The best apricot cake I’ve ever made

One more week of the school holidays to go.  At this time of the year I always have mixed feelings: sad, as it’s so nice just to hang out with the kids and not have to rush anywhere, but also happy, because I’ll have more time to work on my blog and the kids will be too busy being back at school to fight with each other.  While they’re busy with a couple of those I-devices, I thought I’d get this recipe up for Torta di Albicocca (apricot cake) before the apricots are out of season.  Nothing worse than reading about a delicious recipe that you can’t make because the ingredients aren’t available!

I love cooked apricots.  Their taste condenses a lot when they are cooked, and with this apricot cake, it’s no exception.  The cake is simple and showcases the apricots to the full advantage of your taste-buds! You could of course use any other juicy stone-fruit in their place, but do try it with the apricots. No real reason, except for the fact that it’s really, really, really good!  Whenever I make this cake it disappears before I can steal a piece to take a photo of it for the blog (actually, I mean: to keep for myself so that I can eat it for breakfast the next day).

A cake that takes no time to make, and why Chardonnay grape seeds are good for hamsters

This cake can be whipped up in a hurry, which is a big bonus, plus it looks and tastes wonderful. It has no butter in it, so it could almost be considered healthy……..well, OK, it’s a cake after all, so don’t get your hopes up too much.  If you want healthy, just eat the apricots and forget about the rest. I used grape-seed oil, but any oil with no taste will work fine.  If you’re wondering: no, I’d never heard of grape-seed oil either.  Some friends left a bottle of it behind after staying at our place.  It has a lovely greenish colour, and seems very “light”. On Wikipedia it says that it’s relatively good for you (as opposed to other oils), and that hamsters that ate Chardonnay grape seeds managed to avoid becoming obese on a high-fat diet.  Hmmmm….I wonder if that works if you drink Chardonnay too?  I think I could be onto something!

Notes on making apricot cake

For this cake, I use the cake tin you can see in the photo above.  It’s 25cm (10 inches).  You could use a slightly smaller one or a bigger one, depending on what’s in your kitchen cupboard, or how thick (or thin) you want the cake to be. You’ll need to vary the cooking time accordingly.  For a larger tin, the cooking time will be less as the cake is thinner.  Just stick a knife or a skewer in it every so often to test it after the first 20 minutes. If it comes out clean, take the cake out of the oven.

Travel Photo Of The Week

Thinking of Summer: here’s the Travel Photo of the Week: The beautiful beaches of the island of Sardenia. This was taken about ten years ago and at that time, there was nobody around, even though it was the middle of Summer.  I’m not sure if it’s still like that now.  It’s amazing to be able to find empty places like this in Europe!

Just thinking of this apricot cake is making my mouth water, and I have some apricots sitting on the bench….I know what I’m going to do today!

By Lisa Watson

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Apricot cake

Easy to Make Apricot Cake. Find the recipe on Italian Kiwi!

Course cake, Dessert, sweet

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cake

Ingredients

• 300 g Flour 2 1/2 cups cake flour best; all-purpose works too
• 180 g White sugar 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp
• 4 tsp Baking powder
• 1 pinch Salt
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 3 Eggs
• 60 ml Milk 1/4 cup
• 150 ml Oil 2/3 cup - use a tasteless oil. I used grape-seed oil.
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract or 1 packet vanilla sugar
• 10 - 15 Apricots depending on their size

Instructions

• Heat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
• Beat the eggs, salt, vanilla essence and sugar with a standing mixer or an eggbeater at high speed until they become fluffy and whitish in colour.
• While still beating, add the milk and oil in a thin stream.
• Add the flour, zest and baking powder.  Mix in gently until combined.
• Put in a greased 25cm ( 10 inch ) cake tin.
• Cut the apricots in half and place them over the top of the cake batter.
• Bake for approximately 30 - 40 minutes until a tester comes out clean.
• Let sit for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool.

Yes, yes, I know….you’re looking at the photo of this dish, saying, “So what??? It looks like a plate of white spaghetti…..what’s the big deal, and why on earth are you putting this in front of me??” Well, that’s what I thought years ago when my husband, made it for me in the earlier days of our relationship when he wanted to impress me and still cooked for me . 🙂 Anyway, those uncharitable thoughts flew out the window when I tasted this spaghetti con aglio, olio e peperoncino (garlic, olive oil and chilli flakes)  My taste-buds said, “WOW! So he’s not being cheap after all!”. It’s a very simple, unassuming-looking plate of pasta, full of vibrant flavour that jumps out and slaps you in the face and says, ” Take that!  You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover!”, just as my mother has always said to me (without the slap!)…..though sometimes I still do it…..with books at least. 🙂

There are 3 main ingredients in this pasta (aside from the pasta, of course!): olive oil, garlic and small red chillies. As I just brought a tonne of crushed peperoncini back from Sicily (ah, yes, I’m talking about that place again….sorry…I’ll stop soon..ish…), I thought that this would be the perfect use for some of it. The flakes you see in the photo below come from a hot small chili that is used often in Italian cooking, particularly in the South of Italy.

These chillis that I brought back from Sicily are not too spicy, but are full of flavour.  The intensity varies, so test yours out first before throwing half a packet of them into the sauce!  One big warning!!!!  Remember  NOT to touch your eyes or lips after mincing these before you have washed your hands as well as a surgeon about to operate would.  This advice comes to you from personal experience, and from the experience of a male friend of mine who needed to use the bathroom just after chopping these chillis……OWCH!

To jazz the recipe up a little more, you can also add halved cherry tomatoes with the seeds removed. Just add them to the oil (carefully!) while the garlic and the chillies are cooking.

To find out how to cook pasta like an Italian does, check out my handy guide.

By Lisa Watson

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Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4 people for a first course

Ingredients

• 280 g Spaghetti
• 1 whole clove Garlic
• 70 -100 ml 1/4 cup - good quality Olive oil
• For the uninitated: 1/2 tsp flakes or 1 dried minced chilli. For heat lovers as many as you can handle! Peperoncino

Instructions

•  
• Cook the spaghetti according the the instructions on the packet or according to my post on cooking pasta.
• While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a small pot on low heat with the garlic clove and peperoncino in it.
• Lightly brown the garlic, but don't over-cook it.  The flakes of peperoncino should stay red and NOT turn dark brown or black!
• Remove the garlic clove from the oil.
• Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and mix it with the oil. Simple as that!