Italian Apple Cake With Plenty Of Apples

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This Italian apple cake is simply made with plenty of apples to fully enjoy their taste: 1 kilo (2 pounds) of apples and no other spices added. It is the juice from these apples that make this cake creamy and fluffy.

Jump to:

• The origin of this Italian apple cake
• What apples to use
• How to make it
• Make apple cupcakes instead
• How to serve it
• Other fruits you can use
• Other desserts with fruits
• 📋 Italian Apple Cake

The origin of this Italian apple cake

This recipe is purely an apple celebration, an easy way to enjoy cooked 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
(and you can scroll down if you are not interested)

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 very knowledgeable about cooking and the quality of ingredients.

I still use her definition of a bad olive oil:

“An oil made with buttons and umbrella handles!”

Which back then were made out of bones.

Yuck !

What apples to use

Most of the apple cakes recipes use cinnamon or other spices and just enough apples to barely taste them.

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 Golden or your favorite local apples.

How to make it

1. Cut the apples into large chunks
2. Mix them with lemon juice so they don’t get brown

3. Prepare the cake mix, first whisking the butter at room temperature with the sugar
4. Then add the eggs, combining them one at the time
5. In a bowl mix the flour with the baking powder and add it to the cake batter
6. The batter should be soft and creamy

7. Cover the bottom of a round baking tin with parchment paper, butter and coat with flour 
8. Pour the cake mix into the baking tin and spread evenly
9. Cover with the apples, pushing the apples down into the mix
10. Melt the 1/4 cup – 50 gr of sugar and 1/4 cup – 50 gr of butter in the microwave
11. Pour it over the apples
12. Bake in the oven at 355 F – 180 C for 1 hour

13. Once the cake is ready, let it rest 10 minutes before removing it from the pan
14. With a spatula, detach the apples and the cake from the side of the pan
15. Remove the ring
16. 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:

1. Cut the apples into smaller chunks
2. Prepare the batter as above
3. I like to use silicon cupcakes
4. Pour 1 tbsp of the butter in each cupcake, makes 12 cupcakes
5. Top it with the apples
6. Pour over each cupcake 1 tsp of melted sugar and butter. 
7. Bake at 355 F – 180 C for 30 minutes

How to serve it

You can serve this Italian apple cake warm or at room temperature, 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 it.

However, I you wish, you can serve it with a nice vanilla ice cream.

Other fruits you can use

This cake can be made with many other fruits like for example pears, peaches, pineapples, strawberries or a mix of wild berries.

What is key for 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. As 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 a mixed and match fruit combinations.

Also this strawberry shortcake can have the strawberries replaced with peaches, apples or pineapple.

If you are making this Italian apple cake, leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram or sign up to my newsletter.