A cheerful summer Apricot bake

I’m always very pleased to receive an old cookery book and this one came from a friend’s mum. Entitled ‘Teatime Cookery’ and published in the 1970s, it’s a treasure trove of easy tasty bakes and old family favourites. What I like about these recipes is the simple list of ingredients, most of which I have in my stock cupboard, so I can be quite spontaneous about what to bake. Glancing through the pages, I chanced upon ‘Aunt Emily’s Apricot Cake’. The ingredients were enough for a 15 cms/6 inch cake or a 450g/1lb loaf size but I wanted to make a larger version, so I adapted the amounts to do this. I added demerara sugar before baking to make a crunchy topping.

Aunt Emily’s Apricot Cake

300g self-raising flour

200g butter

200g caster sugar

50g mixed peel

300g dried apricots (chopped small)

3 eggs (beaten)

2 tbsps milk

2-3 tbsps demerara sugar for topping

Preheat the oven to 180C (170C fan)/Mark 4/350F. Line a 21 cm/8 inch cake tin or 1 kg/2lb loaf tin with baking paper. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, mixed peel and apricots. Mix in the eggs and milk. Put the mixture into the cake/loaf tin. Sprinkle demerara sugar on top. Bake in the oven for 60-70 minutes until a cake tester comes out clear. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes for about 10 minutes before turning out to cool on a wire rack.

 

Meryl says : Apricots are one of my favourite summer fruits so I really love this recipe and it’s so quick to make. It’s a great summer recipe but with dried apricots, we can bake it at any time of year. Acknowledgements and thanks to Aunt Emily for her original recipe.