Apricot Snack Cake
Updated July 12, 2022
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus cooling
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
- 6tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch cubes, plus more for greasing pan
- ½cup/55 grams sliced almonds
- ½cup/105 grams granulated sugar
- ½packed cup/70 grams light brown sugar
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- ½teaspoon baking soda
- ¼teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 2large eggs
- 2teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1cup/142 grams all-purpose flour
- ¾cup/72 grams fine almond flour
- 8ounces ripe apricots, halved, pitted, then each half quartered
- Honey, whipped cream or ice cream, for serving (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Set a rack in the middle position of the oven and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-5-inch metal loaf pan with butter.
- Step 2
On a rimmed baking sheet, spread almonds into a single layer and toast in the oven until golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool.
- Step 3
Meanwhile, in the bowl of a food processor, combine the 6 tablespoons butter, both sugars, the baking powder, baking soda and salt, and pulse until butter is pea-size. Add eggs and vanilla, and pulse until well blended. Add both flours and pulse, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until well incorporated. Add apricots and pulse until fruit is finely chopped and mixture is almost smooth.
- Step 4
Using a spoon or flexible spatula, stir in toasted almonds. Scrape mixture into prepared pan and smooth top.
- Step 5
Bake until cake is golden on top and firm in the center, 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool for 30 minutes. Slide a paring knife or small offset spatula along the sides of the pan to loosen the cake, then turn out cake and cool completely (or until lukewarm).
- Step 6
Slice the cake and enjoy it drizzled with honey, topped with whipped cream or ice cream, or as is.
Private Notes
Comments
As with an algebra problem, you work from left to right with a recipe ingredient: "8 ounces ripe apricots, halved, pitted, then each half quartered" = 8 ounces of ripe apricots that you then halve, pit and quarter each half after weighing. This is not the same as "8 ounces of halved, pitted then each half quartered ripe apricots." which are weighed after having been halved, pitted and quartered. The left to right rule is the standard way ingredients are written.
The fresh apricots contribute liquid to the recipe, so you'd need to simmer your dried apricots in a liquid to approximate the liquid supplied by the fresh apricots. In addition to the fresh apricots, I'm going to fold in diced dried apricots, plumped and drained, with the toasted almonds to amp up the apricot flavor.
It would be so nice to have conversions of measurements into the metric system for your European subscribers !
I weighed out about 10 oz of apricots, and reserved just one to be diced and stirred in with the almonds, to add a few whole pieces of apricot. I baked in a glass 8x8, at 350 for about 30 min until starting to get golden brown, then reduced to 325 for another 15 minutes or so. Delicious!
Because of a bounty of apricots from a neighbors tree I made this three times in two weeks. Delicious and easy to make. My first two loaves stuck in the pan a bit so for loaf three I lined the pan with parchment. Came out perfectly. Also decorated the top with some of the sliced almonds and a sprinkle of raw sugar.
Had a similar experience to Alex before me….sunk while cooling then went from baked to unbaked. Mysterious. Used the best ingredients, hauled out the food processor, followed the recipe to a t… was thinking almond extract would be a logical complement but…the loaf is unservable for my guests. Disappointed but I did prepare an incredible blueberry pie for backup!