Nigel Slater's Recipes for Apricot Cake and Summer Fruit Frozen Yogurt
Summer puddings are a cinch: ripe peaches torn and dropped into glasses of chilled muscatel; strawberries cut in half and drizzled with passion fruit juice; melon sprinkled with mint infused sugar. But the cook in me wants to slice, stir and cook, feel the rhythm of a quiet but busy kitchen even on a hot summer day, which is why there was both cake and homemade fruit ice cream on the table this week: a sticky, slightly spiced cake with summer fruits – apricots sautéed in butter and honey; and a frozen dessert of yogurt and summer berries.
The cake was classic gingerbread without the molasses notes of black muscovado and molasses, brought at the table with a vanilla pastry cream. For those interested in something tangy and refreshing, there's a frozen yogurt the color of a traditional summer pudding.
And this classic recipe, with its layer of berries and juice - the dipped bread will be present this year as usual, but the mixture of currants, blackcurrants and raspberries will also be in a breakfast bowl, used to flavor the ice cream and mixed with meringue and cream as a bells and whistles dessert. Any extra juice is very good in a glass of prosecco - a scarlet-hued mimosa.
Strawberries have been exceptional this year. I served them in a crushed raspberry sauce with a hint of raspberry. (Note to self, I need more liqueur miniatures for such occasions.) I won't bake a strawberry, but they're dazzling on a custard-filled pie and even better in a clamshell filled of a mixture of strained yogurt, sugar glaze with the slightest shake of orange blossom water.
Raspberries rarely benefit from the interference of a cook , but this week I used them, mashed up and tossed into a bowl of applesauce, as a filling for a fruit pie. The surface was crowned with more berries, arranged very neatly.
Sticky apricot, honey and ginger cake round rather than slices and served in a dish with cold custard and warm apricots. For 12 peopleFor the apricots: 500 g apricots, pitted and halved honey 1 tbsp butter 50 g
For the cake: flour self-rising 250 g ground ginger 2 tsp mixed spices ½ tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 pinch lemon zest 1 honey 200 ml butter 125 g light muscovado 125 geggs 2, coarse milk 240 ml you will need a cake tin approximately 22 cm square, lined with parchment paper.
Cut the apricots into two and pit them. Heat the butter in a shallow non-stick skillet, then add the fruit and cook for 7-10 minutes over low to medium heat, until tender. Towards the end of their cooking, add the spoonful of honey. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Set the oven to 180C/thermostat 4. Sift the flour with the ground ginger, the spice mix, the cinnamon, the baking soda and salt. Add the lemon zest. Pour the honey into a small saucepan, add the butter and sugar and heat over medium heat until the butter is melted. When the mixture has simmered for a minute, remove from the heat.
Crack the eggs into a bowl, add the milk and beat lightly to combine. Pour the butter and honey mixture into the flour and spices and stir gently until the flour is no longer visible. Stir in milk and eggs.
Stir in half of the cooked apricots and scrape the mixture into the lined cake pan. Apricots should slide down. Place the cake in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until spongy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin.
Remove the cake from its tin and peel off the parchment paper. Just before serving, reheat the reserved apricots in a small saucepan and cut the cake into 16 equal pieces. Place two pieces on each serving platter and some of the reserved apricots. Serve with chilled cream or custard.
Frozen yoghurt with summer fruits
Summer puddings are a cinch: ripe peaches torn and dropped into glasses of chilled muscatel; strawberries cut in half and drizzled with passion fruit juice; melon sprinkled with mint infused sugar. But the cook in me wants to slice, stir and cook, feel the rhythm of a quiet but busy kitchen even on a hot summer day, which is why there was both cake and homemade fruit ice cream on the table this week: a sticky, slightly spiced cake with summer fruits – apricots sautéed in butter and honey; and a frozen dessert of yogurt and summer berries.
The cake was classic gingerbread without the molasses notes of black muscovado and molasses, brought at the table with a vanilla pastry cream. For those interested in something tangy and refreshing, there's a frozen yogurt the color of a traditional summer pudding.
And this classic recipe, with its layer of berries and juice - the dipped bread will be present this year as usual, but the mixture of currants, blackcurrants and raspberries will also be in a breakfast bowl, used to flavor the ice cream and mixed with meringue and cream as a bells and whistles dessert. Any extra juice is very good in a glass of prosecco - a scarlet-hued mimosa.
Strawberries have been exceptional this year. I served them in a crushed raspberry sauce with a hint of raspberry. (Note to self, I need more liqueur miniatures for such occasions.) I won't bake a strawberry, but they're dazzling on a custard-filled pie and even better in a clamshell filled of a mixture of strained yogurt, sugar glaze with the slightest shake of orange blossom water.
Raspberries rarely benefit from the interference of a cook , but this week I used them, mashed up and tossed into a bowl of applesauce, as a filling for a fruit pie. The surface was crowned with more berries, arranged very neatly.
Sticky apricot, honey and ginger cake round rather than slices and served in a dish with cold custard and warm apricots. For 12 peopleFor the apricots: 500 g apricots, pitted and halved honey 1 tbsp butter 50 g
For the cake: flour self-rising 250 g ground ginger 2 tsp mixed spices ½ tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 pinch lemon zest 1 honey 200 ml butter 125 g light muscovado 125 geggs 2, coarse milk 240 ml you will need a cake tin approximately 22 cm square, lined with parchment paper.
Cut the apricots into two and pit them. Heat the butter in a shallow non-stick skillet, then add the fruit and cook for 7-10 minutes over low to medium heat, until tender. Towards the end of their cooking, add the spoonful of honey. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Set the oven to 180C/thermostat 4. Sift the flour with the ground ginger, the spice mix, the cinnamon, the baking soda and salt. Add the lemon zest. Pour the honey into a small saucepan, add the butter and sugar and heat over medium heat until the butter is melted. When the mixture has simmered for a minute, remove from the heat.
Crack the eggs into a bowl, add the milk and beat lightly to combine. Pour the butter and honey mixture into the flour and spices and stir gently until the flour is no longer visible. Stir in milk and eggs.
Stir in half of the cooked apricots and scrape the mixture into the lined cake pan. Apricots should slide down. Place the cake in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until spongy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin.
Remove the cake from its tin and peel off the parchment paper. Just before serving, reheat the reserved apricots in a small saucepan and cut the cake into 16 equal pieces. Place two pieces on each serving platter and some of the reserved apricots. Serve with chilled cream or custard.
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