Torta di mele is an Italian apple cake that is amazingly rich and delicious. The flavour of almonds, honey, lemon pairs perfectly with a shot of espresso and a dollop of cultured whipping cream. One bite and you’ll be able to see the sun is setting over the Mediterranean sea.
The cake is seriously that GOOD.
Italian Apple Cake
Torta di mele is a rich and delicious Italian apple cake. This version is made with almond flour, honey and lemon. This recipe works well with a gluten free flour mix for a dessert that is sure to please everyone.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6-8 1x
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Fermented
- Cuisine: Italian
Scale
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour (see notes)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup honey
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup melted butter
- 1 cup ground almonds (almond flour)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 lemon zested
- 3 apples
Instructions
- Following the muffin method, mix everything, except for the apples, together.
- Peel, core and thinly slice the apples.
- Pour half cake batter into pan a prepared 6″ cake pan. Cover the cake batter with half of the apples arranged in a thin layer.
- Pour the remaining cake mixture on top and top with remaining apples. It’s nice to have the apples arranged in a flower-like circular pattern (see photo above.)
- Bake at 350 F for 50-55 minutes. The cake is finished when a cake tester come out clean and the apples are browning.
Notes
- This recipe works with either a gluten free flour mix or wheat flour.
- If you are using gluten free flour then I recommend mixing the buttermilk and flour together at least 15 minutes in advance to make sure the flour is fully hydrated. Prefermenting the flour with the buttermilk will improve flavour and texture of gluten free baked goods. To preferment the flour allow it to soak in the buttermilk for at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours.
- Though this recipe calls for buttermilk, you could use milk kefir, sour cream or yogurt.
Keywords: apple, gluten free, honey, refined sugar free, tea, coffee, soaked, prefermented, healthy, simple, summer, fall, winter, cake
This was FANTASTIC. I love everything about it and may even make it for my birthday. I really love the combo of soaked grains (I used whole wheat flour) and almond flour- how do you convert other recipes (paleo, regular, or nourishing traditions, whatever is easiest) to this combo of soaked grains and nut flour? How do you figure out bake time? Can you keep other ingredients the same? Paleo recipes are so crumbly and the other nourishing tradition soaked-grain recipe I made burnt on the outside when it still wasn’t done in the mdidle- this combo seems to solve both those problems. Any direction you can give would be most welcome!
★★★★★
Thanks! Sorry for my slow reply. Your comment got caught up in my end of summer vacation. 🙂 I always play around with flour, and often add almond flour to baked goods. Try replacing just 1/2 cup to some of your favourite recipes. It won’t absorb as much liquid, so you may need extra flour.