we’ve been lucky to have photographer sabra krock share two beautifully shot recipes with us so far (maple sour cream walnut muffins and artichoke casserole) and today we’re thrilled to have her back for a delicious seasonal recipe that’s perfect for weekend guests. i’ll let sabra take it from here, but i wanted to congratulate sabra on her new kids website and line of limited edition greeting cards (below). she’s offering a beautiful series of feather/egg photography cards and summer fruit photography. if you’re interested in picking up one of her sets just shoot sabra an email right here.
from sabra: i had originally thought about doing this recipe for the first post, but apricots have only just now hit the stores on the east coast. the recipe is (heavily) adapted from marcel desaulniers’ “oven-roasted plum cakes” in julia child’s baking cookbook, baking with julia (written by dorie greenspan). i must confess to being a bit of a cookbook junkie. i buy them now as much for the beautiful photography as for the recipes. i describe some of my current favorites in a recent post on my blog.
baking with julia is already more than ten years old but the recipes are as fresh and informative as ever. it is a great general baking reference book as well as a nice compilation of recipes from wonderful bakers such as nancy silverton and nick malgieri. one of my favorite food photographer teams, gentl and hyers, did the photos.
my recipe calls for baking the cakes in disposable tartlet cups (approximately 4 inches in diameter and ¾ inch high). The cups are just the right size to ensure that the pretty fruit pokes out of the top at the end.
CLICK HERE for the full recipe after the jump!
Apricot tea cakes
(makes approximately six cakes)
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Tbs light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp minced lemon zest
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
¾ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup almond meal
¾ tsp baking soda
¼ cup buttermilk
3 ripe apricots, halved and pitted
Sanding or sparkling sugar (for dusting the tops)
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars at medium/medium-high speed until light and fluffy and sugar is dissolved. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add lemon zest and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Reduce mixer speed to low and add in flours and baking soda until just combined, taking care not to over-mix. Stir a few times with a rubber spatula, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, to ensure all ingredients are well combined.
Place six tartlet cups on a baking sheet and fill half way with batter. Press an apricot half, cut side up, into the center of the cup. Sprinkle batter and fruit with sanding sugar. Bake for 25 minutes or until tops are golden brown and batter is just set (springs back to the touch). Enjoy with tea!
