Baked apple little cakes

They taste fantastic, really! But before telling you about this recipe we’d like to make some preliminary remarks.

It is Carnival time and in Italy we use to make a lot of deep fried cakes such as those you can see in the photo. You can find a lot of these recipes in this page

Deep fried Carnival cakes, Italian style

But you know how much unhealthy fried cakes are. Fried cakes are rich in calories and fat. So it is better not to eat them  too much. They can be made seldom.

So we tried to make some fried cakes modifying the way of cooking: in other words baking them and not frying them.

Carlo and I use to bake instead of frying. Read more about our baked omelettes or light Carnival cakes.

In the next weeks we are going to show you how to make a perfect Milanese veal cutlet recipe that is not fried but baked or how you can bake fish fillets.

Well and now … step-by-step instructions to make these delicious apple little cakes.

Baked apple little cakes

Ingredients /Doses for 12-14 little cakes

160 g (5 3/4 oz) kamut flour

40 g (1 1/2 oz) sugar

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

30 g (1 oz) sultanas

2 organic oranges

1 organic lemon

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of powdered cinnamon

1250 g (9 oz) apple

Soak the sultanas in warm water for about 20-30 minutes.

Wash the lemon and oranges and pat dry with kitchen paper. Grate the peel of the lemon and one orange and put apart.

Squeeze the two oranges and put the juice apart. You need about 80 ml (3 fl oz – about 6 tablespoons) of orange juice. Add a  bit of milk if it isn’t enough.

Beat the whole egg and egg yolk together with the sugar until a foamy mixture forms. Add the grated lemon and orange peel, the amount of cinnamon you prefer and stir very well with a wooden spoon.

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Line two baking sheets with oven paper.

Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture of sugar and eggs and gradually whisk in the orange juice  until well combined.

The dough must be thick, on the contrary you can have some difficulties in composing your cakes on the baking sheet. Add other flour if necessary.

Peel the apple and cut it into thin slices. Drain the sultanas  and squeeze out. Add the apple slices and sultanas to the dough. Stir very well.

Spoon the dough on the baking sheet. You must get the shape you can see in the photo.

Bake for  20-25 minutes or until the surface is well golden.

Remove the sheets from the oven and after some minutes the cakes from the oven paper.

Sprinkle the cakes with sugar if you want.

Serve the cakes warm or cold. You can preserve them at room temperature for two or three days.

They are perfect for breakfast or afternoon snack.

They are a good example of healthy food for kids and adults.

We have to explain you why there is kamut flour in the ingredient list. Carlo and I use habitually kamut flour. It’s an healthy flour. In the next weeks we are going to show you what are its nutritive value.

Obviously you can make these cakes with all-purpose flour but be careful with the amount. Begin with less flour. You can add other flour if necessary. On the contrary it’s difficult to remedy to a greater amount of flour.

If you make these tasty baked cakes only for adults you can substitute the orange juice with milk to which you can add a bit of liqueur such as Cointreau or Strega or lemon-flavoured liqueur.

Enjoy these delicious cakes all year!

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta