Learn how to make the best Italian apple yogurt cake with this easy recipe, a dense apple torte flavoured with lemon zest and loaded with thinly sliced apples. This is such an easy fall dessert with apples!
I love the crispy sugar topping that crackles as the cake cools and its crispy texture is a welcome sweet contrast to the soft, slightly tart apples. This is a great snacking cake and lovely for the end of fall.
I adapted this apple yogurt cake recipe from David Rocco's cookbook Made In Italy. Among other things, I reduced the butter because I noticed some of it leaked out of the cake while baking, and I also increased the sugar slightly to enhance the flavour. I added step-by-step photos to better illustrate how to mix the batter.
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Ingredients To Make Old-Fashioned Apple Yogurt Cake
The beauty of this old-fashioned apple yogurt cake recipe is the simplicity of the ingredients. Here's what you need:
- apples: I generally bake with Cortland apples because they hold up well to heat without breaking down. Alternatively, you can try Gala apples or Honeycrisp
- sugar: this cake is made with granulated sugar to add sweetness without any flavour that could mask the taste of the apples and lemon zest
- butter: this recipe was tested with unsalted butter. If using salted, you may adjust the salt added to avoid making the cake too salty
- flour: I bake with bleached all-purpose flour. Unbleached will work, but the cake may be less tender
- yogurt: use 2 % (low-fat) yogurt (not Greek yogurt, which is too thick)
- eggs: I bake with large eggs. If you use smaller or larger eggs, it may have an impact on the texture of your cake
- salt: I bake with Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular salt, add half the amount.
Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.
You can obviously add flavour extracts like vanilla extract or almond extract to enhance the flavour of this apple cake.
How To Make Italian Apple Yogurt Cake
This Italian apple yogurt cake isn't leavened. Instead, we whip the butter, sugar, and eggs until light and fluffy, then incorporate the dry ingredients and yogurt, and fold in the apples. This creates an apple pound cake of sorts with a denser texture. Here's how you make it:
Step 1: Start by mixing the sugar with the lemon zest (image 1) to extract the lemon oils from the peel to bring out as much flavour as possible, then add the melted butter (image 2) and whip it for several minutes until thick before adding the eggs, one at a time (image 3). The mixture will be glossy and light at this point (image 4).
Step 2: Sift in a third of the dry ingredients (image 5) and stir them in, alternating with half the yogurt (image 6). Repeat this, then finish by mixing in the remaining dry ingredients, then folding in the thinly sliced apples (image 7), reserving a few to decorate the top of the cake before baking.
Step 3: Transfer the batter to the 8-inch springform pan, garnish the top with the reserved apple slices, and sprinkle with the extra sugar (image 8). Bake the cake until golden brown. The edges separate from the cake pan and a cake tester inserted into the middle will come out clean (image 9).
This apple yogurt cake is a dessert recipe adapted from David Rocco's "Made in Italy" (page 341). The recipe is really simple and can even be mixed together by hand (or with a hand mixer, as David Rocco recommends) if you don't have a stand mixer. The cake has a lovely moist texture and is full of apple slices. The original recipe said to bake the cake for 40 minutes, but mine took over an hour to bake.
If you tried this recipe for the best apple yogurt cake (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Old-Fashioned Italian Apple Yogurt Cake
Ingredients
- 156 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 1.25 mL ground cinnamon
- 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 150 grams granulated sugar
- 15 mL finely grated lemon zest
- 150 grams unsalted butter melted, plus a little extra for buttering the pan
- 2 large egg(s)
- 115 grams yogurt (2 % fat)
- 2 Cortland apple(s) peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- 50 grams granulated sugar for the topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment, then butter and flour the sides.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix the 150 grams (¾ cup) of sugar and the lemon zest to extract the lemon oil from the peel
- Add the melted butter and mix until the mixture thickens and lightens in colour.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low, then add the flour mixture alternately with the yogurt, beginning and ending with the flour.
- Set aside 15 apple slices for garnish, then add the remaining sliced apples to the mixer bowl with the yogurt cake batter. Fold them in
- Transfer the batter to the prepared springform pan and smooth the top. Garnish the top of the cake with the reserved apple slices and sprinkle evenly with the remaining 50 grams of sugar.
- Bake until the edges begin to separate from the sides of the pan and a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean. This takes about an hour.
- Let cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it before removing the springform ring. Let cool completely before serving.
Notes
- This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
- The recipe is very light on cinnamon. For more flavour, double it!
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Nutrition
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Shabs says
I tried out this recipe for my husband's birthday and everyone loved it ! Thank you so much for sharing it ! The crust is lovely 🙂
abby says
I pinned the recipe from pinterest and am making it tomorrow. I read all the other comments and may just cut the butter down a bit it sounds like I could get away with it. I love the look of the flaky top and it seems simple to make. My friend is making an apple cake and so i will be ready with this to share and compare.
Anonymous says
The flavor is good, but what I ended up with is such a greasy mess! Butter boiled over in the oven, and even after the cake was done I had such a pool of melted butter on top that I had to pour it off into the sink. Mine was such a disaster that I'm shocked that anyone could make this cake as written and have it turn out. If I ever try it again, I'm cutting the butter in half.
Jan says
I am very sorry you had trouble with the recipe. Are you sure that you measured the butter correctly? I have made this a few times, and never had a "pool of melted butter" on top. Also, many people have taken this recipe and blogged about it, and none had your complaint, so I'm not sure where it went wrong. Ashley commented above that she successfully halved the butter without a problem so that will work! I guess the only advice I can give you is that if at first you don't succeed, try again 😉
Anonymous says
The same thing happened to me the first time. I think the difference is whipping the butter and sugar until it thickens and gets fluffy and light. I didn't melt mine all the way, but left it very, very soft. I also decreased the butter, but only by about 3 tablespoons. I used a paddle when I mixed it the first time and the whisk attachments on my handheld mixer the second time. It seemed to really need the air that a whisk attachment creates. Second one in the oven now, but there was a very noticeable difference in the batter. I'm hopeful.
Janice Lawandi says
Hmmm, this recipe seems more finicky than I realized! I am glad you are trying it again, and if I have time I will do the same to check it again. I hope your second batch works out!
shruti says
i made this tday, tastes great ! i reduced butter by 100gms and added 100gms yogurt instead, in addition to 125ml yogurt. its like apple pie/bread pudding in terms of texture 😀 everyone at home loved the cake...thanks for the recipe 🙂 half over already, will finish it tom 😉
jasmine says
This looks like my dream cake. I'm going to bake it this week with Greek yogurt! Can't wait to try it. Thank you for sharing... found you through Pinterest!
Anonymous says
oct. 6 2012
the apple yogurt gateau is really excellent. granny smith as one of the apples imparts tartness. i was a bit confused with melted butter as whipping that into a light mixture with the sugar is really quite difficult. i used some eggs(mixed into the sugar and butter mix) that were really cold and thus the mixture congealed much better and whipped into a light mixture. perhaps using butter at a really soft room temp. is what is meant. my experience with baking is that melted butter when the butter fat and the solids seperate makes for a heavy batter and a heavy cake.
i was also puzzled about there not being an agent for rising as it was called a cake, as it was published in the local newspaper i searched the internet for the recipe to make sure that no baking powder and or soda was called for and the newspaper had made a mistake in not including it. that is why this is really a true European gateau and not such as the north american cake is defined. this recipe is certainly one that will be a regular item in this household. excellent.
Jan says
Thanks for sharing your input on this recipe! I honestly find it very forgiving and it seems to always turn out (even if the eggs are cold, for example). Glad you enjoyed it and it turned out well, but you are right that it is more of a European "torte" perhaps 😉
Ashley says
I've made this cake twice and loved it but it turns out I was inadvertently halving the amount of butter called for (somehow using 7/8 STICK instead of 7/8 CUP). Just wanted to throw that out there for anyone who wants to lighten the cake up a bit! It was still crazy moist and delicious.
Oh, and I did use mostly greek yogurt (2%) thinned out a tiny bit with some milk. I'm trying it for a third time today made with pears instead of apples. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Lori says
Absolutely brilliant recipe - so good and simple ingredients.
Hettle says
Hi! Loved this recipe thank you for sharing, I found this thru pinterest and blogged about it today here.
http://hettlecreative.blogspot.com/
Cheers! Gina
Sophie Tran says
does it matter what type of apples to use?
Jan says
I would avoid apples like McIntosh that turn to mush when cooked. I usually bake with Cortland apples. Delicious(red or golden)apples would work too!