Sunken Apricot Cake

I am not a summer person. In Minnesota the summers are hot and humid, neither condition I am built to endure without complaint (sorry, husband).

But… summer is also stone fruit season. And when I’m not eating my body weight in cherries, I turn to juicy and fragrant peaches, nectarines and apricots for baking projects big and small.

This cake embraces the flavors of my childhood: apricots and anise. My family comes from Poland and I grew up thinking that everyone ate prunes and anise flavored cookies – turns out that’s not true. I’ve endured lots of teasing over the years about eating prunes for enjoyment (they are just dried plums!) and my love of anise/anything black licorice flavored. As I’ve gotten older and my palate has matured, I’ve returned to these flavors, bringing them into my kitchen for my children to grow up with.

The apricots become delightfully jammy in this cake, against the backdrop of a moist but sturdy cake. While it would make a lovely dessert, we like it for breakfast, topped with a dollop of yogurt.

Sunken Apricot Cake

Recipe by Kris Cramer

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Baking time

40

minutes

While apricots shine in this cake, it’s also a great base recipe for other stone fruits – Plums! Peaches! Nectarines!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup melted butter

• 1/4 cup neutral oil

• 2 eggs

• 1/3 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

• 1 teas. vanilla extract

• 3/4 teas. ground anise seed or 1/2 teas. anise extract

• 1 teas. baking powder

• 1/4 teas. salt

• 1 1/2 cups flour

• 2 lbs of ripe apricots (about 10), pitted, 9 of them halved and the last one finely chopped

• 2 tbsp. demerara or sugar in the raw

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, butter and oil.
• Add the eggs and sour cream/yogurt and whisk until well combined.
• Add the vanilla, anise, baking soda and salt. Mix to combine then add the flour, in two batches, combining until just mixed.
• Gently fold in the finely chopped apricot then spread the batter into the prepared pan.
• Starting with one halve in the center, arrange with apricots cut side down, to fill the top of the cake. Gently press into the dough and sprinkle the top of the cake with demerara.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool pan on a cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Notes

• If you don’t like anise, try 1/2 teas of ground cardamom or almond extract.
• As written, your finished cake will look bigger/have more apricots. This was a half batch (which I regretted after it vanished over the course of a morning).