Have you ever heard of purple apricots? No? Me neither until about a week ago when I found some at a local green grocer. I suspect that they are actually a hybrid between apricots and small purple or black plums. They look unique but taste pretty much like apricots. This recipe works just as easily with regular apricots, so don’t let the unique ingredients throw you for a loop. It’s a dessert cake, a coffee cake or a cake for afternoon tea, take your pick. Would also be nice with a bit of custard, ice cream or whipped cream. The almonds and olive oil give it a great, subtle taste addition. When I have made this cake before (once with plums, once with cherries) the fruit stayed more on top, but this time they sunk in a little much. Not as pretty as I would have liked, but still delicious.
Ingredients
3/4 cup vanilla whole milk Greek yogurt
3/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup almond flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
12-15 cup purple apricots, halved and de-pitted
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, for garnish
1/4 cup toasted almond slices or slivers, for garnish (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Line bottom of a 9-inch spring form cake pan with a parchment circle. if making a square/rectangle version, create a parchment sling to line the baking pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, sugar, whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and almond extracts. In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and fold them together until fully combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan. Slice the apricots in half, remove the pit and arrange them cut side up in neat pattern on top of the batter.
Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes, rotating the cake pan midway through the baking time, until the cake springs back when you press it in the middle and a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. When cool, carefully remove the cake onto a flat plate and lift off the pan; peel off the parchment. Sprinkle with the toasted almonds and using a fine-mesh sieve, dust the cake evenly with the confectioners’ sugar to finish.