Apple Rose Tarts | How to Make Puff Pastry Apple Roses

Whether you're throwing a wedding shower, baby shower, tea party, or Mother's Day celebration, wow your guests with these tiny glazed apple rose tarts. Perfect for serving alongside your other party appetizers, these individual mini desserts look adorable served in tea cups.

Apple Rose Tarts

2 sheets frozen puff pastry dough

2 medium pink or red apples like Pink Lady or Fuji

juice from half a lemon

4 Tbsp. strawberry preserves

1 Tbsp. water

powdered sugar for dusting

1. Thaw puff pastry sheets at room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin. Set aside.
3. Remove core from apples. Using a mandoline slicer, slice apples as thin as possible. (The thinner the apples, the more pliable they will be, which will prevent them from breaking when rolling.)
4. Place apple slices into a medium, microwave-safe bowl. Fill bowl with enough water to cover apple slices. Mix in lemon juice to prevent apples from browning. Heat bowl of apples for about 1-2 minutes in the microwave or until apples are soft and pliable.
5. Lightly flour a pastry board. Place puff pastry sheets on board and slice each sheet into six equal strips.
6. In a small bowl, add strawberry preserves and 1 Tbsp. water. Stir together and then heat in the microwave for about 20 seconds, or until warm and easy to spread. Spread a thin layer of  preserve mixture on one side of each strip of dough.
7. Line apple slices on the upper half of each strip of dough, so that they are sticking out partially, with the skin part of the slices sticking out above the dough. (You don't want too much of the apple sticking out above the dough, otherwise this part of the apple will overcook in the oven. You just want about 1/3 sticking out.) Overlap the apple slices when lining them on the strip of dough. Fold up the bottom half of the dough.
8. Starting at one end, carefully roll up the strip of dough, forming a tight spiral. Stretch the end of the dough and pinch to close. Place into greased muffin tin. Repeat with remaining dough.
9. Place muffin pan into the lower half of the oven. (This will prevent the apples from browning too fast.) Bake for about 40 minutes or until puff pastry is fully cooked.
10. Dust apple roses with powdered sugar right before serving.

If you're planning a party, make sure to check out these other recipes for finger foods:

• Gouda and Tomato Tea Sandwiches
• Classic Cheese Ball
• Chicken Salad Finger Sandwiches
• Sweet Corn Salsa
• Spinach Artichoke Dip

Cheerwine Pound Cake

The star of this pink pound cake recipe is Cheerwine soda -  or more specifically "The South's unique cherry soft drink." While not everyone may be familiar with this soda, if you're from the South, you probably know all about the distinct cherry flavor of Cheerwine.

This cake capitalizes on that cherry flavor and adds in a complementary almond flavor to make a one-of-a-kind bundt cake. 

And it's pink, which makes it perfect for sharing with your Sweetie for Valentine's Day! Serve it up with some maraschino cherries and a side of Cheerwine and you've got a sweet date.

Cheerwine Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups butter softened (3 sticks)

3 cups sugar

5 large eggs

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup Cheerwine

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

20 drops red food coloring

maraschino cherries to garnish

1. Lower the middle oven rack to the next to lowest position (or raise the top oven rack to the next highest position). This will allow enough room for the cake to rise without hitting the rack above it. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Cream until mixture is light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs to the mixture one at a time and beat well.
4. Alternate adding flour and Cheerwine, and mix until incorporated.
5. With mixer on low speed, add salt, extracts, and food coloring.
6. Thoroughly grease a bundt pan and add batter to pan.
7. Bake approximately 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before flipping out onto wire rack. Glaze with Simple Vanilla Glaze, if desired (recipe follows).

Simple Vanilla Glaze

1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted

1-2 Tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1. Combine sugar with 1 Tablespoon of milk. Add additional milk if needed for desired thickness.
2. Drizzle onto completely cooled cake by the spoonful.

Notes:

This recipe makes a very thick batter.

While the Cheerwine itself lends some of the coloring to the cake, most of the pink color comes from the food coloring that you'll add. If you'd like a deeper pink, add more food coloring.

If you can't find Cheerwine in your area, you can substitute another cherry flavored soda, such as Cherry Coke, Cherry Pepsi, or Cherry Dr. Pepper.

The flavor that comes through the most in this cake is the almond extract. If you're a big fan of the cherry flavor of Cheerwine, you might want to substitute cherry extract for the almond extract. You can also add cherry extract to the glaze instead of vanilla, if desired.

We opted to make the cake without a glaze, and it was delicious!

Other Soda-Flavored Cakes You Might Like:

• Cherry Dr. Pepper Cake
• 7-Up Pound Cake

If you're a fan of cherries, make sure to check out these other cherry recipes too!

• Glazed Cherry Breakfast Cake
• Miss Daisy's Frozen Cherry Salad
• Cranberry Cherry Sauce