Recipe: Apricot and Almond Cake with Orange Cardamom and Ricotta

Not just delicious, apricots and other stone fruit also offer some serious health benefits too. Their golden color makes them naturally high in beta-carotene (the precursor to Vitamin A) which helps keep eyes healthy and skin glowing. Stone fruit are also packed with fibre to balance cholesterol levels, keep you regular and promote healthy gut bacteria. So why not impress your guests with something different this holiday season?

Summer’s in full swing here in New Zealand so here’s a recipe to make the most of all that lovely summer stone fruit. Simple to make and perfect for entertaining, this lightly-spiced cake is both gluten and soy free, so your guests will be able to enjoy it. 

You can also make it with frozen or canned fruit. Enjoy!

Apricot and Almond Cake with Orange Cardamom and Ricotta

Gluten free, Soy Free

Ingredients:

  • 250g blanched almonds
  • 100g fine polenta
  • 2 oranges
  • 4 cardamon pods, seeded and crushed
  • 225g unsalted butter, soft at room temp
  • 250g caster sugar
  • 6 eggs, separated 
  • 300g ricotta
  • 1 tbsp orange blossom water, optional
  • 7-10 apricots, or any other stone fruit (fresh or frozen)
  • 2 tbsp apricot jam with a tsp of water for glazing after

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven on to 160ºC/ 320 F fan. Line a 26cm cake tin bottom and sides with baking paper.
  2. Add your almonds to a food processor and pulse until a course sandy consistency. Tip into a bowl and mix with then polenta, zest from the two oranges and the crushed cardamon seeds and put to one side.
  3. Put the butter and sugar into the food processor, no need to wash and blend until pale and creamy. Add the egg yolks one at a time and quickly pulse each to combine. Once they are all in and the mix is smooth spoon the butter mix into the almonds and fold together.
  4. In a seperate bowl lightly mix the ricotta with the juice of one of the oranges until combined.
  5. In one more bowl beat the egg whites to a soft peak and fold them into the almond butter mixture half of the whites at a time, once combined fold through the ricotta. Pour the mix into the cake tin and smooth over the top.
  6. Slice the apricots in half and then each half into 4 pieces, place in a bowl with 1 tsp of sugar and mix about. Then fan the apricots starting on the outside going in till you finish in the middle.
  7. Bake in the oven for 1 hr and 15-30 mins, until the top is slightly golden and if you insert a skewer into the middle it comes out clean.
  8. To serve, heat the apricot jam and splash of water in a saucepan and using a pastry brush glaze the top.

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