Apricot & Tayberry Cake

I made this cake for tea with my parents and our friends Fergus and Sara Jane. It's full of classic summer flavours, using fresh apricots and lots of home grown tayberries from the fruit cage. Tayberries are a cross between raspberries and loganberries, and if you can't find any near you then raspberries would do just as well. The review from Fergus? "Crunchy topped and sublime with a moist and yielding crumb".

Recipe
My own recipe.
Serves 6-8

for the cake:
3 large eggs, room temperature
200g golden caster sugar
200g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
200g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 apricots, cored and chopped small
approx 200g tayberries or raspberries
2 handfuls dessicated coconut
3 handfuls flaked almonds


1.Turn the oven to 170C (150C fan oven). Grease a 20cm round baking tin and line the bottom with baking paper.

2. Cream butter and sugar together for at least 3 minutes in a large bowl until fluffy.

3. Add the first egg and a tablespoon of the flour, and beat well until smooth. Repeat the process with the other two eggs one after the other, adding a little flour with each and beating until smooth.

4. Throw in the orange blossom water. Stir into the butter mixture, before adding the rest of the flour. Gently mix until combined.

5. Pour half the batter over the base of the cake tin, before placing the apricot and tayberries evenly over the top. Then add the rest of the batter over the top, spread and smooth down with a spatula. Make sure that the fruit is covered by the batter.

6. Sprinkle first the dessicated coconut and then the flaked almonds over the cake, then put in the oven to bake for approx 50 minutes. You'll know it's done when a skewer comes out clean.


7. Remove from the oven and leave the cake in its tin for 15 minutes before carefully turning it out onto a wire rack or a plate to cool.

8. Once cool, sift some icing sugar over the top and decorate with some more berries and mint leaves if you like.


9. Serve with a cup of tea and maybe some cream if you're that way inclined.

This cake was idly baked to the sound of Exile On Main Street by The Rolling Stones

Apple & Honey Tart

This is a delicate and delicious cake, a glam way to use up a glut of apples. The recipe doesn't use any eggs, giving it a tart-like quality, and the honey creates a gooeyness perfect for showcasing those pretty glazed apple slices. It's one of those cakes that not only tastes and looks great, but also makes the house sing with the sweet smell of warm honey and apple.

Recipe

Serves 8-10

Adapted from Tessa Kiros' recipe for Honey Tart, in her lovely book Piri Piri Starfish: Portugal Found. Buy the book on Amazon here. I've turned that simple recipe into a more complicated and pretty apple tart, with a sweet apricot glaze.

250g clear runny honey

125ml milk

100g butter

150g plain flour

3 medium apples or 2 large
juice of 1 lemon

1. Turn the oven to 180C (160 fan ovens), and grease a 20cm springform tin.

2. Core and cut the apples into thin slices, then toss in lemon juice to stop them browning and put to one side. Being an idle sort, I didn't cut my home grown apples that finely, because I like the rustic look, so just slice them thinner than this if you want yours to look more cosmopolitan! 

3. Gently mix the honey and butter together with a little milk.

4. Pour in the rest of the milk, before adding the flour and mix slowly until well combined.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin.

6. Place the apple slices in concentric circles over the cake batter, starting outside and working in. Press them gently into the batter.

7. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, then place foil over the top to prevent the apples from burning, and bake again for approximately 15 minutes more. You'll know it's done when the batter is brown and a skewer comes out clean.

8. Take the cake out of the oven, remove the foil, and leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before carefully placing on a plate or wire rack to cool further.

for the apricot glaze:
4 tablespoons apricot jam
2 teaspoons lemon juice

9. Warm the jam and lemon juice gently over a medium heat for 5 minutes.

10. Strain the warm glaze through a sieve, to get rid of any lumps, then using a pastry brush very gently brush the thin glaze over the top and sides of the cake, being careful not to dislodge any of the apple slices as you do so. Serve with icecream or cream.

This cake was idly baked to the sounds of Goldfrapp's album Seventh Tree

Apricot & Almond Birthday Cake

This simple and gorgeous recipe doesn't have to be saved for birthdays, but when I baked it earlier in the week to give my dear friend Kate a birthday tea it went down a treat. Fresh ripe apricots give the delicious cake real oomph and juiciness. This is supposed to feed 8, but Kate, Mr Eve and I managed to eat three quarters of it within the space of a few games of bananagrams. What can I say, the combination of old friends, bananagrams and apricot and almond cake is more than a tad addictive.

Recipe
Serves 8

Adapted from Nigel Slater's lovely Cake for Midsummer recipe, from his website. See the recipe here. I swopped his raspberries for extra apricots, and gave it a great zesty tang to balance the sweetness of the fruit by adding the finely grated zest of half a lemon.

For the base:
8 small apricots (maximum 400g), halved, stoned and chopped into small pieces
zest of half a small lemon, finely grated
175g butter
175g plain flour
175g caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
100g ground almonds
2 tablespoons milk

1. Turn the oven to 180C (160C fan ovens). Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.

2. Mix the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and smooth.

3. Add the first egg, and beat well before adding the second into the mixture. Beat again, before throwing in the ground almonds and grated lemon zest.

4. Next sieve in half the flour and the baking powder, and stir gently with a metal spoon until well combined.

5. Sift in the rest of the flour, after which spoon in the milk. Continue stirring gently and then add the chopped apricots, mixing into the the batter briefly.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin and place in the oven for approx 40 minutes. You'll know it's done when the top bounces back under your finger, and a skewer comes out clean.

7. Leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, before turning it out onto a wire rack or plate.

For the topping:
1 or 2 tablespoons icing sugar
2 small apricots

8. When the cake has cooled, sieve the icing sugar ontop, perhaps also tying a ribbon in a bow around the cake for decoration.

9. Halve and quarter a couple of extra apricots, and place the quarters in a circle over the cake.

This cake was idly baked to the sounds of John Coltrane's album Blue Train