Thursday, June 16, 2011

Apricot sour cream cake



My Mum is down from "up North" to stay with me this week.  It has been rather a novelty to have someone to stay, so I have been enjoying it.  The weather in Melbourne has also smiled on us, as for the most part, we have enjoyed sunny, albeit cool, weather this week.

Mum bought June edition of The Australian Womens Weekly to read at night.  Julie Goodwin, the winner of the first season of Australian Masterchef, has a regular cooking feature in the magazine.  One of Julie's recipes this month, a recipe for Apricot Sour Cream Cake, caught Mum's eye, so of course I had to make it for her.



The cake contains tinned apricots, so it doesn't matter that we are in the depths of winter and apricots are out of season.  In the cake batter, sour cream is added instead of milk to give the cake lightness and added tang.  I think this cake would be good fresh out of the oven with custard, but cold the next day, it was perfect.

Julie frosts her cake with sour cream and white chocolate frosting; I skipped this, but it sounds delicious, so I have included it.

To make this cake, you will need:

125g butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups sour cream
400g can apricot halves, drained and chopped
2 1/4cups self-raising flour (or add 4 teaspoons baking powder to the same quantity of plain flour)
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 cup white chocolate bits




Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Grease a 25cm bundt pan and set aside.

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Using a rubber spatula, fold in 1 cup of the sour cream and the chopped apricots, then fold in the sifted flour and bicarbonate of soda.  

Spread the batter evenly in the bundt pan, and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until cooked through.  Remove the cake from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Combine the remaining 1/4 cup sour cream and white chocolate bits in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave on high for 1 minute or until melted, stirring half way through the melting time.  Allow the mixture to cool slightly and thicken, then drizzle over the cooled cake.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Great cake! I don't have the latest WWW so appreciate the recipe. It's good to have something other than choc. "Up north" - I wonder how far. In north Queensland we are experiencing a cold winter 11C-24C. We are FREEZING!!!! I hope to get down to Melbourne with hubby and kids in September. I do hope it's not that cold! Do you know of a good place to stay in the CBD? There is so many I don't know what to choose.

Lauren Hairston said...

I have a bundt pan and never use it; I don't know why. Maybe because I didn't have this recipe? This looks yummy and I never can resist things with sour cream in them. As a child, I even ate sour cream by itself and I'm even tempted to now!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the hotel tip! I had seen this one but didn't know what it was like. Really appreciate it!

Anonymous said...

Sounds delicious - sour cream adds such a nice flavor to cakes. Enjoy the visit with your mom!

Johanna GGG said...

Glad the weather is not too miserable for your mum's visit - it is chilly but the sun is comforting at least

Love the sound of the cake - enjoy your time with your mum

Amanda said...

I have a recipe somewhere (that I haven't made for ages) that is somewhat similar. It has lots of eggs, sour cream and chopped dried apricots and is divine. Thanks for reminding me of it!

Anonymous said...

This sounds and looks like a great cake! After my recent success with a white chocolate buttercream, I am intrigued to try Julie's sour cream white chocolate frosting. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

I love the sound of this cake. Sour cream just adds so much to the texture too! :)

The Blonde Duck said...

I wonder if my dad would eat this for father's day.

Finla said...

Love budn't cake and this looks so so good.

Hazel - Chicken in a Cherry Sauce said...

Mmmm I love the idea of using sour cream for added tang, perfect with the apricots!

Elaine said...

What a great daughter you are! I bet you are having the best time with your mom. This looks and sounds like a wonderful cake. I love apricots and with the sour cream this cake is probably very moist.

Lucia said...

Un dolce fantastico, super profumato!

Anonymous said...

I used fresh apricots from my orchard and added the white choc buttons in the mix. No icing needed- this cake is superb! As muffins also. Virginia