Apricot & ratafia sponge cake

Apricot & ratafia sponge cake

A simple fruit cake flavoured with almond and Amaretti biscuits - perfect with tea or as dessert served with cream or custard

Difficulty and servings

Easy

CUTS INTO 8

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 50 mins

Freezable

Method

  1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter the base and sides of a 22cm loose-bottom cake tin and line with baking parchment.
  2. Put the butter, sugar, flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Break in the eggs, add the almond essence, if using, then beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Set aside a quarter of the mixture, then stir the chopped apricots and 25g of the biscuits into the remainder. Spoon into the tin and lightly smooth with the back of the spoon. Bake for 25 mins until the cake is almost set. Meanwhile, stir the apricot halves, remaining biscuits and flaked almonds into the reserved cake mixture until well mixed. Quickly dot the extra cake mixture onto the part-baked cake, then return to the oven for 20 mins more or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

PER SERVING

452 kcalories, protein 7g, carbohydrate 49g, fat 26 g, saturated fat 14g, fibre 2g, sugar 31g, salt 0.9 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, May 2012.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • 03 May 2012

    susan rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Delicious cake that was easy to make. I found it needed a slightly longer baking time than stated in the recipe.

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  • 04 May 2012

    Julie Bahrain rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Made smaller cake, half quantity in 6" tin, which worked well. Lovely warm with cream.

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  • 04 May 2012

    Rubicook rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this with another third of the quantity... was lovely and light. Took about an hour to bake. We had it warm with some creme fraiche...

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  • 06 May 2012

    Helen Kent rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Wonderful cake, didn't have enough apricot so added some pear as well, also used whole almonds, yummy. Will serve 12 unless you are greedy like us!! Lovely warm with cream too

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  • 07 May 2012

    becs commented on this recipe

    Made this today but only had tinned peach slices instead of apricot halves but really delicious. I only had a 21cm tin so used that and found that in my fan oven it needed another 15 minutes. Will definitely be doing this again.

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  • 28 May 2012

    Tweez rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Love this recipe. I put some raspberries in the second time!

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  • 07 June 2012

    pshopper commented on this recipe

    I have made this twice now and there are always lots of ooh's and aah's whilst eating this cake.

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  • 22 August 2012

    Stormers Girl commented on this recipe

    Made this cake so many times now, even took one to Kruger on a camping holiday, it stayed moist for ages. I have only made one with amaretti biscuits , which was abit dry,I prefer my way using lady fingers dipped in Dissarono liqueur , absolutely yummy.

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  • 03 October 2012

    catch rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I loved this recipe. I soaked the remainder peaches( had no apricots!) , flaked almonds and biscuits in Ameretto. Absolutely lovely.

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  • 14 December 2012

    lee lee rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This so simple and quick to make but tastes divine! Such a clever recipe - I found it needed a bit longer than recipe said. Made it a few times now for a crowd - goes down well as an afternoon tea cake OR gorgeous as a warm pudding with cream. Gets the wow reaction every time!

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  • 05 April 2013

    Paul rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Easy to make and tasted great.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

CUTS INTO 8

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 50 mins

Freezable

Ingredients

  • 200g softened butter , plus extra for the tin
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 200g self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 4 large eggs
  • ½-1 tsp almond essence (optional)
  • 410g can apricot halves in natural juice, drained, 100g roughly chopped, remainder halved
  • 85g ratafia or amaretti biscuits (keep ratafias whole or break the amaretti)
  • 25g flaked almonds
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PER SERVING

452 kcalories, protein 7g, carbohydrate 49g, fat 26 g, saturated fat 14g, fibre 2g, sugar 31g, salt 0.9 g

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