Recipe Simple Bread Apple Cake

[MypinchofItaly]

This simple cake is easy to prepare and a really delicious idea to use that old, dry bread that one should never ever throw away. This cake has poor origin and I just love it.

The use of stale bread is one of the staples of Italian cuisine and this cake is a worthy representative of it since it was created primarily to use old bread then enriched with the addition of dried fruit and apples.

In Piedmont region, a similar dessert is prepared by adding cocoa powder to the egg and milk mixture.


Serves: 4 – (fills a Ø24 cm cake mould)| Preparation time: 20 mins | Cooking time: 50-60 mins

• Raisins: 60 g
• Walnuts (or Almonds): 60 g
• Milk: 500 ml
• Eggs: 2
• Apples: 3 (Italian Renetta or Stark Delicious or Golden or Granny Smith)
• Sugar: 4 tbsp
• Old bread: as needed (we used about 300 g)
• Cocoa powder or chocolate chips
• Unsalted butter, to taste
• Icing sugar: as needed

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

Soak the raisins in lukewarm water for at least 20-30 minutes, then squeeze them well to get rid of most of the water. Soak the stale bread in milk until it softens, then squeeze it.

Roughly chop the walnuts and set both the raisins and the walnuts aside

Tip: You can use a food processor to chop the walnuts – just be careful to not turn them into a fine powder, as the walnuts are meant to add texture to the cake.

Peel then thinly slice the apples and crumble bread with your hands. Beat up the eggs in a bowl, along with the milk and the sugar; whisk until they’re evenly mixed.

Butter the bottom and the edges of a cake mould, then cover the bottom with a first layer of bread. Use just about enough bread to create an even layer, then use the apple slices to create another even layer on top of the bread.

Pour a ladle of egg and milk mixture on top of the apple slices and bread chunks, use your fingers to gently press them down. Sprinkle raisins and walnuts on top of the apple slices along with choco-drops, then repeat the process from the beginning: a layer of bread, one of apple, a ladle of egg and milk mixture, then some raisins, walnuts and choco drops. Proceed in this fashion until you finish the ingredients.

Bake it to 180°C for about 50 mins.

Allow the cake to cool down at room temperature before serving it, garnished with some icing sugar.