Almond Pine Nut Apricot Crumb Cake Recipes

ALMOND, PINE NUT, AND APRICOT COFFEE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350*F. Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan.
• Combine 1/4 cup of the almonds and 1/4 cup of the pine nuts in a dry skillet and place over med-high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and toasted, about 10 minutes.
• Transfer to a food processor and cool for a few minutes, then pulse until the nuts are finely ground.
• Transfer the nuts to a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Stir to combine. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the eggs and the sugar until the mixture is thick and pale yellow.
• Add the butter and milk and combine, then stir in the almond extract and apricots by hand.
• Gently stir in the dry ingredients.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
• Sprinkle the top of the cake with the remaining 1/4 cup almonds and 1/4 cup pine nuts.
• Bake until the cake is cooked and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes.
• Let the cake cool on a wire rack.

APRICOT ALMOND CAKE WITH ROSEWATER AND CARDAMOM

Steps:

• Put the dried apricots into a small saucepan, cover them with the cold water, and drop in the cracked cardamom pods with their fragrant seeds. Put on the heat, then bring to the boil and let it bubble for 10 minutes--don't stray too far away from the pan, as by the end of the 10 minutes the pan will be just about out of water and you want to make sure it doesn't actually run dry as the apricots will absorb more water as they cool.
• Take the pan off the heat, place on a cold, heatproof surface and let the apricots cool. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/gas mark 4/350 degrees F. Grease the sides of your springform cake tin and line the bottom with baking parchment.
• Remove 5 of the dried apricots and tear each in half, then set aside for the time being. Discard the cardamom husks, leaving the seeds in the pan.
• Pour and scrape out the sticky contents of the pan into the bowl of a food processor. Add the almond meal, polenta, baking powder, superfine sugar and eggs, and give a good long blitz to combine.
• Open the top of the processor, scrape down the batter, add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and the rosewater, and blitz again, then scrape into the prepared tin and smooth with a spatula. Arrange the apricot halves around the circumference of the tin.
• Bake for 40 minutes, though if the cake is browning up a lot before it's actually ready, you may want to cover loosely with foil at the 30-minute mark. When it's ready, the cake will be coming away from the edges of the tin, the top will feel firm, and a cake tester will come out with just one or two damp crumbs on it.
• Remove the cake to a wire rack. If you're using apricot jam to decorate, you may want to warm it a little first so that it's easier to spread; rose petal jam is so lusciously soft-set, it shouldn't need any help. Stir a teaspoon of lemon juice into the jam and brush over the top of the cake, then sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and leave the cake to cool in its tin before unspringing and removing to a plate.