Bolzano Apple Cake
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Scented with vanilla and custardy in texture, this simple apple cake comes together in one bowl and emerges golden-crusted. It is one of the most delicious apple cakes I make and never fails to please adults and children alike.

The roots of Bolzano apple cake lie in the Alto Adige region of Italy, where Scott Carsberg of Seattle’s Lampreia trained as a young chef. There, Carsberg worked at the Michelin one-star restaurant, Villa Mozart, whose menu reflected the simple foods of the region, and whose chefs taught him how to make Bolzano apple cake, a classic northern Italian peasant dessert.
Over twenty years later, Carsberg put the cake on his menu, serving it with caramel ice cream. Yum (Read more about Carsberg, Lampreia, and the Bolzano apple cake in this New York Times article: Seattle Grown, Italian Flavored.)
I adore this cake, and I want you to, too. Some of you, however, have had trouble with this recipe, mostly with the baking time, which some of you have noted has taken as long as 90 minutes. I know every oven is different and every pan conducts heat differently, so baking times will surely vary, but I worry that cooking this “cake” for over an hour will severely alter its delicate texture and flavor.
Why? Because Bolzano apple cake is more like a cross between a clafouti and a pancake. After the cake is removed from the oven, it falls, and the slices of vanilla-seed speckled apples meld together sinking into the tiniest of tiny layers of custardy cake. It is delectable.
If you fear your oven’s temperature and dial aren’t quite calibrated accurately — mine certainly are not — I recommend getting one of these little oven thermometers. Mine hangs from my top oven rack, and I refer to it every time I use my oven.
When testing the doneness of this cake, inserting a knife will offer little guidance. The paring knife I used emerged covered with little bits of batter. I still removed the cake from the oven after 55 minutes of cooking and let it cool in its pan on a rack for more than 30 minutes before tucking in.
I most enjoy eating this cake when it has cooled to room temperature. I’d wager, in fact, that it peaks at breakfast the next day. Good things come to those who wait? Or something like that.








Bolzano Apple Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 cake
Description
Source: Adapted from The New York Times 2004
I’ve adjusted the recipe only every so slightly in that I make this in one bowl, whisking the salt and baking powder directly into the batter, and adding the milk and flour successively as opposed to alternately.
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter (4 ounces | 114 g), plus more for greasing pan
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (200 g) sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- 3 to 4 apples, such as Fuji or Honey Crisp (about 1¼pound)
- ½ cup (64 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (140 g) milk at room temperature
- powdered sugar
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375ºF. Grease a nine-inch-circle pan with butter. Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan and place inside pan. Grease sides of pan and parchment round with butter.
- Melt butter in small saucepan. Set aside. Beat together eggs and half of sugar in a bowl. Continue to beat while slowly adding remaining sugar until thick — it should form a ribbon when dropped from spoon.
- Split vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape seeds into the egg-sugar mixture and add pod to melted butter.
- Peel apples and cut straight down around the core into four big chunks. Discard the core then slice the apple pieces thinly.
- Remove vanilla pod from butter and discard. Whisk butter into the sugar-egg mixture. Add the salt and baking powder and whisk to combine. Whisk in the milk. Whisk in the flour.
- Add the apples, and use a spatula to incorporate them, coating every piece with batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 25 minutes, then rotate the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes more, or until the cake pulls away slightly from the pan and is brown on top. Cool for at least 30 minutes, then cut into wedges sprinkling each with powdered sugar if desired.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: Italian, American
Keywords: apple, cake, vanilla bean, sugar
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106 Comments on “Bolzano Apple Cake”
Love all of your recipes! I now have a ton of apples and this recipe popped up. Super excited to make it now, but I dont have butter. May I use Rhapsolia Oil instead? If so, how much?
Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Michelle! Thank you 🙂 🙂 🙂
I am not familiar with Rhapsolia Oil … what is it similar, too? Generally when substituting oil for butter, you use a little less oil (maybe 75-80%) or so. So if a recipe calls for a cup of butter, use 3/4 cup oil.
Awesome
Great to hear, Louisa!
HUGE success! I’ve never made anything like this before, and it is sooo delicious! I’m a fairly inexperienced baker, so I approach every recipe with a little bit of insecurity. So it was a wonderful surprise when I tasted this.😍
★★★★★
Oh yay! So nice to hear this, Cassie! This is one of my oldest, most favorite recipes on the site. So glad you made it 🙂
While we’re “revisiting” (lol). I’ve taken to making this with some small adjustments from pastry studio blog and it turns out great every time. Less sugar (3/4 cup), toss the thinly sliced apples with zest and juice of a small lemon(because apple, lemon and vanilla -mmm) and bake 25 mins at 350, and then rotate and turn up to 375 for 25 mins. No more than 50 mins – turns out crusty on top and fully baked. Love this.
★★★★★
Marjorie, thank you for this! I have not made this in so long, and I have been meaning to revisit it yet again! Thank you for sharing all of your notes. I will absolutely try all of your suggestions next time around. Nothing better than apple, lemon, and vanilla — so good.
Ali, this is almost exactly a ‘well loved’ family apple cake recipe from my grandma, which we all make often. I grew up in Italy, so it makes total sense! My version only has a bit of butter on top, not in the batter, but my brother makes it with butter, and we go back and forth about which version is the original from nonna! Can’t wait to bake this version. It look exactly the same from the pictures!
No way! So nice to hear this, Susanna! I am planning on making my first of the season soon… it’s one of my favorites. Hope it lives up to your family’s various versions 💕💕💕💕
Thank you Ali! Tried for family dinner this week and everyone loved this. Fairly simple to make. Clean flavor. Somewhat overfilled my 9″ pan – will use a deeper one next time.
★★★★★
Hi. This recipe look delicious and I want to make it but I don’t have a vanilla bean. Can I substitute vanilla extract and if so, how much? Thx
Yes! I would use 2 teaspoons.
Is this like a Dutch Baby?
Similar in spirit for sure!
How much vanilla extract to use in lieu of vanilla bean? Love your recipes
I would use at least 2 teaspoons — this cake is very vanilla-y!
Can’t wait to make this! Quick question…. must the apples be peeled? Thanks!
They do not need to be peeled… totally a preference regarding texture. If you don’t mind them, leave them on 🙂
I made this cake with apples from my tree and a couple of substitutions for what I had on hand. So delicious!
★★★★★
What a lovely dessert Ali. I read Marjorie’s review and believed she was onto something…I used less sugar (3/4 cup) and tossed the thinly sliced honeycrisp apples with zest and juice of a small lemon. I also did not add the confectioner’s sugar and did not miss it. I hope you will try it this way – I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
★★★★★
Tried this recipe today for the first time and my family loved it!
When serving, did you remove enter cake from the pan or did you use a springform pan?
Should this be stored in the fridge or is it ok on the counter?
★★★★★
I tired it with Bobs Redmill gluten free flour and it turned out perfect!