Sunday, December 23, 2012

Apricot Raisin Cake

Apricot Raisin Cake

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, which means I will be handing one of these cakes over to each of my Nans. Apricot cake just happens to be their favourite Christmas cake and for the past couple of years it has been my Christmas gift to them. Not only is this cake moist and delicious, but it's comprised of simple ingredients. I found this recipe on Rock Recipes which is a blog by a fellow Newfoundlander. I would highly recommend this site to anyone! Some amazing recipes on there.



Ingredients
  • 2 cups Water
  • ½ cup Sultana Raisins
  • 1¼ cup Sugar
  • 12 oz Dried Chopped Apricots
  • 1 cup Butter
  • 1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 4 oz Cream Cheese
  • 2 ½ cups Flour
  • ½ tsp Baking Powder 
  • 4 Eggs

Instructions
1) In a medium saucepan combine water, raisins, 1/4 cup sugar and dried apricots. Simmer very gently for 30 minutes. Cool completely.
Tip from Rock Recipes: 'I like to boil the fruit a day ahead of baking, allowing the dried fruits to soak up syrup which keeps them moist during baking and in turn assures a moist cake throughout.'
Apricot/raisin mixture in the pot - Apricot Raisin Cake
Before
Apricot/Raisin mixture finished - Apricot Raisin Cake
After
2) Cream together butter, remaining sugar, vanilla and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
cake mixture - Apricot Raisin Cake
looking a little nasty at this point but will be deliciousness soon enough!
3) Next, sift together flour and baking powder. Fold half of the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Fold in the cooled boiled apricot mixture, followed by the remaining dry ingredients.
apricot mixture w/ cake based - Apricot Raisin Cake
ready for the pan - Apricot Raisin Cake

4) Bake in a greased tube pan or two loaf pans at 350 degrees F for about an hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. My cake was ready in about 45 minutes, so be sure to monitor your cake as it bakes.

ready for the oven - Apricot Raisin Cake
 That's it, a little bit of work with a fabulous result! Enjoy everyone!

10 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness that looks absolutely delicious! I'm not a fan of raisins, but this looks amazing! :) You gained a new follower. Please feel free to check out my blog and follow back. I always love making new blog buddies.

    ps --My friend told me about your blog. (Her name is Tasha, she said she's a friend of a friend of yours.)

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    1. Hmm your profile tells me you're from NB, and we share a common friend named Tasha... can only be one! ;) Yay Tasha for creating new blog buds!

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  2. I am a transplanted Newfoundlander looking for my lost recipe for this cake. I would like to share it with some Nova Scotian friends. I can't wait to try this again! I can almost taste it. :) Thanks!!!

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  3. Is that 12 ounces of apricots by volume or weight?

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  4. Heya! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the fantastic work!
    organic freeze dried fruit

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  5. Do you add the water with tha apricots or do you drain the fruit before you fold it into the batter?

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  6. Sorry, just seeing this comment. The sugar-water mixture gets absorbed into the apricots and raisins plumping them up as you slowly simmer it all together. The mixture eventually thickens so there's no longer any leftover water to drain.

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  7. I made this cake for the last few years ; I say after making 15 in total For some reason this cake takes 1.5 hours to bake , every other type of cake takes the allowed time except this recipe

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  8. I agree , been making this recipe for years and it always takes mine 1hour and 25 min to bake in a tube pan.

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