Little One has a list of foods for nursery, and we were recently asked to tick a few more off (even though she eats most of the things on it!). One of these was apricots. And with fresh apricots in season, we gave them a go. The verdict: nice to poke, but not her favourite thing to eat! So I decided to find a recipe to use up the rest of them and came across this almond and apricot cake. I had all of the ingredients in the cupboard so I gave it a go, and it’s delicious! Next time, I might go slightly easier on the almond essence to let the apricots come through a bit more. But it’s a lovely, moist cake and is really easy to make.

The original recipe for this almond and apricot cake can be found here.

Ingredients

230g fresh apricots, chopped (or a drained 411g tin if they aren’t in season)

200g unsalted butter

200g golden caster sugar

3 large eggs

75g ground almonds

1 tsp almond extract

200g self raising flour

A handful of flaked almonds to decorate

Method

1. Heat the oven to 160 C /140 C fan / Gas 2/3. Line a deep loose bottomed 20cm (8 in) cake tin with baking parchment.

2. Drain the tinned apricots in a colander (see tip) and cut the drained apricots into pieces and keep to one side.

3. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat the eggs into the mix one at a time with an electric whisk. Stir in the ground almonds and the almond extract. Then sift the flour onto the mixture and fold in thoroughly. Gently fold in the reserved apricots.

4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin, and smooth the top, pushing down any apricot pieces that appear on the surface. Sprinkle the top with the flaked almonds and press slightly to flatten.

5. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Test with a skewer inserted into the cake to ensure it is cooked. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is cooked, otherwise give it a further 5 or 10 minutes until done. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool in the tin.

6. Place on a cooling rack and when completely cool remove the parchment.

This cake is delicious served on its own, or with cream or ice cream. Why not try custard on a chilly day?! Yum!