Torta di Mele is a classic Italian cake made in the autumn and winter. Many Italians serve it as a go to for unexpected guests as it requires pantry staples and apples are usually abundant in fall and winter!
My original recipe can be found in my cookbook, Natalina’s kitchen: Bringing Homemade Back! It is made with all purpose flour , yoghurt and olive oil to keep it nice and moist! Many of my students tell me they love it and make it often! Click on the link to check out the classic Torta di Mele recipe along with the 50+ classic recipes that started my cooking school!
As I have been trying to eat “Gluten Light” these days I have adapted many recipes to Gluten Free and I think this recipe is actually more moist and delicious than the original! So Gluten Free does not mean tasteless and dry because I will have no part of that!
How do I adapt a recipe to Gluten Free?
I use mostly naturally gluten free flours that are ingredients that have been around for a long time and happen to be gluten free as well! I never use anything I can’t pronounce and I try to mix flours to achieve the best texture. I also take value into account as some gluten free flours are very expensive.
I find that you cannot just adapt regular recipes for gluten free just by switching out the flour for a gluten free flour all the time. Sometimes you can switch out a “gluten free flour blend” for an all purpose regular flour and that may work, but I prefer to use my own single varieties of flour and customize the recipes.
I will give you an example… for this recipe I like to use oat flour and rice flour. The oat flour is flavorful and can hold up the apple chunks well, think of an oatmeal muffin. The rice flour just lightens it up a little bit so it is more like a cake crumb and less like a muffin. It looks really dense in the photo and it is dense, but so moist…
Some of my other favorite GF flours are almond and quinoa but due to their unique textures and flavors I won’t just substitute them for regular flours. My Torta Caprese recipe is naturally gluten free as it uses almond flour and always has, so that’s a great dessert everyone enjoys! You have to also try my Amaretti Crostata which is also naturally gluten free as are the classic Amaretti Cookies!
With all these recipes to choose from you don’t need to skip dessert ever….!
Hey while you are here, have you subscribed below to receive these recipes in your inbox? I will also keep you up to date on my culinary events & tours and when we are getting back to Bella Italia post pandemic, I can’t wait!
Ciao for now, Natalina
Apple Cake, Torta di Mele GF
Ingredients
- 1 cup oat flour Make your own by finely milling oats in a food processor
- 1/2 cup rice flour Brown or white
- 1/2-3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup less sweet, 3/4 cup for sweeter
- 1/2 tbsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup plain Greek yoghurt I use 0 sugar, 0 fat
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 lemon zested divided in 2 portions
- 1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
- 2 apples of your choice peeled and cubed
Topping:
- 3 tbsp. sliced almonds
- 1/2 tsp. granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 the zested lemon from above
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Either prepare a 9 inch spring form pan with parchment paper or grease and dust with a gluten free flour.
- In a bowl, stir together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a seperate, large bowl , beat eggs, stir in yogurt, oil, half the lemon zest and cubed apples and cinnamon.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir just until combined.
- Scrape into the prepared pan and tap on the counter to remove air bubbles.
- Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle on top of the batter.
- Bake in the middle rack for 50 minutes to an hour or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool before removing form the springform pan and serving.
