“Let’s eat cake…….just not every day” is a pretty good motto to live by I think. We need ‘special foods’, ‘sometimes foods’ and ‘celebration foods’ and nothing says celebration more than cake!

This recipe is celebrating the summer that we have enjoyed and what better way to farewell the season than by using the last of the fresh summer apricots?

This basic butter cake dotted with golden apricots is made entirely in a food processor. So for all of you ‘I don’t bake’ people reading this, if you have time this weekend, I encourage you to give it a go!

The recipe is from one of my favourite Australian cooks and cookbook authors, Belinda Jeffery. Her cookbook “Desserts” is one I reference and cook from often.

Ingredients

8 medium sized apricots, washed and cut into wedges

150gm castor sugar, plus 2 1/2 tablepsoons

150gm self raising flour

50gm almond meal

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

160gm unsalted butter, softened or at room temp, cut into chunks

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

icing sugar for dusting

Serve with vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream.

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius (or 160 degrees for a fan forced oven)

Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper.

Gently mix the apricots with 2 1/2 tablespoons of the castor sugar in a bowl and set aside.

Place the flour, almond meal and baking powder in a large food processor and whiz for 10 seconds. Tip into a bowl and set aside.

Now put the eggs and remaining castor sugar (150gm) into the food processor and whiz for 1 minute. Add the butter, whiz for 40 seconds, scraping down the side of the bowl occasionally. NOTE – it will look curdled at this stage, but that’s okay!

Add the lemon zest and vanilla and whiz briefly.

Tip the flour mixture back into the food processor, and pulse together till it’s all combined. Add the milk and whiz until you have a creamy smooth batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and using a slotted spoon, take the apricots out of their bowl and scatter them over the top of the cake.

Bake the cake for approximately 1 hour. The fruit will sink into the cake as it bakes. Test it with a skewer to make sure it’s cooked in the middle. The skewer should come out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice-cream or cream.