Maple Apple Cake with Oatmeal Streusel (Torta di Mele)

This maple apple cake has all the fall flavors you're looking for - warm cinnamon, sweet maple syrup and a crumbly oatmeal streusel topping. Torta di Mele is Italian for "Apple Cake" but this recipe has some not-so-traditional additions that amps ups the apple flavor, in my opinion. Perfect to bake on a cozy night in or to make ahead for a holiday celebration.

What is Torta di Mele (Apple Cake)?

Torta di Mele is Italian for "apple cake." It's traditionally served as something to accompany coffee, as a dessert or just something to offer when you have those last-minute visitors come over. My great-aunts would always have some version of this cake ready at a moment's notice.

My version of this recipe veers away from the traditional and dials up the cozy fall and winter flavors.

This maple apple cake is essentially a loaf cake topped with a crumbly topping, in the form of an oatmeal streusel, so there's no need for frosting, syrups or fillings. As a bonus, the warm flavors of cinnamon, maple and apple will strongly perfume your house as you bake this cake - what's not to love about that?!

Jump to:

• What is Torta di Mele (Apple Cake)?
• Why You'll Love This Recipe
• Ingredients You'll Need
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• Substitutions and Variations
• Equipment
• Which Apples Are Best for a Maple Apple Cake?
• How to Make a Great Streusel Topping
• What Do I Serve with Maple Apple Cake?
• Storing Maple Apple Cake
• FAQ
• Tips and Tricks
• Related Recipes
• Maple Apple Cake with Oatmeal Streusel (Torta di Mele)

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• Amped up fall flavors. This maple apple cake will get you in the mood for all things fall with the sweet maple and warm cinnamon flavors. Your whole house will smell of these delicious flavors as you bake this cake so it's the perfect recipe to start the season of baking. Or, make it when you're craving fall flavors, regardless of the time of year!
• A dessert for many occasions. Serve this maple apple cake with coffee for a cozy breakfast or as a sweet ending to a meal with friends and family. This recipe is versatile enough to serve whenever, wherever.
• Only two apples needed! The apple flavor is very present in this cake but this recipe only calls for two apples - how is that possible? You'll use one tart apple and one sweet apple and, combined, these two types of apple provide all the sweetness and texture you'll need. Remember, quality, not quantity!

Ingredients You'll Need

• All-purpose flour. You'll need this for both the maple apple cake and the oatmeal streusel.
• Butter. Another ingredient you'll need for both the cake and the streusel - melted for the cake and at room temperature for the streusel.
• Granulated sugar. Adds to the sweetness of the cake along with the maple syrup.
• Vanilla bean paste. One of those key baking ingredients that take the recipes to the next level! Vanilla bean paste is highly recommended but can be swapped with the seeds from a scraped vanilla bean pod or just good quality vanilla bean extract.
• Cinnamon. Brings in the earthy, fall flavors to both the maple apple cake and the oatmeal streusel.
• Maple syrup. Use the best quality syrup you can find! This will really pump up the flavors of this cake.
• Brown sugar. Pack it in when measuring to make sure you have the right amount for the oatmeal streusel.
• Old fashioned oats. These will give the streusel a nice bite.
• Eggs. Keep these at room temperature so they combine nicely with the sugar and are able to increase in volume when beaten together.
• Kosher salt. Round out the sweetness of the cake with salt - a must for all baked goods.

Step-by-Step Instructions

• Line your loaf pan + preheat. Use parchment paper to make it super easy to remove the maple apple cake from the pan once it's finished baking. I like to secure the parchment paper with small binder clips so it's easier to pour the batter without the parchment moving around - just make sure to remove them before placing the pan in the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F so it's ready when you are.
• Sift. Make sure your dry ingredients are well combined as you sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
• Beat together. In a medium bowl, you'll want to beat together your room temperature eggs and sugar using a hand mixer. Beat together for about a minute or until the eggs have doubled in size. You'll want this extra volume so the maple apple cake has some lightness to it.
• Peel and cube. Peel the Granny Smith apple and cut in half. Place one half of the apple in the blender and cube the other half in quarter inch cubes. These will provide some texture to the cake so make sure they're not too big. Set the cubes aside.
• Make the maple apple sauce. Peel the Fuji apple, cut in half and place in the blender, along with the maple syrup, melted butter, cinnamon and vanilla bean paste. Blend for about 15 seconds. You're trying to create a maple apple sauce in the blender so make sure everything blends together nicely. Side note - this will smell divine!
• Combine the ingredients. Pour the reserved diced Granny Smith apples and maple apple sauce into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix together until it's just combined, making sure you don't over mix! Then, fold in the egg and sugar mixture delicately until just combined. Again, make sure you don't over mix in this step.
• Make the oatmeal streusel. Combine the room temperature butter with the brown sugar, flour, oatmeal and old fashioned oats. Using gloves, mix all the ingredients together. You're looking for a mixture that resembles wet sand and groups together into small-ish clumps. If the butter is too soft, place the bowl in the freezer for no more than five minutes so the butter firms up and helps form tight streusel clumps.
• Pour and bake. Pour the maple apple cake batter into the lined loaf pan gently. Sprinkle the oatmeal streusel over the top of the batter and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Monitor for doneness starting at the 35-40 minute mark using a sharp knife. If it comes out mostly clean once inserted in the middle of the cake, your cake is done!

Substitutions and Variations

• Apples. Since we're only using two apples for this cake, I selected the Granny Smith for texture and the Fuji for sweetness. I found these two apple varieties gave the best taste and bite for this recipe. However, you can use any apples you have at home. Try blending the sweeter apple and cubing the more tart apple so you achieve that balance of taste and texture.
• Vanilla bean paste. This ingredient is a game-changer in my opinion but not essential if you don't have it. You can substitute the vanilla bean paste in this recipe with the seeds from a scraped vanilla bean pod or a tablespoon of a good quality vanilla extract.
• Oatmeal. If you don't have oatmeal or don't want to use it as part of your topping, make a crumble topping without it! While oatmeal provides a little heartiness to the topping, you can absolutely omit it or even swap it with something else like chopped walnuts or almonds.

Equipment

• Loaf pan. I used a 10 inch pan for this recipe. It's not too small and not too large and leaves a little room for the maple apple cake to rise.
• Sifter. I love this old-style sifter because it has a large capacity.
• Electric handheld mixer. This handheld mixer is my favorite! However, you can also use a stand mixer.
• Blender. In this recipe, I'll show you how to make a sort of apple sauce with some of the wet ingredients so a good blender will help you get that saucy consistency in no time.

Which Apples Are Best for a Maple Apple Cake?

You want a mix of tart and sweet apples for this maple apple cake. And, since we're including bite-sized apple pieces inside the cake, we also want to make sure some of your apples are firm so they don't turn to mush.

The best combination for this maple apple cake are tart Granny Smith apples and sweet Fuji apples. We'll use half the Granny Smith apples as the small diced ones for the inside of the cake and the Fuji apple will be blended to make our apple sauce.

If you don't have these specific apples on hand, you can really substitute any apple. However, for the best balance of texture and taste, opt for a sweet apple variation along with a tart, firm variation.

How to Make a Great Streusel Topping

Things can get a little messy so I like to use gloves to mix all the ingredients together. You can use a fork instead but I like the texture of a crumb that's mixed together by hand.

For this oatmeal streusel topping, we're using room temperature butter. However, if the butter is too soft and doesn't give way to nice clumps, you can pop the streusel bowl in the freezer for about five minutes. This will solidify the butter just a bit and help you get those coveted streusel crumbs.

What Do I Serve with Maple Apple Cake?

A warm beverage, like a strong cup of coffee or a delicate tea is perfect to go along with this cake. To take it over the top, serve this cake with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream! It also makes for a great breakfast so slice it up and enjoy on a cozy morning.

Storing Maple Apple Cake

You can store this maple apple cake for up to four days. Place it in an airtight container or cover with foil and store at room temperature.

This cake does not need to be reheated. In fact, I think it tastes better once it comes up to room temperature than warm right out of the oven.

While you can freeze the baked cake and thaw it out, I wouldn't recommend it because the texture may not be desirable.

FAQ

Tips and Tricks

• Don't over mix. If you over mix the ingredients together, this will result in a dense, tough cake. Make sure to gently mix and fold together the batter until it just comes together, not any more than that!
• Streusel texture. If your streusel is too messy or not clumping correctly, your butter is probably a little too soft. Pop in the bowl with your streusel ingredients in the freezer for just a couple of minutes to get the butter a little colder. This will help you make the clumps of streusel a little easier.
• Let it cool down! This maple apple cake tastes best once it's come to room temperature so let it cool down. It'll make for easier cutting this way, too!

Did you try out this recipe? I'd love to know how it went! Leave me a comment and rating below or tag me on Instagram at @AFabulousBite!

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