WARM AND FUZZY

Can I tempt you to try something a little fruity this weekend? These softly blushing beauties, above, are my latest crush and as apricots are smack bang in season I've been gorging myself until I'm fit to burst (there is now a constant supply of compote in my fridge). A good thing then, that they, themselves are bursting with vitamin A, vitamin C and fibre ( just to ensure that I don't, actually, explode). I was a novice until last week, having only tasted the tinned variety. When I saw them cropping up in the shops I took home a big basket along with a couple of my favourite food magazines. All these magazines lean towards seasonal cooking and usually focus on a few different fruits and vegetables each month, giving tips on how to choose good quality, ripe examples. Gregg Wallace, of Masterchef fame, writes for Good Food Magazine and covers stone fruits in the August issue. His advice on apricots - "Don't buy an apricot that's not soft. Make sure it's got full colour, definitely don't buy anything pale, and don't go near anything that's got a trace of green on it." Now he tells me.

My first adventure in apricots being brought to a crashing halt by hard, unripe fruit that shows no sign of ever softening, the next time I chose there was much sniffing and poking and peering at the lurkers in the bottom of the basket to make sure there were no little green-eyed monsters. Unfortunately, without actually biting into them there is no way of guaranteeing juicy fruits over cotton-wool balls. French varieties available in July seem to be the most reliable for both flavour and juiciness, their cheeks naturally pink, rather than genetically rouged. Apricots have a tartness that is well tempered by a spell in the oven soaked in hot sugar. This, then, was the only recipe I could choose.

The cake is still warm from the oven, and still warm in my belly. Caramel and I have an on-again, off-again relationship, wavering between golden runniness and blackened pans and scorched fingers. Somehow, I can never approach it with the confidence needed to stop it getting the better of me. I'm counting this one as a success, the caramel didn't dribble out as I expected it to, it seemed to soak into the cake instead. So, no reason for complaining that I can see (or taste). The cake batter itself is a simple one, tinted palest jade green and fragranced with saffron, producing a moist, dense cake. I replaced ground almonds in the recipe with pistachios, but if you were to use the almonds the cake would take on the saffron's sunny yellowness. Don't worry if the mixture curdles halfway through, it will all come together again with the addition of the flours and ground nuts.

The recipe suggested leaving this to cool (not a chance) and serving with a dollop of creme fraiche (absolutely).

This recipe is adapted from Good Food Magazine.

STICKY APRICOT & PISTACHIO UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

• 85g caster sugar
• about 6 apricots, halved

For the cake batter:

• 200g butter, softened
• 175g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 75ml full-fat milk
• pinch of saffron strands, soaked in a little warm water (optional)
• a few drops of almond extra
• pinch of salt
• 140g plain flour
• 140g self-raising flour
• 100g pistachio nuts, ground (original recipe called for ground almonds so use these if you prefer)

1. Tip the sugar into a deep, oven-proof frying pan (mine was 8 inches across and I had some apricots and batter left over, so I'd say a 9 inch pan would be perfect). Place the pan over a high heat until caramelised, remove from the heat, then lay the apricots, cut side down in the caramel, quartering some of the apricots to fit in the gaps. Set aside. Heat oven to 180 C.
2. To make the cake batter, beat the butter and sugar together, with an electric mixer, until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the milk, almond extract and saffron, if using. Fold in the flours,salt and ground pistachios, then beat until just combined.
3. Spoon dollops of the batter over the apricots and smooth over with the back of the spoon. Bake for 40 minutes or until puffed up and golden and a skewer inserted into the cake layer comes out clean.
4. Remove from the oven and leave to sit for about 10 minutes. Loosen the edges slightly with a spatula or a knife and invert onto a serving plate and leave to cool (ha!) Cut into wedges and serve with creme fraiche or ice-cream.

Serves 8 (double ha!)

Comments

[Tamami]

O.M.G... this cake... i can just imagine eating it, & jeez, it would taste g.o.o.d!

[Muse in the Kitchen]

This cake looks just AMAZING! And for easy, easy fresh eating of apricots - being as lazy as I am sometimes, this is actually one of the reasons I love fresh apricots - a friend of mine taught me this. Run your knife right along the groove along the side, and continue along the other side. Make sure your knife touches the pit (but not hard) - you're basically bisecting the fruit in half. Now, put your thumbs at the top of the apricot and you should be able to pull the two halves apart with ease. The pit will stay within one half. Such easy easy eating!

(I've tried this with nectarines and peaches, but it doesn't work with them, just apricots!)

Belle

[Meeta]

YOu are making me warm and fuzzy with this recipe and the picture of the apricots are gorgeous!

[Cheryl]

Oh my!! That looks so good. I'm sure it was, when it was warm and with the creme melting down the sides. Oh, you are making me hungry.

[Maninas: Food Matters]

wow the photos are amazing!

[Tartelette]

That would serve the husband and me and he would have to fight me on this one....! Gorgeous!

[Lisa]

Wow.. as I've said before (somewhere) the only apricots I've ever had the lil chunked thingies that come in my yogurt. I know! How sad is that? I'm finally seeing them at my local mega-mart. I'll be buying some now that I know how to pick out the good ones and now that I've seen this cake.. holy crap does that look good! It looks incredibly moist. YUM!

Beautiful photos, too. =)

xoxo

[Joe]

Dang! Jeff loves pistachios and recently realized how much he likes apricots too... I'll have to try this out sometime!