Delicious Italian Apple Loaf Cake Recipe (Torta di Mele – Dairy-Free Option)

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, cheap apples were abundant. As I love anything with cooked apples, cake or pudding, I decided to research Italian apple cakes. After baking a few versions in my 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

  • Sugar, castor if you have it – 180g (3/4 cup + 2 ts)
  • Butter, soft – 125g (1/2 cup)
  • Large eggs – 2
  • Milk, your choice – 125ml (1/2 cup)
  • Flour, self-raising or spelt or a gluten-free blend – 250g self-raising flour – 1 cup + 2/3 cup
  • Large Apple green or golden, peeled, cored and sliced 1cm thick– 2
  • Lemon zest  – 1/2 (2 tsps)
  • Vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon

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.