“Eight Red Astrakan, two Wilton Twig, three Hubbardston Nonsuch, one Keswick Codlin…” The orchard plan from a page in Joseph Gundry’s 1869 daybook reads like a fantasy of heritage apples–and all with such whimsical names! But if you visit Gundry’s former estate in Mineral Point, WI, the apples no longer exist, gone along with three quarters of the 17,000 apple varieties that used to thrive in the United States. In ongoing efforts to turn this around, orchardists and plant geneticists have succeeded in bringing tasty heritage apple varieties back from the brink. That means you’re more likely to find them at farmers markets this season! This beautiful, easy-to-make vintage apple cake is the perfect way to showcase the best of them. Made with simple ingredients that allow the apple flavors to stand out, the cake is tall and tender.
Known as Torta di Mele in Italy, the cake goes back centuries, with all sorts of regional variations. Some mix in nuts or dried fruit. Others add cinnamon or a fancy spiral of sliced fruit on top. But all versions keep apples at the cake’s core.
Our delicious version requires just one mixing bowl and a handful of ingredients: butter, flour, sugar, eggs, milk, yeast, lemon zest and plenty of fresh chopped apples. (So, a vintage “dump cake!” ) To make sure the recipe worked with both heirloom and easily obtainable apples, we baked it both ways: The cake shown in the main photo was made with Honeycrisp. Another was made with heirloom Discovery apples from Nichols Farm in Marengo, IL (shown in the ingredient photo) which originated in Essex, England in 1949 and are a cross between Worcester Pearmain and Beauty of Bath apples. Both cakes were delicious!
If you want to make your cake look fancier, you can spiral slices of some of the apple on the top of the cake before baking, but we opted to simply chop the apples into bite-sized pieces and stir them all in. Not too sweet, this cake works well for coffee or tea, or—with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert. NOTE: My springform pans are old, so I usually wrap the base in aluminum foil and line the baking rack with a sheet of it to ensure no drips escape from the pan while baking. For more delicious apple recipes, try our Classic Apple Pie, our tall and tempting Melting Apple Cake, our Hubba Hubba Cake , our savory Choucroute with Pork Chops & Apples, or our Deep Dish Cranberry Apple Pie
