Overturning" failures: How a mistake turned into a treat

What is it about the delicious and tempting dessert "Tarte Tatin"? Why are there so many recipe books about it? And last but not least: What is the secret of this particular upheaval? And one more thing: What has the Recipe for this unspectacular pastry in an entrepreneur magazine?

The birth of the "Tarte Tatin

Caroline and Stéphanie Tatin are regarded as the inventors and discoverers of the culinary delicacy named after them - a real treat that has long since achieved cult status. The enterprising siblings ran a small hotel with an inn near the village of Lamotte-Beuvron in France around 1850. Their nutritious and at the same time tasty cuisine was known throughout the region and beyond. In particular, the "tartes" - or "wähen" in our case - prepared with apples from their own garden were particularly popular with the numerous guests.

Anyway, according to the legend, the small inn was full of travelers and locals, and the brothers and sisters hardly knew where their heads were. And logically, there were numerous orders for the popular dessert. Caroline was working in the kitchen and suddenly the unfamiliar smell of caramelized apples hit her nose. When she looked in the oven, she was shocked to discover that in her haste she had forgotten to put the dough on the baking sheet. And now comes the highlight of the story.

Pure creativity and innovation

Instead of resigning, the efficient - in today's parlance innovative and creative - innkeeper decided to use an unorthodox method and thus got closer and closer to the secret: Without further ado, she decided to pour the dough over the apples and finish baking the cake in this way. She then plopped the cake onto a platter and immediately served her new creation to the large audience present. This was the birth of the "Tarte Tatin" or the "overturned" apple cake!

Resounding successes have their origin in setbacks

The story of this "inverted" French cheesecake impressively shows that failures not infrequently force us to rethink and form the breeding ground for innovative and creative action. Without the "upheaval" of the apple pie, no tarte tatin would have been created and the culinary world would have been a lot poorer.

Surely you yourself have already faced a situation or are still on the verge of having to tread new paths, but these can also open up new perspectives and horizons for you - and produce original solutions. Especially in times of the Corona virus, which has not yet been overcome, it is worthwhile more than ever to discover new niches and to regenerate the creative resources slumbering in us from time to time. Caroline Tatin showed us how to do it many years ago. And every time I enjoy a slice of the delicious overturned apple turnover from France, I know anew: creative, innovative and energetic action are not empty phrases, but today particularly sought-after skills that make all the difference.     

View failures positively: Little wisdoms around the "Tarte Tatin

• Making a virtue out of necessity: How a "normal" apple pie becomes a culinary bijou
• The overturned apple tree according to the motto "Let new things arise" becomes a dessert of the special class
• The Corona Pandemic challenges us to "turn around" a failure and turn it into an opportunity.
• The "Tarte Tatin principle" means creative, innovative and energetic action
• Caroline and Stephanie Tatin have shown the way: through their "overturned" cake they have broken new ground and come up with original solutions
• And one more thing: Without Caroline's forgetfulness in preparing the cheese, there would be no Tarte Tatin today. This shows that mistakes are necessary to move forward!

To the author:
Alex Müller is a former HR manager at the Psych. University Hospital Basel and now works as an HR writer for daily and trade newspapers.