Seasonal fruit in abundance, the fragrance, the colors, the shapes, taste and textures everything awakens all your sensory feelings. The thought of biting into juicy fruit stimulates a neurons overflow of flavors, watering my mouth instantly. In a flash sparking all the creative possibilities of how-to cook, bake, stew, grill, with knowing taste buds enjoying foresight of a gratifying experience. Mmmhmm….

Still contemplating on choosing the right recipe and ultimate dish, I started first by macerating the fruits in a little bit of sugar. While it is not necessary I like to add a liqueur to enhance flavor. The choice was made on the first bottle in direct view an almond liqueur this time, but other favorite choices are Cointreau or Grand Marnier both combine and infuse well too.

Over time I also experimented by using Cremoncello di Sicillia Mandarino liqueur, while enjoying Limencello original mostly in the summers this is a very nice surprise. Limoncello and other fruit variations are traditionally served chilled after meals in Italy, it is quite popular around the Mediterranean coasts. 

A sprinkle of sugar draws out their juices and mixing the fruits starts blending the liqueur, it creates a syrup and as you can see it coats the fruits with a beautiful gloss. After 20-30 minutes when you transfer the fruits on top of the cake batter, save the infused syrup as a glaze for later.

Choosing  between Apricot-Almond Clafouti recipe by Eating Well and a Cake I choose the latter, since I started preparing in the morning. A Cake can be enjoyed cold anytime of the day, but a Clafouti is slightly cooled right after dinner enjoyed at its best. While Cherry clafouti is one of my favorites, haven’t tried yet using Apricots another reason to follow up soon while this fruit is at its peak.

When I started mixing I discovered too late that I hadn’t had enough self-rising flour so I had to do a little improvisation by adding flour and one teaspoon of baking soda, it worked out just fine. After creaming the butter with sugar I added the eggs one by one and finally a drop of vanilla essence, when I realized I could have used almond essence too, will leave that for the next bake. Normally milk is one of the ingredients but I only had soy milk and used it without a problem in the batter. Having done that I need to mention that I used a commercial brand not my own homemade unsweetened soy milk which has a more pronounced bean flavor. For the inexperienced tasters it can have an impact on appreciating the final result in complementing tastes. Press the  apricots into the batter and drizzle a bit of the juice syrup on top and pop it into the heated oven.

By the time the bake is nearing its end our kitchen is filled with an incense and I…..

“Heaven… I’m in heaven,
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak.
And I seem to find the happiness I seek,
When we’re out together dancing cheek to cheek.”                  – Cheek to Cheek by Irvin Berlin –

Apricot Almond Cake Recipe

This is one of my favorite recipes, without fail it turns out great every time with all stone and soft fruits. Once you macerate the fruits, the batter is easily mixed under 10 minutes since the magic happens during baking which takes around 50-60 minutes depending your oven. Just check towards the end with a wooden skewer whether it comes out clean.

The Springform straight from the oven, say no more, say no more. Let it cool slightly than brush the syrupy liquid on top of the fruits to finish off with a beautiful glaze.

My hubby was in a hurry he didn’t realize that the baking paper lining was not yet peeled off the bottom. That didn’t stop him to cut a slice on the go and munching happily away.

Food photography: The images in this post were all made with a smartphone camera, Samsung Note 2 model. Pixlr image editing tools was used; to crop and a vignette no color or enhanced editing on the images.