Lemon-y apricot, pistachio and cardamom cake. Jump to recipe.
I’m definitely a stuck record but I can’t believe its already been three months since a recipe here! Life is busy etc etc. To sum up – Victoria emerged blinking from lockdown, life outside of home resumed, everyone got covid (myself included, very mildly) and it has been a strange summer of lots of hospital work, cancelled plans because of isolation requirements, retail and hospitality closures with staff furloughs and everyone trying to reach this elusive “new normal” (I realise this is what the rest of the world probably went though a long time ago – we are a little behind). It still beats lockdown. The last hurdle left is border closures – NZ and WA remain the last islands standing, having somehow (luckily for them, unluckily for us) kept out omicron.
Baking has been a little neglected in the interim, but I’ve prioritised a version of my favourite summer cake (basically anything involving stonefruit and nuts in combination). It’s a lemony apricot, pistachio and cardamom cake, moist with an almost caramelised exterior and not too sweet. The apricots roast and soften on the surface, the cake just sturdy enough to keep them afloat. It’s also low maintenance, which is all I can really tolerate currently – one (to two) bowls, no mixer, no creaming butter, no frosting – just a few lashings of lemon glaze to decorate. Rave reviews received all round.
- 200 g butter melted
- 4 eggs (large)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 100 g pistachios finely ground
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 160 g ground almonds
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 100 g plain flour
- 250 g caster sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- zest of 1 lemon
- 10-12 ripe apricots quartered and stoned
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped pistachios for topping
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Preheat oven to 180°C, and grease and line a 23cm springform cake tin with baking paper.
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Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
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In a food processor or blender, blitz the pistachios to a fine meal. Add to a bowl with the ground almonds, baking powder, flour, sugar, salt and ground cardamom and whisk to aerate /combine.
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In a large bowel, whisk together the eggs, melted butter, vanilla and lemon zest. Fold in the dry ingredients.
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Pour the batter into the tin and smooth the surface. Gently top with apricot quarters, cut side up (don’t press them into the surface).
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Bake for 50min – 1hr or until a skewer inserted comes out just clean (a few crumbs attached in the centre is fine).
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To glaze, mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice to get a liquid consistency. Drizzle over cake and top with chopped pistachios.
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Serve with greek yogurt.
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