The apple loaf cake without butter is a soft and fragrant dessert, suitable to be enjoyed at various times of the day: it’s perfect for breakfast, along with a good cup of milk and coffee, as a snack with tea, or even at the end of a meal; rich in apples, it has a soft and moist texture just right to be served even on this occasion. With this apple loaf cake without butter recipe, rest assured that the apples – both the pieces in the batter and those on the cake’s surface – won’t sink during baking, but will be evenly distributed throughout the loaf cake.
Making the apple loaf cake without butter is easy and quick, and doesn’t require any special tools: I used a stand mixer, but the batter for this soft apple loaf cake works just as well with common electric beaters, as you can see in the video. To make it even more fragrant, I flavored the batter with a bit of grated lemon zest and a good amount of cinnamon. Depending on your taste, you can enhance the soft apple loaf cake with a shot of liqueur, a bit of vanilla aroma, or some orange zest.
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 8 servings
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Fall, Winter, and Spring
- Energy 333.46 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 45.97 (g) of which sugars 24.49 (g)
- Proteins 5.07 (g)
- Fat 15.63 (g) of which saturated 2.48 (g)of which unsaturated 12.14 (g)
- Fibers 1.98 (g)
- Sodium 21.61 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 70 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for an apple loaf cake about 9×4 inches
For the gluten-free version, I replaced the 200 g of all-purpose flour with the same amount of super fine rice flour. If you are celiac, remember that the following ingredients must have the “gluten-free” label: rice flour, potato starch, baking powder, sliced almonds.
- 2 eggs (medium)
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (or super fine rice flour for the gluten-free version)
- 1/4 cup potato starch
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp baking powder (one packet)
- 1 tsp lemon zest (grated)
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 2 Golden apples
- 1 Golden apple (or Royal Gala)
- as needed sliced almonds (or 2 teaspoons of brown sugar + 1 teaspoon of cinnamon)
Tools
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Loaf Pan 9×4 inches
- Parchment Paper
How to make the apple loaf cake without butter
To make the apple loaf cake without butter, start by cracking the eggs – preferably at room temperature for about half an hour – into a bowl. Add the sugar and a pinch of salt (1).
Whip them with electric beaters for a few minutes until they are light and frothy (2). At this point, add the cinnamon, lemon zest, and oil (3).
Continue to work the batter with electric beaters to perfectly incorporate the oil. Sift the flour, potato starch, and baking powder into the bowl (4).
Continue working the mixture with electric beaters for a couple more minutes until you get a smooth and homogeneous batter (5). Then peel two apples and cut them into fairly small chunks (6).
Add them to the loaf cake batter and stir carefully to distribute them evenly (7). Line a 9×4 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. If you don’t have one of these dimensions, check this guide to adjust the quantities of the apple loaf cake according to the size of your pan.
Pour the batter into it, smoothing it well with the back of a spoon (8). Then peel the remaining apple, remove the core, and cut it into wedges. Slice it into fairly thin pieces (9). If you prefer, you can leave the peel on the apple you place on the surface.
Arrange them on the surface of the loaf cake, close to each other, and as vertically as possible (10). If you like, decorate the surface of the apple loaf cake with sliced almonds (11). Alternatively, you can mix 2 teaspoons of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder in a bowl and use this mix to sprinkle over the cake’s surface.
Bake the cake in a preheated oven at 350°F (static) for about 45 minutes. Always check the cooking by inserting a toothpick before taking it out of the oven, then let it cool completely (12) before removing it from the pan.
Serve the apple loaf cake without butter for breakfast, as a snack, or after a meal.
Notes
Storage
To keep the apple loaf cake soft for 3 or 4 days, store it at room temperature under a glass or plastic dome.
Tips and Variations
The batter for the apple loaf cake without butter is quite thick, making it ideal for being enriched with various ingredients that won’t sink to the bottom: raisins, chocolate chips, or other types of fruit can replace the apples while keeping the other ingredient quantities unchanged.
With the same batter, you can make muffins: fill the appropriate molds to about half of their capacity (you will get 9-10 muffins) and bake them at 350°F in a static oven for 25-30 minutes.
Discover other delicious desserts with apples here!
