Apricot Cake with Ginger Icing

Today I am sharing an Apricot Cake recipe. Apricots are a bit of an under-rated fruit, I think, but I love their subtle flavour and their bright colour! They are amazing as a cooked fruit too. Have you ever had an apricot pie? You've really missed out if not! The good thing about cooking the apricots is that it intensifies the flavour; you really don't need any added sugar most of the time.

This is a simple apricot cake with the addition of ginger icing to give it a subtle kick. It's not an overly sweet indulgent cake, so it's perfect for people who don't have a really sweet tooth. It could easily be left naked and un-iced if that's your preference. It makes a nice change from chocolate or lemon and a great alternative to my mango and coconut cake (Mango and Coconut Loafcake).

Make sure that you chop your fresh apricots up quite small, or you will get big soggy patches in your cake. You'll notice that it cooks at a low temperature. That is so the apricot cooks and softens in enough time for the cake to be ready. So don't be tempted to turn it up!

I am submitting this recipe as part of Mama's Gone Crafty's Sunday Crafternoon Link Up Party- pop along and see what else is there! (See button at the bottom of my post).

Ingredients
(serves 8-10 slices)

For the cake
250g butter, softened
250g caster sugar
250 g self raising flour
4 eggs
5 fresh apricots
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the icing
140g butter, softened
280g icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp ginger puree
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp ground ginger

Method

1. Cream the butter and the sugar together until smooth.
2. Add an egg at a time, mixing in between until well combined.
3. Sift the flour and fold it in gently.
4. Keeping one apricot aside, chop the apricots into small chunks and add to the cake mix.
5. Mix gently through until the apricots are well distributed.
6. Grease and or line a 9 inch cake tin- make sure you grease the sides of the tin well.
7. Pour the mixture into the tin and use a spatula to even out the top. try to make sure that there's no apricot significantly sticking out above the batter.
8. Pop in the oven at 150 (140 fan, gas mark 2) for an hour and 10 minutes.
9. While it's cooking, whisk together the butter, ginger and icing sugar until they have made a light buttercream
10. Check with a knife in the centre and if it doesn't come out clean, leave a little longer.
11. Leave to cool for 3-4 minutes and turn out onto a cooling rack.
12. When completely cool, spread the icing as evenly over the top of the cake as you can with a spatula.
13. Slice the remaining apricot and use to decorate the cake.
14. Sprinkle the tsp of ginger in the centre of the icing.

Enjoy!