Italian Apple Cake

I look forward to the change of seasons and can’t wait to go the weekend farmers’ market to stock up on fall fruits and vegetables. As much as I am a huge fan of those glorious summer tomatoes, I am more than ready to move on to soups and stews and anything with apples.

Since my return form Lucca I’ve been thinking a lot about the Italian way with baked goods. You can certainly can find a cake with frosting and creamy fillings, but for the most part their desserts tend to be more understated and less sweet. I’ve been craving a cappuccino with slice of apple cake and so I turned to Jul’s Kitchen where I knew I’d find just what I was looking for.

I’m giving you the recipe as it was on Jul’s blog. Rather than convert the measurements from metric I used a food scale which I find a lot more reliable. This cake is exactly what I had hoped-not too sweet, but moist and full of apple flavor. I particularly like the addition of chopped apples in the batter.

Italian Apple Cake

4 apples
3 eggs
1 lemon, zested
170 g of sugar
150 g of butter (5 oz., melted)
200 g of flour
1 packet of baking powder (17 g)
milk

Preheat oven to 180°C. (400 F)
Peel and core the apples. Dice two of them and slice the rest of the apples. Put the diced and sliced apple into two different bowls and season them with a tablespoon of sugar, the juice and the grated peel of one lemon.
Whip the egg yolks with the sugar until creamy, then stir in the melted butter and gradually mix in the flour sifted with the baking powder. Stir in the diced apples.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and gently fold them into the batter.
If the batter is too thick, you can add a dash of warm milk. (I needed to add about 2 tablesloons milk)
Pour into a 24 cm (9″) greased and floured cake tin and arrange the sliced apples on the surface, in concentric circles.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, until it is golden brown on the surface. Serve: 8