Yeasted apricot cake

Since returning from my two week trip to colder climes over Christmas, I've been doing my best to make the most of summer fruit. Top of my list was this cake, which I first made a few years ago when a friend gave me a box of apricots as a Christmas present (she knows me well). Apart from showcasing apricots in all their glory - no complicated pre-cooking required, just remove the stones, quarter the fruit, and pop on the top - the enriched dough is lightly infused with lemon and sprinkled with crunchy cardamom sugar. It's simple yet stunning, more like a pastry really than a cake. A warning writ large in the title - yeast is involved here as the rising agent. If you're nervous about that, don't be. The recipe requires only one proofing period, so not a big time commitment. Don't worry if the dough doesn't double in size. I've read only recently this is a fallacy. You just need it to be discernibly bigger. If the dough hasn't noticeably increased in size in the suggested time, let it sit a bit longer. Hold your nerve. All will be well. And you'll have a wonderful cake at the end to show for it.

Apricot yeasted cake

Adapted from A Year of Simple Family Food by Julia Busuttil-Nishimura

I halved this recipe and it worked well (same cooking time). I imagine you could substitute any stone fruit - peaches, nectarines, plums.

150ml full cream milk

300g Tipo 00 flour

7g active dry yeast

finely grated zest of one lemon

1 egg, lightly beaten

70g unsalted butter, softened

110g caster (superfine) sugar

500g apricots, halved, stones removed, then quartered

3 cardamom pods, freshly ground

Warm the milk slightly in a small saucepan just til lukewarm (rather than fridge cold). Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer and add the flour, yeast, salt, lemon zest, egg, butter and 50g of the sugar. Using the dough hook, mix on medium for 4-5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Transfer to a greased bowl, cover and leave in a warm space for one hour or noticeably risen (see text below photo above - the shorthand is to say "doubled in size" for this step but dough is unlikely to rise that much).

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Line a 30cm round baking tray with baking paper.

Tip the dough out onto the tray (a plastic bench scraper is a good tool to use for this) and with your fingers stretch out to the edge. Arrange the apricots in concentric circles, leaving a small border. Mix the remaining sugar with the cardamom and sprinkle over the top of the cake.

Bake for 35 minutes or til the fruit is soft and the dough is risen and golden. Eat warm or on day of baking.