Cakes & Bakes: Glazed apricot cake

We were recently given a bag of dried apricots and a jar of apricot preserve by Justin’s sister. He’s not too fond of the dehydrated fruit, and we already have tons of jams and jellies in our store cupboard, so I thought it would be best to use them as ingredients in my baking.

A couple of weeks ago, I used some of the conserve in a stuffed French toast recipe. Today, I’ve used both types of apricots to make a glazed apricot cake.

If you use those dark brown, unsulphured (often organic) dried apricots, you may need to cover them in boiling water and leave them to soak for a couple of hours to plump them back up a bit.

I chose to make this cake as a round, but it would work just as well as a loaf cake. However, you may need to adjust the cooking time.

After glazing the top of the still-warm cake, I stuck it back into the oven for a further 5 minutes. Doing this gives the top a lovely, shiny sheen.

Click here or on the image below to save my glazed apricot cake recipe to Pinterest for later

Glazed apricot cake

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Cook Time 1 10

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Servings 8

Ingredients

200 g/7oz caster sugar
240 g/8½oz unsalted butter softened
3 eggs
90 g/3oz plain flour
210 g/7½oz self-raising flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
150 g/5¼oz dried apricots
2 heaped tsps apricot conserve/jam

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 150ºC fan/325ºF/Gas mark 3
Grease & line a 20cm/8" round cake tin
In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter
In a jug, whisk the eggs. Add to the sugar and butter mixture in 3 batches, combining well each time (if the mixture looks like it's going to curdle, simply stir in a tablespoon or two of the plain flour)
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the flours and bicarbonate of soda
Fold in this dry mixture into the wet mixture
Roughly chop the dried apricots and stir them into the mixture
Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown on the top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes away clean
Remove from the oven, leaving it in the lined tin
In a small bowl, stir in a teaspoon or two to the apricot conserve/jam. Warm slightly by pinging in the microwave in 10-second bursts or in a small saucepan over a low heat on the stove-top
While the cake is still warm (and still in the lined tin), brush the top generously with the apricot glaze
Put the cake back into the oven for 5-10 minutes to brown the glaze ever so slightly
Remove the cake from the oven again, put it on a wire rack to cool completely before taking it out of its tin

Keyword apricot, cake

Cakes & Bakes: Fruity Easter loaf cake

Last week, we tried some of teapigs hot cross bun tea and thought it would be marvellous as an ingredient in a fruity Easter loaf cake.

We incorporated the spice flavours into the cake by soaking the dried fruit in the brewed tea – overnight is best, but do it for a couple of hours at least.

The batter is a little on the wet side, so the fruit may end up mostly in the bottom two thirds of the loaf. You can reserve a little of the soaked fruit before adding the egg and other ingredients and scatter them on the top at the end – just before you sprinkle over the granulated sugar.

Our hunch was right, the hot cross bun tea flavour really works well in a tea cake loaf. It’s a lovely moist cake and the sprinkle of granulated sugar over the top gives a nice crunch. Serve plain, or with a spread of butter and – of course – a cup of tea.

Click here to save our fruity Easter loaf cake recipe to Pinterest

Fruity Easter loaf cake

2020-03-25 18:22:00

Serves 8

Ingredients

175g/6oz mixed dried fruit (currants, sultanas, raisins etc. Chopped, dried apple rings would be lovely)
175ml/6 fl oz teapigs hot cross bun tea (brewed for 3-4 mins)
1 egg
100g/3½oz brown soft sugar
140g/5oz self raising flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar

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Instructions

Brew a large, strong mug of tea using one of the teapigs hot cross bun tea 'temples'
Put the mixed dried fruit into a medium mixing bowl
Pour the tea into the mixing bowl (it should just cover all the fruit)
Cover the mixing bowl with reusable food cover and leave to soak for a few hours, ideally overnight, to allow the tea to plump up the fruit
Preheat the oven to 170ºC/375ºF/Gas mark 4
Grease & line a 450g/1lb loaf tin
In a small measuring jug, lightly beat the egg before adding it to the mixed fruit and any un-soaked liquid
Add the sugar and flour and combine well
Pour into the loaf tin and sprinkle over the granulated sugar
Bake for 40-50 minutes or until an skewer inserted into the centre comes away clean
Leave the cake in its tin to cool completely before turning out
Slice and serve buttered

Notes

The loaf should keep for a couple of weeks if wrapped in baking parchment and kept in a cool, airtight container

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Trinidad black cake

Last week, I began preparing food for Christmas Day. A bit too early, you say? No way, Trinidad black cake needs to be started now!

Along with pastelles and sorrel, black cake is a Christmas Day staple in Trinidad. The mixed dried fruit in for the cake needs to be soaked in alcohol for at least two days. Some people think it needs to be a month-long process.

I made a few tweaks to the recipe in my Naparima Girls cookbook. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I don’t like mixed peel. Added to that, my local supermarket was out of glacé cherries. I simply upped the quantity of raisins, currants and sultanas. Some of the other Trinidad black cake recipes I found online pureé the soaked fruit & nuts, but I like the look of them whole.

If you plan on making two cakes like I have, ensure you have a HUGE mixing bowl so you can distribute the fruit evenly throughout. Notice in my image below, one of the cakes has visibly more fruit than the the other – the large bowl I used just wasn’t big enough. Also, I should have doubled the quantity of browning that I made, it’s called ‘black’ cake for a reason!

Once baked, the cake needs to be ‘fed’ with a rum and brandy mixture. Again, depending on personal preference, this process can take anywhere from an hour to a number of days.

Now do you see why Trinidad black cake preparations may need at least a month?

Bottle of ponche de crème or punch a crema | H is for Home

Trinidad black cake

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Course Drinks

Cuisine Trinidadian

Ingredients

225 g/8oz prunes pitted and chopped
225 g/8oz raisins
225 g/8oz currants
225 g/8oz sultanas
160 g/5⅔oz mixed peel
115 g/4oz glacé cherries halved
60 g/2oz chopped almonds
175 ml/6fl oz dark rum
240 ml/8½fl oz cherry brandy
225 g/8oz soft brown sugar
225 g/8oz butter
5 eggs
1 tsp lime zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
225 g/8oz plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50 ml/1¾ fl oz browning
120 ml/4fl oz ½ & ½ dark rum & cherry brandy mixture to finish

Instructions

In large mixing bowl, combine all the dried fruit, chopped almonds, rum and cherry brandy
Cover and allow to soak for at least 2 days, stirring occasionally so that all the fruit comes into contact with the liquid
Preheat the oven to 120ºC/250ºF/Gas mark ½
Grease a pair of 23cm/9" cake tins and line the bottom and sides of each with parchment paper
In an extra-large mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar
In a measuring jug, whisk the eggs and pour into the butter/sugar mixture in three batches, stirring well between each addition
Mix in the lime zest and vanilla extract
Stir in the browning until the colour is evenly distributed
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon
Fold the flour mixture into the batter
Add the well-soaked fruit & nut mixture and stir through the batter until well distributed
Divide the mixture equally between the two prepared cake tins
Bake for an hour before reducing the oven temperature to 105ºC/225ºF/Gas mark ¼ and cooking for a further 1½ hours or until a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes away clean
Transfer the cakes, still in their tins, to wire racks
While still warm, prick the top of each cake with a skewer and pour over a little of the rum/cherry brandy mixture every few minutes until cakes can no longer absorb the liquid
When they've completely cooled, invert the cakes onto plates
The cakes are ready to slice & serve, however, they'll improve if they're set aside for at least a few days
Wrap each in cling film and store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to a month... or Christmas Day!

Keyword alcohol, Christmas, ponche a creama, ponche de crème, punch a crema

Click here or on the image below to save the recipe to Pinterest

Cakes & Bakes: Bara brith

We spent a fantastic few days in Wales last month and are hoping to return there very soon. We did plan on trying a few traditional Welsh dishes, but never got around to it.

To make amends, I found a recipe for bara brith on the Visit Wales website and gave it a try today. Bara Brith is a spiced loaf cake chock-full of tea-soaked, mixed fruit and glazed on the top with a few drizzles of honey.

I’m going to finish this post tomorrow once I’ve actually tasted it. The directions recommend that the loaf is given a day or two to ‘rest’ before consuming.

Update: We each had a couple of slices with our midday cups of tea. It’s a positive thumbs up from the both of us!

Get the recipe here!

Bara brith

Visit Wales

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Cook Time 1

Course Snack

Cuisine Welsh

Servings 6

Ingredients

400 g/14oz mixed fruit e.g. sultanas, raisins, currants
300 ml/10½fl oz strong, hot tea
250 g/9oz self-raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice
100 g/3½oz Muscovado sugar
1 egg beaten
honey to glaze

Instructions

Put the dried fruit in a mixing bowl and pour over the tea
Mix in the sugar and stir well to dissolve
Leave to soak for at least 6 hours or, preferably, overnight
On the following day, sift the flour and mixed spice into the soaked fruit (no need to drain the tea) and stir in the egg. Combine well
Preheat the oven to 180°C /350ºF/Gas mark 4
Line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with parchment paper or pre-made loaf tin liner
Pour in the mixture and bake for about an hour until the loaf has risen and is cooked through
Drizzle a little honey over the top of the still warm cake
Allow to cool on a wire rack
Slice and smear with butter before devouring!

If you can resist the temptation, bara brith is at its best a couple of days after baking and keeps for up to a week

Keyword fruit bread, fruitcake, loaf cake, tea loaf