This is the 9th recipe that we are baking from Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas! If you’re wondering where’re my 7 and 8, unfortunately I missed these 2 bakes as I was overseas… But do check out here (#7) and here (#8) for the wonderful bakes from all other home bakers. Today is my turn to host, so I’m definitely not going to miss it!
If you’re wondering what The Home Bakers is all about, it’s about a bunch of passionate bakers who love to collect cookbooks and always face the same problem: we can never finish baking/cooking everything in the cookbooks! So, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours thought of a brilliant idea to round us all up and we made a commitment to bake every single item from a cookbook. We still have about 50 recipes left in our current chosen cookbook, so it’s never too late to join us 😉
When I saw the recipe title “Cinnamon-Apple Walnut Torte”, I immediately thought of a double or triple layered cinnamon-flavoured cake with apples and walnuts studded all around, and perhaps with a frosting! So without considering any further (nor read the instructions further), I told Joyce that this is the recipe I’m going to host. Afterall, my knowledge of “torte” is a multi-layered cake filled with buttercreams / jam (I was thinking of Sachertorte!)
Unfortunately, this recipe is far from what I had imagined! There are indeed apples and walnut studded around, but no buttercreams / jam, and no layers at all! Upon researching further on Wikipedia, I found out that “torte” can also refer to a cake that is “made with little or no flour, but instead with ground nuts… as well as sugar, eggs and flavouring”.
So, because of this recipe, I learned a new thing about “torte”! Are you enlightened like me as well? 😉
Back to this torte, I like this recipe as a mixer is not required (I used only a wooden spoon to mix everything together). Next, it’s also pretty healthy as there’s fruits, nuts, and very little fat (no butter is used!). It’s a bit pie-crust-filling / pudding like, just without a pie crust.
Taste-wise, to be perfectly honest, I’m not very sure whether I’ll be making it again as it’s not as cakey as I would have liked it to be and it’s a bit… normal. However, I would love to adapt it into a pie recipe – just imagine: apples, cranberries, nuts and cinnamon in a pie? It’d be a really good combination!
I wonder what other home bakers think about this torte?
Moving on to the step-by-step photos! First grab an egg.
(I made half the recipe, but the full recipe is provided at the end of the post.)
Lightly whisk the egg and add in vanilla extract / vanilla paste.
Add in some brown sugar.
Beat with a wooden spoon until the colour lighten.
(A little elbow grease is needed, but treat it as a workout!)
Next, stir in some flour, cinnamon and salt.
Sprinkle in the chopped apples.
And some cranberries.
(I chopped the cranberries as I found them too big.)
Lastly sprinkle in some toasted chopped walnuts.
Stir to mix them up!
Divide them among a shallow muffin tin. Or transfer them into a pie dish.
Sprinkle some chopped nuts, sugar and cinnamon on top.
Bake until golden brown!
Get ready to dig in!
Do check out here to see other Home Bakers bake on this torte! 😉
- 2 eggs
- (1 cup firmly packed) light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract / vanilla paste
- (1/4 cup) all purpose flour
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 115 grams (1 cup) chopped walnuts / pecans, lightly toasted, if desired
- 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
- ½ cup dried cranberries / golden raisins
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- Greek yogurt, vanilla ice cream, frozen yogurt or whipped cream to serve (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Butter a 9-inch pie pan generously. Alternatively, butter 12 mini muffin tins generously. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy with a wooden spoon. Beat in the brown sugar and vanilla until light in colour. You can also use an electric mixer for this step.
- Combine the flour, salt and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl and stir to mix them up. Stir gently into the egg mixture.
- Reserve ⅓ of the nuts for the topping. Add in the rest of the nuts, apples and cranberries into the batter and stir gently. Transfer the batter into the pie pan or divide it equally among the muffin tins.
- Combine the remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon, the reserved nuts and sugar in a bowl and sprinkle them evenly over the batter.
- Bake the pie for 25 to 30 minutes until the cake has set and is golden brown in colour. The muffins will take about 15 to 20 minutes to be done.
- Let the torte cool slightly - serve warm or at room temperature with yogurt, ice cream or whipped cream, if using.
[…] book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas. You can find the original recipe on Jasline’s site here. Also be sure to check out how my fellow members went with this bake here. We all bake from the same […]
Hi Maria! Ooh I’m glad you like the recipe! 🙂
Jasline, you picked a really tasty recipe! I enjoyed making it and I enjoyed eating it even more!
Hi Jasline,
Thanks for picking this recipe as I love apple crumble or apple pie but haven’t really baked anything involving apples in a long time so I’m looking forward to baking this. I also love the idea of baking them in muffin pans, I might try it with my cupcake pans if I am not too lazy 😉
Great pics as always!!
Loving that crunchy crumble on top! That photography is so great I just want to grab one off your plate. I hope you wont notice!
Awesome! What a great idea presenting them in muffins! Looks lovely & cute! I love this torte & it’s just a perfect timing for this apple recipe! Certainly baking this torte again , mamking most of the apples season. Might change it to pear just to give a try! Have a lovely day , Jasline! 🙂
[…] For the recipe, please go to Food Is My Life. […]
Yum! It looks so rich and delicious!
A perfect fall recipe must have apples and cinnamon! 🙂 Loving it! YUM!
I love how you think!
Thank you Chris!
Hi John, thank you, it’s a two-mouth dessert: less guilt and more reason to eat more!
Hi Lena, I think because it’s small, so it’s easier to scoop out without falling apart 😉 I love it with ice cream too, yum!
Hi Alice, thank you so much for the compliments 🙂 Hope your bake turns out delicious!
Hi Joyce! I’m so glad your family enjoyed it, I was hoping to turn the ingredients combination into a pie… we’ll see how 😉 Thanks for inviting me to join The Home Bakers! I had lots of fun 🙂 Take care!
Hi Mich, sorry to hear about your torte… haha yea I was a little sad it’s not a tall cake, but am glad as it’s still delicious! 🙂
Hi Zoe! I used only one egg, so I decided to do some work out 😉 I think using less apples allow the batter to hold better 🙂
Thank you!
Thank you 😀 They are low in fat as well 😉
Thank you Uru! 🙂
Not to mention it’s low in fat (no butter!) Thank you! 🙂
Looks so delicious and cute in the muffin size.
THese look delicious and are just the right size. If they freeze well they’d be just about perfect! Well, I kinda agree with you, preferring something a little more cake-like.
hi jasline, i think most of us also expecting a cake like dessert. Nevertheless i still find it delicious especially with that scoop of ice cream. YOurs actually look more cakey to me, i couldnt pick up a slice of mine, jst got to scoop it out!
i’m planning to bake in muffin pan too, easier to eat for this kind of bake with crumble topping 🙂 yours looks delicious! apple, cinnamon, cranberries, walnut… cakey or not, I still like 🙂
HI Jasline, A great idea to bake in muffin pans, makes serving so much easier! I really like this a lot! I was expecting something of a crumble-like bake when I read the ingredients and instructions, so I was prepared that it is definitely not cake-like! It turned out a delicious surprise that my family really enjoyed. I would definitely make this again. Thanks for a great pick! And thanks for the info on that link between cake and torte, interesting, never did really thought of that! Have a great week!
Jasline, your torte holds the shape very well, mine kind of fell apart! But it was delicious anyway… when i first made it, I dd not read the instructions too clearly either, and I sort of expected a cake but it wasn’t ha ha
Hi Jasline,
I thought that the egg and sugar mixture has to be beaten to a lighter colour and so I chuck my wooden spoon aside and use my electric mixer instead. This “torte” is light and delicious but I wish that there should be more batter to hold the cake better.
Zoe
I love these; so adorably delicious!!
Small, cute, and delicious looking.
What delicious and cute little autumn tarts 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I adore apples and anything made with them, this looks so good and so easy to make. Perfect fall dessert. Beautiful as always!