This simple cake is a delicious combination of a light cake base and bright, juicy apricots set into the top.
Ingredients
- 8 apricots (or 6 if large)
- 3 eggs
- 115 g unsalted butter 8 tablespoon (1 stick)
- 113 g sugar ½ cup plus 1 tbsp
- 2 teaspoon lemon zest (from around ½ – ¾ lemon)
- 185 g all purpose flour 1 ⅓ cups, plain flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 packet vanilla sugar or ¼ teaspoon extract plus 1 tablespoon extra sugar
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Wash and cut the apricots in half, following the natural line between the two sides, and remove the stones.
- Set aside. Line a 9 in (23cm) square baking tin (can also use 8in/20cm square) with parchment and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.
- Whisk the egg whites until they are white and form soft peaks.
- In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolks and mix in then mix in the lemon zest. If you don’t have vanilla sugar, also mix in the vanilla extract at this point.
- Add the flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar and salt to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix the baking powder into the flour slightly to help it be better distributed, then mix all together so it is combined, but try not to over-mix.
- Fold the egg white into the main batter and mix through. Try to more fold rather than mix out all of the air, but you also don’t want any white streaks in the batter.
- Pour the batter into the lined baking tin then spread the batter to the edges and smooth the top.
- Top the batter with the apricot halves, cut side up so they have a little gap between them but are relatively close. Don’t press the apricots in, just sit them on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for around 35-40 minutes until the cake is golden on top and cooked through (you can test with a skewer in the middle of the batter, it should come out clean). Allow to cool a few minutes before cutting – you may find it easier to remove the whole cake using the paper edges as handles first.
