly that. I saw a picture of an Apple Rose Tart a few years ago on Pinterest and thought to myself, “There’s absolutely no way I’ll ever be able to make that!”
Well, here I am! Three years later and I have the opportunity to do what I never thought I’d be able to pull off. And as an added bonus, I’ve accumulated enough knowledge in my pastry pursuits to be able to add in different flavors like cardamom without ruining the final result of the apple rose tart. I don’t often say it, but I’m proud of how far I’ve come.
Table of Contents – Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart
- What is cardamom? What does cardamom taste like? Can I use a substitute for cardamom/are there any other cardamom substitutes?
- What is pâte brisée? How do I make pâte brisée dough?
- What is blind-baking?
- Kitchen Equipment
- Ingredients for Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart
- How to Make a Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart
- Tips for the Creating the Perfect Apple Rose
- Storage Instructions for Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart
- More Recipes to Try
- Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart Recipe
What is cardamom? What does cardamom taste like? Can I use a substitute for cardamom/are there any other cardamom substitutes?
What is Cardamom?
Cardamom has definitely become one of my favorite spices lately. You’ve probably had cardamom before if you enjoy a hot Chai latte like I do! Cardamom is one of the most versatile spices you can utilize because it works nicely flavor-wise with both sweet and savory dishes. Cardamom initially starts as a small pod, and inside of each pod are small, tiny cardamom seeds– these are what get dried and ground up into a powder to create ground cardamom spice.
What Does Cardamom Taste Like?
Cardamom has definitely become one of my favorite spices lately. You’ve probably had cardamom before if you enjoy a hot Chai latte like I do! Cardamom is one of the most versatile spices you can utilize because it works nicely flavor-wise with both sweet and savory dishes. Cardamom initially starts as a small pod, and inside of each pod are small, tiny cardamom seeds– these are what get dried and ground up into a powder to create ground cardamom spice.
Can I Use a Substitute For Cardamom? Are There Any Other Cardamom Substitutes?
Cardamom presents a very unique flavor profile, so there isn’t a perfect substitute. The best way to reach that same warm spice is to use spices like ground cinnamon, though you can also add ground nutmeg, cloves, or ginger.
What is Pâte Brisée?
How Do I Make Pâte Brisée Dough?
What is pâte brisée? Pâte brisée is a simple dough typically used to make crusts for pies and tarts. It only uses three ingredients– butter, flour, and water– but requires a particular technique when creating this dough. The end result is a flaky, light crust that is a perfect foundation for a number of different desserts.
- Pâte brisée dough is created by first pinching together very cold pieces of butter into flour over and over again until the butter-flour mixture is combined into a fine mixture that looks a lot like almond flour.
- It’s very important that the butter remains very cold; you want your mixture to stay cold to keep the butter from melting from the warmth of your hands.
- If you feel your hands getting a little greasy, pop that butter-flour mixture into the freezer for about 5-10 minutes to get cold again, then pull it back out and keep pinching.
- After you reach an almond flour texture, slowly add ice cold water a little bit at a time and mix it into your flour mixture.
- You’ll know you’ve added enough water if the mixture barely stays together when you squeeze it in your hand.
- Once you’re at the “barely together” stage, you can knead and squeeze the dough a few times and it should even out into a smooth dough.
What is blind-baking?
Blind-baking is when you partially bake (or par-bake) your tart or pie shell while it is covered with parchment and held down with some kind of weight (like ceramic pie weights, dry beans, dry rice, or dry lentils) to prevent the crust from puffing up.
Blind-baking helps the crust have a head start in the baking process, especially if you’re adding some kind of wet filling that will require the pie/tart to be baked a second time in the oven like a pumpkin pie. Without blind-baking your pies or tarts, you’ll have the infamous Great British Bake Off “soggy bottom” on your finished tart (and no one likes a soggy bottom!)
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Kitchen Equipment for Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart
- Rolling Pin – you’ll need this to roll out your pâte brisée tart dough into a thin sheet, and then use it again to help transfer that rolled-out dough sheet onto your tart pan.
- 11” Round Shallow Tart Pan – you’ll be thanking yourself later if your tart pan has a removable bottom. It makes removing your cooled tart so much easier! Just remember to put the tart pan on a baking sheet before it goes into the oven so that the tart pan’s side and bottom pieces don’t separate when you’re transferring it!
- Pie Weights – used for the blind-baking/par-baking process. Other perfectly good substitutions include dry rice, dry beans, or dry lentils.
- Mandolin Slicer – this piece of equipment isn’t absolutely necessary for this apple rose tart recipe, but it makes apple slicing so much easier and consistent. If you don’t have a mandolin slicer, all you really need is a sharp kitchen knife.
Ingredients for Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart
- For Pâte Brisée (Tart Dough):
- All-purpose flour – perfect for this simple recipe.
- Unsalted butter – keep this as cold as you can for the best possible results!
- Salt – added to make the crust a bit more savory.
- Ice water – the ice water will help keep everything as cold as it can be.
- For Tart Filling:
- Unsalted butter – the perfect foundation for any filling.
- White granulated sugar – this will caramelize nicely with the butter underneath the apple rose.
- Vanilla extract – I’d use the real vanilla extract if you can, but imitation is fine too.
- Ground cinnamon – a welcome warm spice that will complement the cardamom.
- Ground cardamom – if you’re not a fan of cardamom or you simply don’t have cardamom in your spice cabinet, you can omit this ingredient.
- For Apple Rose:
- Red-skin whole apples – I used some leftover small Fuji apples (about 5 to 5.5oz in weight each) for this apple rose tart, but any and all apples can be substituted in this recipe.
- Lemon juice – this helps the apple slices from browning after they are sliced. I always prefer to use fresh lemon juice when and where I can, and I recommend everyone else to do the same as well. If you’re in a pinch, the bottled lemon juice from the grocery store will do.
- Unsalted butter – more butter… Paula Deen would be proud, I know.
- White granulated sugar – this will help extract a bit of the excess water from the apple slices while macerating them in combination with the lemon juice.
How to Make a Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart (Step-By-Step Video Guide)
Tips for Creating the Perfect Apple Rose
Don’t panic– the apple rose on this apple rose tart is not as difficult as it looks! Here are some tips on how to create the perfect apple rose:
- Cut your apple slices very thin! You want your slices to be thin enough to the point where they’re almost see-through. The thinner your apple slice is, the easier it will be to bend and curl them to form your rose, especially the tight curl in the center of the tart.
- Overlap your apple slices about ⅓ of a slice to make your apple rose look continuous instead of having aligned rows of apple slices. You want it to look a little random like rose petals on a rose!
- Place your apple slices with the side showing the most red apple skin facing inwards to the center of the tart. Once all of your “petals” are in place, you’ll be able to see the distinct red outline of each petal much more clearly.
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Storage Instructions for Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart
- This cardamom apple rose tart can be stored covered in plastic wrap (or in an airtight container with a lid) at room temperature for up to two days.
- Unfortunately, the moist air inside of the refrigerator will make your tart crust soggy– you’ve been warned!
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Cardamom & Apple Rose Tart
Equipment
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 11" round shallow tart pan ideally with removable bottom
- 1 pie weights or dry beans/rice/lentils
- 1 mandolin slicer or a sharp kitchen knife
Ingredients
For Pâte Brisée (Tart Dough)
- 225 g all-purpose flour [1½ cups + 2 tbsp]
- 180 g very cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes [1½ sticks]
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp ice water
For Tart Filling
- 66 g unsalted butter, melted [½ stick]
- 75 g white granulated sugar [⅓ cup]
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
For Apple Rose
- 4 whole apples (5-5.5oz each) preferably red-skin
- 1 whole lemon, juiced or 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 42 g unsalted butter, melted [3 tbsp]
- 50 g white granulated sugar [¼ cup]
Instructions
For the Pâte Brisée (Tart Dough)
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Cut the cold butter into small cubes (about ½" by ½") and toss into the flour. Pinch the butter into the flour mixture to break into smaller clumps with your fingers, until the mixture only has a few smaller butter clumps remaining and it resembles an almond flour consistency.225 g all-purpose flour, 1 tsp salt, 180 g very cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- Add the ice water (one tablespoon at a time) to your flour mixture, mixing in between each addition until the dough just barely comes together– try not to add too much water! Knead the "barely together" dough a few times until it becomes smooth.2 tbsp ice water
- Flatten the dough into a thick disk (about 1" thick), wrap in plastic, and place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour, then place your chilled dough in the center. Begin rolling the dough from the center outwards while continually turning and checking under the dough to prevent sticking; the dough should be about ⅛" thick and large enough to cover your tart pan plus a couple inches. (For my 11" tart pan, I rolled out a 14" circle.)
- Roll the sheeted dough onto the rolling pin and gently drape it over the tart pan. Center the dough to assure all sides have equal coverage, then press down in the center to secure the dough in the pan. Work your way around the edges, pressing the dough gently into the grooves of the tart pan. Freeze your dough-lined tart pan for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375℉. Then, cut a piece of parchment or foil to a slightly larger size than the tart pan with overlap on each side. Once your oven is preheated and the tart dough is firm to the touch, place your parchment paper on top of the tart pan. Fill the inner cavity inside of the pan/on top of the parchment with pie weights (dry beans, dry lentils, or dry rice work too).
- Blind bake the filled, frozen tart shell for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, take the tart out of the oven to remove the weights and parchment paper that was inside of the pan, and put back into the oven for another 10-12 minutes. The tart shell should be lightly-golden in color and no longer shiny/uncooked underneath where the weights were. Let the tart shell cool while we finish prepping our filling and apples.
For Tart Filling
- Add the melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, and ground cardamom together into a small bowl and mix together. Set aside.66 g unsalted butter, melted, 75 g white granulated sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cardamom
For the Apple Rose
- In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the lemon juice, melted butter, and sugar. Set aside.1 whole lemon, juiced, 42 g unsalted butter, melted, 50 g white granulated sugar
- Using a sharp kitchen knife, cut each washed apple with the stem pointing upwards into three segments, leaving a triangle-shaped core in the center. Cut one side, turn 120º, cut another, turn another 120º, then cut one last time. Using a mandolin or a sharp knife, make thin (almost see-through), crescent-shaped slices of each apple segment with the cut-side facing down on the cutting board. Do this for all of your apple segments.4 whole apples (5-5.5oz each)
- Toss the thin apple slices into the lemon juice mixture as they are cut and give them a toss to coat the slices in the lemon juice solution. This will lessen the browning the cut apples will develop.
- Add the tart filling you set aside earlier into the empty tart shell, and spread a thin layer on the bottom. Begin assembling your rose tart starting from the outside edge and working your way around the tart until you reach the center. Each apple slice should overlap just slightly as you line each layer. Once you reach the center, roll the last couple of apple slices into a tight curl and push it into the center.
- Bake your assembled apple rose tart at 350ºF for 30-35 minutes. The tart shell edges will have become more golden and the apple slices have colored slightly.
- Let the tart cool completely before gently removing it from the pan.
Video
Notes
- When you are making your tart dough, make sure that your hands don't feel greasy as you pinch together the cold butter with the flour. This is a sign that your hands are melting the butter, which means you should put your flour/butter mixture into the freezer for about 5 minutes before continuing. It is essential for this recipe that the butter stays cold for a flaky tart shell.
- This recipe requires a process called "blind-baking" where a raw tart shell is partially baked with a layer of parchment and pie weights inside of the dough-lined tart pan. If you don't have pie weights in your kitchen (and most people don't), feel free to use dry rice, dry lentils, or dry beans! These work just as well as pie weights and are a perfect alternative for the same result.
- After baking your beautiful apple rose tart, you can brush on a clear glaze on top of your tart for a shiny finish! For an easy apricot glaze, I melted a heaping tablespoon of apricot jam with a tiny bit of water in the microwave. The mixture has a syrup-like consistency and is a perfect make-shift apricot glaze for the top of this apple tart.
