As every year, for my birthday I baked to treat my colleagues. This year I made a pound cake, almond cookies stuffed with amarena cherries, and an Italian apple cake. Other than Dutch appeltaart (the same as American apple pie), Italian torta di mele is made with a batter similar to pound cake rather than shortcrust pastry. The difference is mostly in using more eggs, but the effect is a totally different, ligther, cake. There are countless versions of torta di mele, as each mamma or nonna has her own version. This version is based upon what Marina of lericettedibaccos refers to as ‘the best’ version. It was excellent indeed. Here’s what I did…

Ingredients

For a 24 cm (9″) cake

4 apples (I used tart apples, goudreinetten)

250 grams (1 2/3 cups) pastry flour

2 eggs

150 grams (3/4 cup) cane sugar + 2 tablespoons

125 grams (9 Tbsp) butter

1 Tbsp baking powder (Italians use lievito per dolci, baking powder enriched with vanillin; if you use ordinary baking powder you could add 1 tsp of vanilla extract)

pinch of salt

1 untreated lemon

40 grams (4 Tbsp) raisins

20 grams (2 Tbsp) pine nuts

10 grams (1 1/2 Tbsp) slivered almonds

ground cinnamon

butter and flour for preparing the pan

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF (fan forced).

Zest the lemon.

Melt the butter over medium low heat and allot it to cool somewhat.

Peel and core the apples. Cut approximately two of the apples into slices (about 16 slices per apple) so you’ll have enough apple slices to cover the top of the cake. Cut the remaining apples into chunks.

Squeeze lemon juice on the apples to prevent them from discoloring.

Combine the eggs with 150 grams sugar in the bowl of a mixer and mix on high speed for a couple of minutes.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt, and add it to the eggs. Add the grated lemon zest as well.

Add the melted butter as well, keeping about 2 Tbsp behind.

Mix until the mixture is homogeneous.

Add the pine nuts…

…and the raisins…

…and the apple chunks…

…and mix with a spatula to incorporate.

Butter a 24 cm (9″) springform pan. Put about 2 Tbsp of flour in the pan and shake and tilt it to cover all the butter with flour, then shake out any excess flour.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and flatten the top with a spatula.

Cover with the apple slices.

Sprinkle with the 2 tablespoons of cane sugar as well as ground cinnamon.

Sprinkle the slivered almonds on top.

Pour the reserved 2 Tbsp of melted butter on top.

Bake the apple cake for about 55 minutes at 180ºC/350ºF, or until a tester comes out clean.

Allow to cool to room temperature in the pan.

The cake is ready to serve once it is at room temperature, but it is also great the next day.

Wine pairing

Because of the addition of lemon zest and lemon juice this cake is quite fresh in taste, so it works best with a Moscato d’Asti.

Flashback

The criteria for great deep fried chicken are easy: the crust should be crispy and light, the chicken should be tender and succulent. This post explains a few simple tricks it is possible to achieve this every time.