I’ve been very busy the last week because of my finals that I passed this and last week (Nadja mentioned it in her last post). This month we will still be studying a lot for our final examinations at the beginning of June, but we do our best to keep posting as often as we can!
As you can almost feel a little breeze of summer in Austria, I felt like baking something with fresh fruit. Today it’s Mother’s Day in Austria so maybe this recipe will inspire you if you haven’t had any ideas yet! The recipe is from the book ‘gorgeous cakes’ from Annie Bell, that Nadja brought me from London. It’s still one of my favourites and as it includes many fruity recipes, you will see more of it’s recipes in the next time!What you need for the Sauce:
- 100g set honey
- 100ml water
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
What you need for the Apricots:
- 30g light muscavado sugar (you can also simply use any light brown sugar)
- 30g butter
- 5 apricots, halved and stoned
What you need for the Cake:
- 150g butter
- 150g golden caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 125ml milk
- 200g plain flour, sifted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted
Preparation:
First prepare the sauce. Put the honey, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Blend the cornflour with a little of the liquid in a small dish and stir back into the sauce, then simmer for a minute until it thickens a little. Pour the sauce into a bowl and set aside to cool.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cream together the light muscavado sugar and the butter and, using your fingers, smear it over the base of a 20cm cake tin 9cm deep with a removeable base. Place the apricots cut-side down on top of the butter and sugar mixture.
To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar in a food processor until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the lemon zest. Incorporate the milk, the flour and baking powder.
Spoon the mixture on top of the apricots, smoothing the surface and bake for about 30 minutesuntil the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Run a knife around the edge and leave the cake to cool for about 15 minutes. Place a plate on top of the cake tin and invert it, pressing the base down until the cake touches the plate. Now carefully run a knife between the base of the tin and the cake and lift it off. The cake can be served hot or at room temperature, though it’s best eaten the same day. ust before serving pour the honey sauce over the surface, allowing it to trickle over the sides.
Enjoy, Noemi (:
