APRICOT & ALMOND CAKE

Enjoy this scrumptious upside-down cake warm or at room temperature with a dollop of yoghurt or thickened cream. Makes about 12 serves.

Ingredients for glaze:

550g butter, melted

1 tabsp golden syrup

2 tabsp brown sugar

8-10 apricots, stoned and halved

70g slivered almonds, lightly toasted

Ingredients for cake:

125g butter, softened

½ cup caster sugar

1 teasp vanilla extract

1 orange zested

2 eggs

½ cup ground almonds

2 cups self-raising flour

1 teasp ground ginger

½ cup buttermilk

Heat oven to 180 degrees C.  Grease and line the base of a 23cm cake tin.

Glaze: in a small bowl, combine melted butter, golden syrup, and brown sugar.  Spread mixture over base of lined tin.  Arrange apricots over base, cut side up, then scatter with almonds.

Cake: cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and orange zest.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in ground almonds.

Sift flour and ginger together, and fold into creamed mixture in 2-3 batches alternating with buttermilk.

Carefully spread cake mixture over apricots. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before turning out of tin.

Recipe courtesy Bernadette Hogg, NZ House & Garden, Garden Diary