Apple and bramble tart

With Brendan Carter
Images By Vegas & Rose Photography
27 July 2025
SHARE
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Pinterest
- Linkedin
- Google +

Masterclass

Apple and bramble pies

The following recipe has come from a collaboration with Kilderkin Distillery, makers of Larrikin gin, which are local to Ballarat.

Brendan Carter from Federation TAFE and Kilderkin are passionate about sustainability and this has led to utilising the waste product from the distillation process and repurposing them in several baked products. This includes the following Apple and Bramble Tart, in addition to gin and tonic tarts, ricotta cake with lillypilly and Kakadu plum (both fruits used in one of the Larrikin gins), Limoncello meringue pie and a number of different sourdough bread products.

The development of these products have been incorporated into different units being delivered to Brendan’s cohorts of apprentices, broadening their ability to think differently and try new things.

About Brendan Carter:

Brendan Carter is passionate about educating the future generations of the baking industry. For more than 25 years he been an educator in the industry, and is currently the Bakery Teacher at Ballarat’s Federation TAFE. He’s also well-known for his role as senior judge of the gourmet section for the Great Aussie Pie Competition – a role he’s held since 1999.

Apple and bramble tart
Serves 12

WHAT YOU NEED

Shortbread

Group

Ingredients

Weigh up

Biscuit flour

Butter, cold & diced

Caster sugar

Gin Botanicals

300

200

100

Total

608

Apple mix

Group	Ingredients	Weigh up
1	Butter	75
2	Apples peeled, cored and diced	900
3	Caster sugar Brown sugar Apple & Bramble gin	40 40 75
4	Corn flour Apple & Bramble gin	20 25
5	Blackberries Used brambles	250 40
	Total	1465

Butter puff. 3/4 Puff or lattice top

Group	Ingredients	Weigh up
1	Flour Salt Water Botanicals	250 1 125 3
2	Butter	188
Total

Apple and bramble glaze

Group	Ingredients	Weigh up
1	Apple & Bramble gin	100

SAVE

WHAT TO DO

Shortbread

Mix all ingredients together to form a dough. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll dough out to 4 – 5 mm thick.

Apple mix

Melt the butter.
Add the peeled, cored and diced apples to the butter and fry for approximately five minutes.
Add the caster sugar, brown sugar, and apple and bramble gin and mix together. Cook for approximately five minutes.
Mix the corn flour and apple and bramble gin (Group 4) to a slurry and pour into the boiling apple mix.
Fold the used brambles and blackberries through the mixture.

Butter Puff. 3/4 Puff for lattice top

Mix the Group 1 ingredients together to form a dough.
Manipulate the butter into dough, half turn method. Give the dough a half turn.
Cover and let rest for 10-15 minutes. Give two more half turns, give a further rest and repeat until a total of six half turns have been completed.
Roll to approximately 4mm thick.

Apple and bramble glaze

Place ingredients in a saucepan and boil until you achieve a syrup.
Approximately reduce by 50 per cent.

Assembly

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Roll shortcrust pastry to 4 – 5mm thick, line 12, 100mm fluted, removable base tart tins.

Fill tart tins with approximately 100g of apple and bramble mix.
Roll butter puff to 4mm thick, using lattice cutter roll over pastry.

Stretch pastry lattice out and place over filled tart tins. Trim pastry.
Bake tarts for approximately 25 – 30 minutes until pastry is golden in colour.