Recipe: Tropical Tarte Tatin

Tarte Tatin is an upside-down tart, made most commonly with apples, where the fruit is caramelised in sugar and butter prior to baking. Because I like to incorporate local and seasonal produce into my cooking, I came up with this version, where pineapple and passionfruit replace the traditional apple. It’s a tropical twist on an old favourite, and it’s really good!

This is a simple yet impressive dessert, made with minimal ingredients and can be easily put together when unexpected guests drop in. If you’re preparing this dessert for a dinner party, you can prepare to the end of step one several hours in advance and then 20 minutes before you are ready to eat dessert, proceed from step 2.

Ingredients (serves 4):
50g unsalted butter
½ cup caster sugar
Pulp of 2 passionfruit
1 small ripe pineapple, peeled, cored, halved lengthways and cut into 1 cm slices
1 sheet ready rolled frozen puff pastry, thawed
To serve: cream or ice cream

Method:
1.    Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced).  Place the butter, sugar and passionfruit pulp in a 22cm ovenproof frypan and stir over a medium heat on the stove until the mixture comes to a boil. Arrange the pineapple slices in a concentric circle over butter mixture. Cook over a medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until the sugar starts to caramelise and turns golden brown. Remove the frypan from the heat.
2.    Trim the puff pastry into a circle 2cm larger than the frypan. Place the pasty sheet over the pan and tuck in the edges. Prick the pastry several times.
3.    Place the frypan in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate, cut into slices and serve warm with cream or ice cream.