Italian Apple Loaf Cake (Torta di Mele)

Sue Maree P -

I made this apple loaf cake (Torta di Mele) recipe up when I was on holiday in 2019. We were staying in a small town 30 km from Firenze (Florence), called San Giovanni Valdarno. We were fortunate to have our holiday apartment close to a daily market. During our visit it was apple season, so every day when I visited the local markets, there was an abundance of cheap apples. As I love anything with cooked apples, cake or pudding, I decided to research Italian apple cakes. After baking a few versions in my one and only loaf tin, I came up with this recipe – apple loaf cake (torta di mele). This apple loaf cake is super moist and light with a hint of lemon. The recipe could be easily adapted for spelt or buckwheat flour and oat milk could be used instead of regular milk.

Ingredients

  • 180g caster sugar
  • 125g butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 125ml milk* (you may need extra if swapping the flour) – oat milk would work if preferred
  • 250g self-raising flour  (could swap for buckwheat or spelt flour + 2 tsp baking powder)*
  • 2 large Golden Delicious apples (or other good cooking apples), peeled, cored and sliced 1cm thick
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C, 170˚C fan
  2. Line the loaf tin with baking paper.
  3. Beat the sugar and soft butter together until creamy.
  4. Add eggs and mix, then milk, vanilla and zest.
  5. Add flour and mix through.
  6. Fold in half the sliced apples.
  7. Pour into your prepared tin, add the remaining apples neatly across the top and sprinkle with white sugar.
  8. Bake for 50-6o minutes until golden and the skewer comes out clean after testing.