{"id":8470,"date":"2026-10-19T23:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8470"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:45","slug":"szarlotka","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/szarlotka\/","title":{"rendered":"Szarlotka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Apples are layered thickly onto a tender, crumbly butter pastry. Poland\u2019s szarlotka is a fruit pastry that may be topped with more pastry or covered with a crumble of small clumps or with meringue. A square slice reveals sweet-tart fruit, but this name has not always referred to the same pastry. Its history also includes an old method of layering bread.<\/p>\n

The name charlotte, used for both warm desserts and chilled desserts<\/h2>\n

The Polish szarlotka<\/em> is related to the Western European dessert name charlotte<\/em>. The warm 18th-century charlotte, baked with bread and fruit, and the cold 19th-century charlotte russe<\/em>, in which a Bavarian-cream-like filling is surrounded by biscuit, share a name but are desserts with different structures. In Poland, too, charlottes made with different fruits were prepared in the 19th century.<\/p>\n

The cold charlotte russe has an origin story linking it to the early-19th-century cook Marie-Antoine Car\u00eame and the Russian court. According to the theory that it was named after Princess Charlotte of Prussia, the dessert was dedicated to the woman who would later become the consort of Russian Emperor Nicholas I. There are desserts baked with bread and fruit, chilled desserts made with biscuit and cream, and Polish pastries made with butter pastry and apples. Desserts sharing the same name have spread while changing in temperature and in the ingredients that surround the fruit. Car\u00eame\u2019s chilled dessert and today\u2019s apple pastry do not share the same recipe.<\/p>\n

In the \u201cWarsaw-style\u201d version given in an 1856 French cookbook, a mold lined with bread is filled with layers of thick apple marmelade and fruits such as apricots and pears. Madeira is added, and the top is also covered with bread before baking. This is one example that a French cookbook presented as Warsaw style, and it does not represent a recipe common to Polish households of the time.<\/p>\n

An old method of layering wholemeal bread and apples<\/h2>\n

The 1904 edition of \u201cKuchnia koszerna\u201d includes a \u201cszarlotka of apples and wholemeal bread.\u201d Grated bread is moistened little by little with water or white wine, combined with sugar and cinnamon, and layered alternately with thinly sliced apples before cooking. The fruit is scented with lemon zest or a little alcohol.<\/p>\n

In this method, no new dough is made from flour; bread that has already been baked is used instead. Although it differs from today\u2019s butter-pastry cake, it shares the practice of layering fruit with other ingredients and cutting the layers into slices. The name szarlotka also carries the memory of a dessert made with whatever bread was on hand.<\/p>\n

\n\"Szarlotka\n
Cross-section of a slice of szarlotka (August 15, 2008, location unknown). A layer of apple is visible between the pastry. Photo: Alina Zienowicz Ala z \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ Public domain<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No alterations to the content or cropping made by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Adjusting the apples\u2019 moisture to keep the pastry crumbly<\/h2>\n

Today\u2019s base, kruche ciasto, is a pastry that breaks easily into crumbs. Butter is scattered finely through the flour and brought together with sugar and egg yolks or whole eggs. Some recipes add sour cream, creating a texture that crumbles apart rather than a bread-like springiness.<\/p>\n

The apples used include varieties such as szara reneta and anton\u00f3wka, whose tartness and the way they break down when cooked can be put to good use. Whether the apples are thinly sliced or diced and cooked, or grated raw, also changes how much of the fruit remains in pieces. Sugar and cinnamon are adjusted to the sweetness and aroma of the apples.<\/p>\n

Even when the apples are cooked, they are sometimes not pur\u00e9ed completely, so that the fruit keeps its shape. The apples\u2019 moisture is cooked off in advance, a thin layer of breadcrumbs is scattered over the pre-baked base, and then the apples and the top pastry are layered on. The breadcrumbs absorb excess moisture released by the apples. On the other hand, a home recipe (ingredient proportions and method) on the baking website Moje Wypieki also places the fruit on a base that has not been pre-baked, scatters the remaining pastry over it in small pieces, and bakes it all together. Keeping the fruit layer intact requires not only adjusting the apples\u2019 moisture but also preparing the base appropriately.<\/p>\n

\n\"Szarlotka\n
An example of \u201croyal szarlotka\u201d on sale (October 2007, Poland). The fruit layer sandwiched between pastry and the crumb-scattered top are visible. Photo: myself (User:Piotrus) \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Image obtained from the distributing source. No alterations to the content or cropping made here.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Covered with pastry or meringue, enjoyed warm or cold<\/h2>\n

For a version topped with meringue, apples lightly colored in butter and sugar are layered onto a pre-baked base. It is covered with a meringue of egg whites whipped with sugar and combined with starch, then baked, so that the top becomes crisp and toasty enough to crack into thin flakes while the apples beneath turn soft. Compared with versions that also use butter pastry for the lid, both the order in which the layers reach the mouth and the texture when bitten are different.<\/p>\n

It is also sometimes eaten as a warm slice with vanilla ice cream. While it is warm, the fruit is soft; once it cools, the filling and pastry settle, making it easier for the cut edges to hold their shape.<\/p>\n

At home, stored apples also became an ingredient for szarlotka. Maria \u017burawska, interviewed in 2021 as director of the Polish Institute Tokyo, recalls that in her childhood, a time of shortages, her mother preserved summer apples as pur\u00e9e and baked extra teatime sweets to last several days. In her father\u2019s family home, there was a tea time every day at 5 p.m., when something sweet was served with coffee or tea. Pastries baked with preserved seasonal fruit supported this family\u2019s daily tea time.<\/p>\n

\n\"Szarlotka\n
Szarlotka with ice cream served at a caf\u00e9 in Pozna\u0144 (March 18, 2018). A thin slice of the pastry is accompanied by frozen desserts in different colors. Photo: MOs810 \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Image obtained from the distributing source. No alterations to the content or cropping made here.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Distinguishing it from jab\u0142ecznik<\/h2>\n

Jab\u0142ecznik, a name derived from the word for apple, is also used in ways that overlap with this pastry. However, that name is sometimes used to include sponge cakes and butter cakes with apples mixed in. Even where the two names overlap, some versions sandwich the fruit between thin layers of pastry, while others are cakes with fruit mixed into them.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

\u30fbMadeira<\/strong>: A fortified wine originating from the Portuguese island of Madeira.<\/p>

Kruche ciasto<\/strong>: Polish for a pastry that crumbles easily. It is made with butter or other fat.<\/p>

Crumble<\/strong>: A mixture of flour, sugar, fat and other ingredients combined into small clumps.<\/p>

Sour cream<\/strong>: Dairy cream that has been fermented to give it a tangy flavor.<\/p>

Szara reneta, anton\u00f3wka<\/strong>: Names of apple varieties listed in Polish recipes for szarlotka.<\/p>

Meringue<\/strong>: Egg whites whipped with sugar.<\/p>

Jab\u0142ecznik<\/strong>: A Polish name for apple pastries. It may overlap with szarlotka or may refer to pastries made with a different base, such as sponge.<\/p>

Marie-Antoine Car\u00eame<\/strong>: A 19th-century French cook and writer on confectionery. He is linked to the origin of the cold charlotte russe.<\/p>

Charlotte of Hohenzollern<\/strong>: A Prussian princess who later became the consort of Nicholas I. She appears in a theory about how charlotte russe was named.<\/p>

Charlotte russe<\/strong>: A cold dessert in which cream is surrounded by biscuit or similar. Its recipe differs from that of today\u2019s Polish apple pastry.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n

  1. \u30fbPolish Ministry of Agriculture, \u201cKanon kuchni polskiej\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Includes the Warsaw-style recipe with bread, fruit and marmelade from an 1856 French cookbook.<\/p><\/li>

  2. \u30fbMoje Wypieki \u201cSzarlotka na cie\u015bcie kruchym\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Pastry with egg yolks and sour cream, chilling, cooked apples, pre-baking and breadcrumbs, apple varieties and serving warm.\n\u30fbMoje Wypieki \u201cSzarlotka domowa\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Pastry with whole eggs, a construction without pre-baking, the choice between chopped apples and cooked apples, and the difference in stability when warm or cold.\n\u30fbMoje Wypieki \u201cSzarlotka z bez\u0105\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Pre-baking the pastry, cooking the fruit without letting it break down completely, a meringue of egg whites, sugar and starch, and the finish.\n\u30fbAdam Mickiewicz Institute \/ Culture.pl \u201cCrisp & Sweet: Polish Apple Culture\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The range of the name in relation to jab\u0142ecznik, modern pastries and toppings, and Polish apple culture.\n\u30fb\u201cKuchnia koszerna,\u201d 1904 edition, recipe 294 \u201cSzarlotka z jab\u0142ek i razowego chleba\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An old recipe in which wholemeal bread is grated, moistened with water or white wine, and layered with apples.\n\u30fbNarodowe Centrum Kultury \u201cSZARLOTKA\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Explanation of the name by Poland\u2019s National Centre for Culture; the difference between the cold biscuit\/Bavarian cream type and today\u2019s pastry.\n\u30fbAdam Mickiewicz Institute \u201cKr\u00f3tka historia polskich deser\u00f3w\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The relationship with the French\/English charlotte, the old bread-and-fruit form, and differences in fruit in 19th-century Poland.<\/p><\/li>

  3. Research note<\/h3><\/li>

  4. The lineage starting from 18th-century bread and fruit is based on Culture.pl, and the origin story linking Car\u00eame, the Russian court and Princess Charlotte of Prussia is based on the NCK\u2019s explanation of the name. The NCK text was retrieved again and actually read for this article. Rather than treating the differences in emphasis between the two institutions\u2019 explanations as a single year of invention or a single route of transmission for the pastry, we have organized them as desserts that share a name but have different structures. We have not adopted the explanation that the princess herself named the present-day Polish form.<\/p><\/li>

  5. Polish Institute Tokyo \u201cV4 Tea Gathering \u2013 Poland: Szarlotka\u201d 2021<\/a> \u2014 A first-hand interview with Maria \u017burawska; preserved apples and family tea time.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Szarlotka is a Polish apple pastry. A generous layer of apples is placed on a tender, crumbly pastry made with butter, then covered with more pastry or a crumble of small clumps and baked. At the center of each square slice, a thick layer of moist fruit appears. The aroma of cinnamon and the tartness of the apples balance the sweet pastry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7522,"menu_order":241,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Szarlotka","subtitle":"Sweet-tart apples layered on tender, crumbly pastry","topics":"Scattering butter through the flour\uff0fAdjusting the apples\u2019 moisture\uff0fA warm slice and a cooled slice","country":"Poland","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["fruit","spice","cream","butter","egg"],"texture":["crumbly","moist","chewy"],"occasion":["tea"],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[168],"class_list":["post-8470","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t