Sunday, September 19, 2010

Apricot & Almond Slice

Delicious, moist, buttery cake.  Just as I like it! I love buttery cakes. The canned apricots are a little sourish with the tangy taste of the fruit and this really pairs well with the cake which is not too sweet (after I reduced the sugar).  I think this would be lovely with fresh apricots!  This is a really tasty and delicious cake to share with family and friends.  








I'm bringing this to 
Potluck Sunday at Mommy's Kitchen
Cookbook Sundays at Brenda's Kitchen
 please click to see more delicious treats at Potluck Sunday and Cookbook Sundays.

Apricot & Almond Slice
(adapted from "Biscuits, Baking & Cakes" by Gina Steer)
Ingredients :
2 tbsp demerara sugar
25gm/1 oz flaked almonds
400gm can apricot halves, drained
225gm/8oz butter
225gm/8oz caster sugar (I use 180gm)
4 medium eggs
200gm/7oz self-raising flour
25gm/1oz ground almonds
1/2 tsp almond essence
50gm/2oz  ready-to-eat-dried apricots, chopped
3 tbsp clear honey
3 tbsp roughly chopped almonds, toasted

Method :

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.  Oil a 20.5cm/8 inch square cake tin and line with non-stick baking paper.
  2. Sprinkle the sugar and the flaked almonds over the paper, then arrange the apricot halves cut-side down on top.
  3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
  4. Gradually beat the eggs into the butter mixture, adding a spoonful of flour after each addition of egg.
  5. When all the eggs have been added, stir in the remaining flour and ground almonds and mix thoroughly.
  6. Add the almond essence and the apricots and stir well.
  7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, taking care not to dislodge the apricot halves.  Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until golden and firm to the touch.
  8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly for 15-20 minutes.  Turn out carefully, discard the lining paper and transfer to a serving dish.  Pour the honey over the top of the cake, sprinkle on the toasted almonds and serve.
(my notes : I use orange essence instead of almond essence.  The cake was done at 48 minutes instead of 1 hour, so watch out for the baking time. I omitted the last step of pouring the honey and toasted almonds, as the top is already moist!)

12 comments:

  1. This looks so moist! And I love the almond slices atop.

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  2. Oh my goodness, this looks SO good! I would just love this cake and I'd love to try it with the honey on top too (I have a huge sweet tooth, lol). This recipe looks like a winner, thanks for sharing!

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  3. It does look moist and delicious and I like the fact that it's not too sweet. Very nice!

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  4. Wowww wat a fabulous looking apricot and almond slice..simply gorgeous..

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  5. Hi Angie
    Hi Brenda
    Hi Savoring Time in the Kitchen
    Hi Priya
    Thank you for your nice words. Have a nice day!

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  6. I am always attracted to recipes with apricots and almonds too! - this cake is definitely calling my name! What kind of sugar is "demerara" - would this be considered "brown sugar"? And what about "caster sugar" - would that be white sugar?

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  7. Just coming back to say thank you for linking up to my Cookbook Sundays! Hope you're having a wonderful day!

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  8. wow, that's awesome - my family is from Malaysia - I moved to Canada at age 4. They would love it if I tried some of your recipes. yum! :)

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  9. This looks so buttery, moist and delicious! I love that you used orange essence too! Lovely.

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  10. Hi Avril,
    Demerara sugar is large grain and golden yellow in colour, you may use brown sugar. Caster sugar is superfine sugar (not powdered sugar). You may make your own by processing granulated sugar in a dry mill or blender until fine, but not powdered.
    Hope this info helps and if you're trying out this cake, enjoy! Thank you for stopping by and have a nice day!

    Hi Brenda,
    It is fun linking to Cookbook Sundays! I have tons of recipes in my to do list and this is a good way (and delicious too!) to finally get all the recipes into action!

    Hi Tia,
    It's nice to know that your family is from Malaysia! Are you into spicy food? Thank you for stopping by. Will visit you soon! Have a nice day.

    Hi Reeni
    Thank you! Have a lovely day!

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  11. My mother would love this recipe.. she likes baking cakes on the side during her day-offs.. Did you end up with a lot of leftover apricots from the can?

    Beautiful presentation.

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  12. OMG - I know that I would adore this cake. We are at the height of fresh apricot season here right now, so I really need to give this a try.

    Thanks so much for sharing this at Make it with ... Mondays, challenge almonds. Thanks also for your suggestion about putting the various challenge dates on my side bar - that's a great idea and I'm on to it.

    Sue :-)

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