Saturday 23 June 2012

Bloody Brilliant Orange & Apricot Loaf (with a bit of drizzle)

I copied this out of one of my mother-in-law's books years ago and never got round to trying it so when @ralphmighty asked for a courgette cake naturally I decided to make this instead. I have no idea who the author of this recipe is but I give full credit to them. Whoever they were.

This is a  no-no on the Slimming World diet coz of all the deliciousness flour, sugar and dried & cooked fruit but I modified the recipe so it's not soooo bad.

Prep time: 15 mins  Baking time: 50-60 mins Mine took 50 mins
You need a 1.5 litre loaf tin or a 1.5 litre fluted ring mould. I used 2 x 1 pint loaf tins

Ingredients:
250g ready to eat dried apricots
Zest of 1 Orange
250ml boiling water
75g butter I used Benecol, this cake will reduce my cholesterol!
125g soft brown sugar I only used 95g
2 eggs
250g plain white flour                } I actually used 50/50 plain self-raising white and plain wholemeal
50g wholemeal flour
1.5 teaspoon bicarb. of soda  Only used 1 teaspoon

For the topping:
Juice of 2 oranges
4 tablespoons caster sugar I used 2 tablespoons

1. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F. Line tin. Or if silicone has enhanced your life, spray your silicone tin(s)
2. Put apricots and zest into food processor. Do not be tempted to process them at this point, you will get splashed! Cover with the water & leave to steep for 10 mins
3. Add butter, brown sugar & eggs to the processor. Pulse for 10 secs until apricots are roughly chopped
4. Sieve flours and bicarb. into a separate bowl and mix well. Add the 2 mixtures together and mix until smooth. I'm unclear as to whether you add the fruit to the flour bowl or the other way round but I doubt it matters too much. 
5. Bake for 50-60 minutes & remove from oven
6. Mix juice & caster sugar together and drizzle over cake whilst it is still hot. Leave for 10 minutes and turn out onto rack.

Here is a terrible photo of the loaves. I will take a better one in the morning if there is any left!

It smells absolutely fantastic when it is hot, tastes like apricot-y marmalade and is the fluffiest and moistest cake I have ever made.