one bowl apricot and olive oil cake

one bowl apricot and olive oil cake

• 23 Oct 2022

My love for baking remains undimmed but this year life has been getting in the way. As I've been time poor, elaborate bakes have gone out the window and instead I've been making lots of simple cakes. I am looking to fancy things up a notch for Xmas 2022 though, so expect piles of meringue and lashings of mascarpone and cream!

Nothing could be more simple than a one bowl cake and I turned to Aran Goyoaga for today's cake. It's a simple little number that I glammed up with the addition of lemon syrup which was drizzled over the just baked cake. It's a way of adding extra flavour and ensuring the cake stays moist.

I've been in Brisbane for the past few weeks semi-coping with Dad's unpredictable oven which seems to cook everything at 200°C irrespective of the dial, so the cake was ready in only 45 minutes rather than suggested hour.

Here's the recipe for you, inspired by this recipe from Aran, which makes a 17cm cake. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

One bowl apricot and olive oil cake

Ingredients 
75g (⅓ cup) caster sugar
2 tsp grated lemon rind
⅔ cup (100g) plain flour
⅓ cup (35g) almond meal
¾ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarb soda
Pinch salt
¼ cup (60mls) olive oil
¼ cup (60mls) milk
1 egg
1½ tsp vanilla
5 apricots, halved

Syrup
1 tbs caster sugar
2 tsp water
40 mls lemon juice

 
To serve
1 tbs chopped pistachios
Icing sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease, flour and line the base of a 17cm cake tin with baking paper.

 

In a large bowl, mix the sugar and zest together. Work the zest into the sugar rubbing between fingers. Whisk in the flour, almond meal, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt. Whisk in the olive oil, milk, egg and vanilla. 

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Top the batter with the apricot halves, cut side up, overlapping them slightly. Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. 

Right towards the end of the cake’s cooking time, combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, cooking until the sugar has dissolved then stir through the lemon juice. 

Remove the cake from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Spoon the lemon and sugar mixture over the warm cake then let the cake cool in the pan for 10 - 15 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Turn the cake out; remove the baking paper from the base of the cake then invert the cake onto the cooling rack and cool completely before serving with the chopped pistachios and a dusting of icing sugar.

Not overly sweet, simple to make and a cake that improves on keeping. See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen. 

Bye for now, 

Jillian