Apricot and Almond Olive Oil Cake: ABC

It has been an age since I have baked along with my ABC group.  The Avid Bakers have been baking some wonderful and beautiful goodies without me....like Brown Butter Banana Bread, Tender Loving Crackle Cookies and Hazelnut Rocher Cake. 

 They all looked so good!

When I saw this cake, I thought that possible I could make a healthier version...so today, I gave it a try.

First I halved the recipe.  It is only my husband and I here and I am on a quest to drop weight and my husband is a diabetic, so as hard as it is...we 

really don't eat many sweets.  So half sounded like a good place to start.

I used almond milk instead of regular milk and stevia instead of sugar.  

 I think I got a fairly good result.  The cake was very moist and had only a hint of sweetness which played very well with the tartness of the apricots.  The almond milk added to the almond flavors in the cake.  I liked 

the crunch of the slivered almonds on top.  

I will give it a thumbs up!

Enjoy!

Apricot & Almond Olive Oil Cake

adapted from Scientifically Sweet

Makes one 9-inch cake

¾ cup plus 2 tbsp (175g) sugar (used Stevia)

1 cup (230 ml) milk  ( I used almond milk)

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp (100 ml) extra virgin olive oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/3 cups (190 g) all-purpose flour

¼ cup (25g) ground almonds

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda 

¼ tsp salt 

5-6 apricots, cut into quarters

flaked almonds, for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C. Lightly butter and flour a 9x9 inch round springform cake pan and line the base with parchment paper.

Place the sugar, milk, lemon zest and scraped vanilla bean seeds with the pod in a medium saucepan over low heat and bring just barely to a simmer while stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. Do not let it boil. Remove from heat, cover and set aside for 15 minutes to infuse and cool down.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk through ground almonds. Add the olive oil, beaten eggs and cooled milk mixture and whisk gently to form a smooth batter. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and arrange the apricot quarters on top any way you like. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds and bake for 30–35 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing the sides and leaving to cool completely. 

If you are using very small apricots, they may plummet to the bottom of the tin during baking. To avoid this, make a double layer of apricot quarters.