It’s stone fruit season. That means peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, and apricots. I especially enjoy a good apricot. How about you?
As for incorporating apricots into a cake, from a flavor standpoint, apricots have a strong affinity for almonds. Thus, the base of the cake is a combination of finely ground almonds and all-purpose flour. The ground almonds lend the cake a pleasing nuttiness and texture. When it comes to dessert, I tend not to like things that are one note, overly sweet. Accordingly, apricots, with their moderate degree of inherent sweetness, work well in this dessert. Ideally, you’ll want apricots that are just-ripe, slightly firm but still sweet. The olive oil keeps the cake super moist and contributes to its nice, dark exterior.
That being said, I think you could swap out the apricots for any number of stone fruit. Cherries might be nice. Ditto for plums.
All and all, a tasty and easy-to-prepare cake. Just combine the wet ingredients in a bowl. Next, combine the dry ingredients in another bowl. Then, combine the wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk to combine. All ingredients are simply whisked by hand, which makes for an easy clean-up (I like cooking, but hate doing dishes). Pour the mixture into a springform pan and bake.
Serve with a dollop of freshly whipped cream on top? Up to you.
Happy baking!
Apricot, Almond & Olive Oil Cake
makes one 9-inch cake
3/4 cup raw cane sugar
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
2 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup olive oil, plus extra for brushing pan
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup almond flour, like this
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Large pinch of sea salt
7 apricots, halved and pit removed
2 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped pistachios
Powdered sugar, for topping
Preheat oven to 375F.
Line a 9-inch cake pan with a circle of parchment paper and brush sides and bottom with a bit of olive oil.
In a bowl, mix the sugar and zest together. Add the eggs, milk, olive oil, vanilla extract and almond extract. Whisk together until smooth.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Pour into the prepared cake pan. Top the cake with the apricots. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios.
Bake the cake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about an hour. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes until cool enough to handle.
Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
