This easy Italian apple cake is simply made with plenty of golden delicious apples to fully enjoy the apple flavor: 1 kilo (2 pounds) of apples and no other spices added. The juice from these apples makes this cake creamy and fluffy. This Torta di Mele is perfect for an Italian breakfast, an afternoon snack, or an everyday cake for the end of a meal. This humble cake is a rustic Italian apple cake recipe from after the war; easy to make with simple ingredients.
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The origin of this Italian apple cake
This recipe is purely an apple celebration, an easy way to enjoy fresh apples on a picnic or for lunch at the office. The original recipe is an old Italian apple cake from the '50s.
It was my mom's favorite recipe when growing up. Back then, fruits and vegetables were locally grown under the Mediterranean sun, they were sweet and full of flavors. The Mediterranean cuisine was a celebration of those natural ingredients.
The original recipe
My mom has framed the page of the agenda where my grandmother found the recipe. Next to the recipe my grandmother's handwriting "Buona".
For each day the agenda had different menu ideas and one recipe.
Would you like to know what was on the menu that day?
Country style risotto: probably with garden vegetables
Tongue and ham in jelly: that wouldn't be my favorite
Tagliatelle soup: interesting
Boiled beef and calf head: calf head is actually the calf cheeks, which you can still buy today (if you want to buy them!?!)
For dessert the Apple cake
My grandma .. (you can scroll down if you are not interested in her wisdom)
I have very vague memories of my grandmother Gilda Bosurgi Zerbi.
Born in 1893, she was already quite old when I was little.
She had 8 children and my mom was among the youngest ones. I remember her sitting in an armchair joking with us children.
She had a great sense of humor and was very knowledgeable about cooking and the quality of ingredients.
I still use her definition of bad olive oil:
"An oil made with buttons and umbrella handles!"
Which back then were made out of bones.
Yuck !
Ingredients
Once you peel and cut the apples, you will need some lemon juice to prevent the chunks of apples from turning brown from oxidation.
You can add some grated lemon zest to the batter if you use non-treated lemons.
The other essential ingredients are:
Dry ingredients:
- Plain flour
- White Sugar
- Baking powder
Wet ingredients:
- Fresh eggs
- Butter
Find the ingredient amounts in the recipe card.
NOTE: if you feel the batter is too dry, add some milk
For this cake, you do not need any special equipment.
A cake pan 9 in - 24 cm in diameter, optional a removable bottom.
I use a KitchenAid Mixer to make the batter, but you can easily use a whisk and a wooden spoon
What apples to use
Most of the apple cake recipes use cinnamon or other spices and just enough apples to barely taste them.
This recipe has no additional spices or brown sugar, as this Italian apple pie was made during the war when ingredients were scarce.
This cake is all about the flavor of the apples, so choose a tasty variety.
I like to use Golden Reinette apples which are sweet and crunchy.
You can also use Royal Gala, Granny Smith apples, or any juicy type of apples local to you.
Step by step Instructions with images
This cake is very easy; here are the simple steps:
- Cut the apples into large chunks
- In a large bowl, mix them with lemon juice so they don't get brown
- In a separate bowl, prepare the cake mix, first whisking the butter at room temperature with the sugar
- Then add the eggs, combining them one at the time
- In a bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder and add it to the cake batter
- The batter should be soft and creamy
- Cover the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper, coat with butter and flour
- Pour the cake mix into the prepared pan and spread it evenly
- Cover the top of the cake with the apples, pushing the apples down into the mix
- Melt the ¼ cup - 50 gr of sugar and ¼ cup - 50 gr of butter in the microwave
- Pour the sugar and melted butter over the apples
- Bake in a preheated oven at 355 F - 180 C for 1 hour
- Once the cake is ready, let it rest 10 minutes before removing it from the pan
- With a rubber spatula, detach the apples and the cake from the side of the pan
- Remove the ring
- Place the cake on a serving dish removing the bottom of the pan and the parchment paper
Make apple cupcakes instead
If you want to bring this cake for a picnic, you can make cupcakes instead of a whole cake.
Here is how you make them:
- Cut the apples into smaller chunks
- Prepare the batter as above
- I like to use silicon cupcakes (Commissions Earned)
- Pour 1 tablespoon of the batter into each cupcake; makes 12 cupcakes
- Top it with the apples
- Pour over each cupcake 1 teaspoon of melted sugar and butter.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 355 F - 180 C for 30 minutes
How to serve it
You can serve this Italian apple cake warm or at room temperature, sprinkling the top with icing sugar.
If you store it in an airtight container, it will keep for 4 days and will not dry out.
The apples create a very moist and creamy center, so you don't necessarily need to serve anything with them.
However, you can serve it with a nice vanilla ice cream or Italian gelato if you wish.
Other fruits you can use
This cake can be made with many other fruits like pears, peaches, pineapples, strawberries, or a mix of wild berries.
What is key to the outcome of this cake is the abundance of fruits compared to the batter.
It is more fruits than cake!
Other desserts with fruits
Here are other fruit cakes where fruit can vary. For example, the Tarte Tatin, which is usually made with apples, I make it with peaches.
Or the overripe pear crumble, you can make it with any fruit you need to use up, even mixed-and-match fruit combinations.
Also, this strawberry shortcake can have the strawberries replaced with peaches, apples, or pineapple.
Don't miss this easy Italian fruit tart with custard, Crostata di frutta.
This divine dessert is incredibly delicious and surprisingly easy to make!
One of the secrets behind the ease of this recipe lies in the inverted tart-shell trick.
Found out more in the recipe!
More desserts made with apples
If you are making this Italian apple cake, torta di mele, leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, or sign up to my newsletter.
📋 Italian Apple Cake
Verified Culinary AuthorityVideo
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 apples (2 lb - 1 kg)
- ½ lemon juice half of a whole lemon juiced
- ½ cup butter at room temperature
- ½ cup caster sugar
- 2 fresh eggs
- 1 ½ cup flour 8.8 oz (if your batter is too dry, try measuring the flour in oz instead of cups)
- 4 teaspoon baking powder
Topping
- ¼ cup butter (50 gr)
- ¼ cup caster sugar (50 gr)
Instructions
- Cut the apples into large chunks5 apples
- Mix them with lemon juice so they don't get brown½ lemon juice
- Prepare the cake mix, first whisking the butter at room temperature with the sugar½ cup caster sugar, ½ cup butter
- Then add the eggs, combining them one at the time2 fresh eggs
- In a bowl mix the flour with the baking powder and add it to the cake batter1 ½ cup flour, 4 teaspoon baking powder
- The batter should be soft and creamy
Making the cake
- Cover the bottom of a round baking tin with parchment paper, butter and coat with flour
- Pour the cake mix into the baking tin and spread evenly
- Cover with the apples, pushing the apples down into the mix
Making the topping
- Melt the ¼ cup - 50 gr of sugar and ¼ cup - 50 gr of butter in the microwave¼ cup butter, ¼ cup caster sugar
- Pour it over the apples
Bake
- Bake in the oven at 355 F - 180 C for 1 hour
- Once the cake is ready, let it rest 10 minutes before removing it from the pan
- With a spatula, detach the apples and the cake from the side of the pan
- Remove the ring
- Place the cake on a serving dish removing the bottom of the pan and the parchment paper
- Serve warm or at room temperature
Notes
- Once you cut the apples, they tend to become brown. To avoid that, mix them with some lemon juice
- Make sure you remove the butter from the fridge 1 hour before you make the cake
- Add one egg at a time to make sure they are well combined
- Push the apples into the batter so the juices from the apple will form a nice creamy center
- If you do not want to add the sugar and the butter on top of the apples, you don't have to. The cake will be nice even without it
- If you want to make cupcakes instead of a cake, cut the apples into smaller chunks and bake at 355 F - 180 C for 30 minutes
Jill
I love using my Grandma's recipes. I have her recipe cards from my Mom. Such a great connection to have with family through the kitchen. These cupcakes look so good - love how loaded with apples they are!
Laura
Grandma's recipes are the best
Dot
Wow! Why didnt anybody thought of writing a recipe like you! Now you dont have to scroll up and down to see ingedients and method. I love it
Laura
Thank you, I don't know why more people don't do this. Makes cooking so easy
Shashi at Savory Spin
Oh my - growing up, my grandmother and parents though tongue was a special addition to the meal - but I'd rather have skipped that and had seconds of desserts like this!
Laura
Ah, ah, ah, me too. Never fancied it
Tara
Such beautiful memories! These little cakes look perfect. My daughter is a huge fan of apples and would especially love them.
Laura
Thanks, I am sure she will love them
pauline anderson
Turned out just like the picture love it !
Laura
Thank you for your comment, I am glad you love it
Kate | Veggie Desserts
I love how these cupcakes really let the apples shine through. They look amazing.
Laura
Thanks Kate, you find the right words
Janette | Culinary Ginger
You managed to get a great amount of apple in each, they look so good.
Laura
I know, I love them
Elaine @ Dishes Delish
Laura, these look simply scrumptious! I love apples in anything. I also love using my grandmother's recipes as they bring back so many memories!! Awesome recipe as usual and your photos are gorgeous!
Laura
Thank you so much, Elaine. You are my inspiration for all my photography
Leah
Hello, I love how there is apple in every bite.. Could you please clarify the amount of butter and sugar please? Was struggling to get the consistency right. It says 1/2 cup in the list of ingredients and then becomes 1/4i n the directions. In the video it goes back to 1/2. Same conusion with the melred butter and sugar topping. Other than that it's delicious! By the way, are the whites and yolks whipped separately in the traditional method? I'd like to go for more moist cake.
Laura
Thank you for your feedback, I am glad you like it. The ingredients are separated by batter and topping. 1/2 cup of butter is for the batter and 1/4 of butter and sugar is for the topping. I noticed that in the instruction the wrong butter was under the batter and corrected it. No, the eggs are not separated, it is a very easy cake to make.
Ariane
Good, but I found it a bit dry.
Laura
Thank you for your comment. It is strange as the juices released from the apples keep the cake really moist and there are a lot of apples in this recipe. May be was the type of apples you used.
Elise
I LOVED the flavours and simplicity of the recipe. However, I’m sure it’s because of the variety of apple I used, the cake was beyond dry. I will make it again though. Great recipe. Thank you!
Mary
Hi
I follow the recipe but added 1 tsp of vanilla but the cake sought was to thick and not sticky at all.
My question is are the 2 cups of flour measured after they were sifted?
Laura
I actually weigh my flour, so it is a more accurate measurement. I use 250 g of flour which are 8.8 oz. I hope this helps
Connie
The flour part is very confusing. 8.8 oz is closer to 1 cup and 1 ounce, not two cups of flour. My batter did not pour, but spread and I think this is why many said their cake, and mine was dry.
Laura
Thank you for your feedback. Cups are not an exact measurement for solids like flour or sugar, as they measure volume instead of weight. 1 cup is 8.8 oz of water, not of flour. The flour has a lighter density so in volume equivalent is double of water/liquid. Of course, it depends how you measure the cup of flour. If you compact it you will be using much more flour than on the recipe. Since in USA cups are the preferred measurement, I have converted all the grams into cups. However, since in baking exact flour measurements are important, I will also specify the weight in oz to all my baking recipes. I am glad we finally found the the problem and have a solution. I have also reduced the cup amount from 2 to 1 1/2 cups.
Jabave
The flour is shown measured in a liquid measuring cup, which is not accurate for dry ingredients.
Laura
Thank you for your comment. You can switch to the metric system to check the measurement in weight
Chris Abel
I couldn't agree more. I've been baking for over 50 years and have never had a cake this dry. Did not care for this at all!
Laura
With such a large amount of apples, the cake cannot be dry. You need to push the apples inside the batter and the juices from the apply will make the cake moist.
Lilas
Tried this recipe with some simple changes, and it turned out just amazing
Firstly i added vanilla to the cake batter, i know that it gives a nicer taste
Secondly, i added to the apples a tablespoon of cinnamon and cooked the apples in a pan , and added cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon of cornstarch and cold water not alot)
And lastly, instead of putting the cake batter to the cake tin first, i added the apples which i regret cuz it got stuck, my mum says its the type of cake tin (that has a whole in the middle)
I loved how sour the apples are and the cake part wasnt too sweet !!! It was a tad bit dry but i didnt mind, cuz the apples were the star of the show for me, so sour and yum, my siblings and I devoured it
Laura
Thank you for your comment. I am glad you liked it. They key is to have lots of apples in there, they are the start of the show
Anne Heaton
Sooo good.
Can this cake be frozen?
Laura
Thaaank Youuu!
I never did but you probably can.
Helena Smit
This cake recipie sounded delicious. I made it once and it came out dry and I thought it was me who had made a mistake, so because it sounded so delicious I tried it again paying particular attention to the quantities of ingredients and the batter was thick & stodgy so I added another egg and some milk to moisten. When I had baked it and it came out of the oven for specified time, it looked delicious, but same thing again - dry. Such a shame.
Laura
Too bad your apple cake was too dry, however the batter is very little compared to the apples so it is not predominant. The only issue I can think is that the apples were not juicy or you didn't push them all the way down inside the batter.
Linda Barnett
I made this for my daughter who loved it so for her birthday i made it again and added 10 fresh raspberries. She loved it even more and as always it was a soft fluffy tart sweet combination. I used pink lady apples as its her favourite but i prefer granny smith or cox. Thank you for this recipe.
Laura
Thank you for letting me know. I am so happy your daughter loves it. The addition og the raspberries is a good one. I will keep it in mind
Diane
Hi, just made this cake. When I saw 1/2 lemon juice, I added 1/2 cup of lemon juice. When I poured the apples on the cake, it was may I say very wet. I added an extra 20 minutes cooking time to get rid of the liquid on top. Needless to say, this cake was beautiful but in my case very dry and lemony. I will try it again but this time using half of a whole lemon juiced. (I prefer saying it this way).
Well as they say, better luck next time!
Laura
Thank you for your comment. I will add your note next to the ingredient so people will not get confused.
Rachel
I tried another recipe right before this one and was very disappointed. Then I tried yours. It was incredible!! The apples I grow on my tree are very juicy and not good for almost every apple recipe out there. But this recipe is just perfect for them. I’m so excited to continue to make this over and over again. Your recipe used half the sugar and none of the oil from the previous recipe I tried, and it turned out so much better. I’m in love!!
Laura
Thank you for your comment. I love to hear feedback on my recipes. I also have an apple tree I wish I could benefit but this year we had a drought and had no apples.
Stacy
This is 100%, exactly what I’ve been looking for! I love apple, but get tired of the “fall” spices used in most desserts. I will be making this this weekend! I can’t find castor sugar where I live. Is plain sugar ok?
Laura
Thank you for your comment. I also like the plain flavor of the apples. Yes, regular sugar is perfect
Nelly
Is it possible to make this cake without the eggs? I prefer to eat eggs in boiled or fried form but not in cakes.
Laura
I don't think so as they keep the batter together. If there are substitutes I am not experienced with that
Diana
The cake turned out deliciously moist, had an abundance of apple chunks and was easy to make. I sprinkled some pine nuts and a bit of powdered sugar before serving. Thank you for sharing the recipe
Laura
Thank you for letting me know. I would very much appreciate if you can rate it as well as it would help increase my visibility in search. Thank you
Laura
I tweeked the recipe by adding cinnamon and vanilla to the cake, the 5 apples were tossed in 1/4 cup flour 1/2 cup brown sugar and a tsp of cinnamon then placed ontop. Then i made a shortbread crumb for the top with 1 cup flour 1/2 cup softened pinchable butter and 1/4 white sugar. Mix til crumbly then sprinkle all over the top. Baked for an hour
Laura
Thank you for the variation. It sounds very nice
Rita
Grandma knows best, follow her recipe. Her recipe says 2 eggs, 150g butter, 150g sugar and 250g of flour. Your version reduces the butter and sugar to 100g but keeps the flour at 250g, no wonder it turns out dry for so many people. I thought it sounded like a lot of flour when I read the metric instructions, most sponges are same amount of flour, eggs, sugar and butter. I get this is not a standard sponge but still, the ratio you have in the typed recipe is off, use Grandma's next time.
Laura
Dear Rita,
I need to address the inaccuracies and patronizing tone of your comment. My recipe does not reduce the butter and sugar compared to the original. Had you actually read the full instructions (which you clearly cannot as you are not Italian) — rather than focusing solely on the ingredient list—you would have seen that 50g of the butter and sugar are poured over the apple pie before baking, as specified in the original Italian recipe. This crucial step completely invalidates your claim.
Your comparison to a sponge cake is irrelevant and frankly shows a lack of understanding of this type of recipe. A more fitting comparison would be to an apple crumble, where the ratio of apples to batter (or topping) is similarly high. Criticizing this recipe as "too dry" is like saying an apple crumble is too dry—it misses the point entirely. Before adopting such a condescending tone, it would be wise to fully grasp the recipe and its context.
Judy
Did you leave out the milk/cream in the recipe? This batter was not light it was dense and stiff. I have it in the oven now so awaiting the verdict. I do hope it turns out.
Laura
Thank you for your comment. You can see at the beggining of the article the picture of the original recipe published in the '50s, there is no milk nor cream. The amount of batter vs the apples is very little. It is the juice from the apples that make it moist. Make sure you use juicy apples and that you push them well inside the batter.
Helje
This simple recipe is delicious and truly highlights the flavor of the apple.
Laura
Thank you
Christie
Fantastic recipe. We all loved how this simple cake really showcased the flavour of the apples!
Laura
Thank you for your comment. I really appreciate it
Jill
Want to make this, but I don’t tolerate regular wheat or sugar. I bake some keto desserts which use almond flour and erythritol/monkfruit sweeteners.
I am thinking of using an almond cake batter then top with apples a use honey with butter for topping. Or use einkorn flour recipe for the cake batter base.
Do you think either of these would work?
Laura
Sorry I cannot be of help as I am not familiar with gluten free flour. You are probably more expert than me. Try it should work if you have baked with almond flour before. Remember to use a lot of apples and push them into the batter. Let me know how it comes out
Ingrid
I had to put my own spin on this due to the dough being very dry. Added some water and additional egg and it came out good. Don't know if I want to make it again but I like lot's of apples in my cake and Granny Smith apples worked great in this.
Laura
Thank you for your feedback. You could have added milk instead of water
Becky
I've read through the comments and still wondering if you peel the apples in this recipe...?
Laura
Yes, they are peeled
Carol Enser
I have made this apple cake a number of times and always received great raves. Sometimes I mix apples with blueberries or pitted cherries and always sooo good.
Laura
Thank you for your comment. Adding berries is a great idea. I will definetly try it
deanna apfel
The cake turned out OK, but I had to change from the 9" springform to an 8" as I couldn't get the thick batter spread to the edges. At an hour, the edges were too done, but the rest was good. I added the zest to the batter and I think it needed it.
Marina Denian
Hi isn’t the baking powder too much for 1 1/2 cup flour thanks
Laura
Hi Marina, no, it it snot. Tsp is tea spoon, not table spoon. It is about the 16 gr written in the original recipe
Linda
This cake batter was unlike any other I’d made. Although I weighed my flour, the batter was a sticky mess. I was so concerned that I added an additional egg and about 1/4C vegetable oil, which helped me get to a consistency that I could JUST get spread at the bottom of the cake pan. I pushed my apples as far into the batter as much as possible.
Although I had my doubts, the cake turned out fairly well and was well received at the potluck I attended.