Monday, November 10, 2008

Chocolate Pistachio Apricot Spice Cake



There's nothing like a good spell in hospital to make you appreciate the simple things in life. Just walking down the street feeling the warmth of the sun and a fresh breeze across your face is heavenly. This is the situation I found myself in last week.

Then of course there is the food. I have to say that the meals were not bad, but institutional cooking is institutional cooking. It can never match up to home cooked food.

And given that I was feeling so much better, one of the first things I wanted to do was get into the kitchen and do some baking. Together, this all added up to a cake. A cake to celebrate was definitely in order.


This was the end result - a pistachio almond and apricot cake studded with chunks of chocolate and spiced with cardamom and vanilla. I spotted the recipe in the weekend paper a few months back. It's been on my mind ever since. It just sounded so so good.

And it is. Lovely and soft and moist. Rich with complex flavours. And simple to make to boot. A perfect homecoming.

Chocolate Pistachio Apricot Spice Cake
(adapted from The Sun Herald)

100gm pistachios
100gm slivered almonds
165gm butter
100gm caster sugar
4 eggs, separated
100gm dried apricots, finely sliced
150gm dark chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 tspn ground cardamom
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 190C. Grease and line a 25cm round cake tin.

Process two thirds of the nuts until finely ground. Roughly chop remaining nuts by hand.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale. Add egg yolks one at a time, then stir in both ground and chopped nuts, apricots, chocolate, cardamom and vanilla seeds.

Whisk egg whites with the salt in a stainless steel bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture.

Pour into the tin and bake for 45-50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

When cool dust with icing sugar and serve with thick cream.

15 Comments:

At 10:21 pm, Blogger David T. Macknet said...

I'm glad you're not in the hospital (any longer)! This sounds like a truly tasty recipe ... except that I'm confused by pistachios - I think they should be salty. ;)

 
At 2:31 am, Blogger grace said...

i'm so sorry you were in the hospital--i hope everything's okay! that being said, this cake would be amazing whether you'd just been fed hospital food or not. :)

 
At 2:29 am, Blogger Kelly-Jane said...

I do hope you are on the mend now, whatever caused you a trip to hospital.

Beautiful cake, you usually make things I'd like to eat, but this more than ever!

 
At 11:55 am, Blogger steph- whisk/spoon said...

so glad to hear you are feeling better. and eating delicious cake instead of hospital food!

 
At 10:30 am, Blogger Brilynn said...

Sounds like a wonderful celebration cake, nothing beats homemade!

 
At 3:08 pm, Blogger Lyra said...

What a wondrous combination of flavours...It sounds scrumptious. Nothing beats feeling better after a hospital visit-I would be celebrating too. Glad to hear you are feeling so much better as well:)

 
At 9:13 pm, Blogger iGurman said...

Very nice blog. I love chocolate cake! I am from Slovakia republic. I have also a blog focused on recipes for cooking. See. You need to translate the Google translate

 
At 12:45 am, Blogger Meeta K. Wolff said...

Oh I am truly loving the flavors in this cake. What a flavor heaven!

 
At 11:32 pm, Blogger Deborah said...

Sorry to hear you were in the hospital, but this cake definitely says celebration to me!

 
At 5:44 pm, Blogger Cath said...

Wow, that sounds fantastic.

I've only just found your blog and I've immediately added a link from mine. I see you already have me linked, so thank you! Did I miss a comment from you? (I write "The Canberra Cook".)

Anyway, I love your blog, and I'm assiduously reading back over it. Love the Kitchenaid challenge!

 
At 9:17 pm, Blogger VG said...

So excited to see another fellow Canberran food blogger. Great recipes and dying to try them out.

 
At 1:06 am, Blogger Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

I hope that all is well and that you've recovered from eating hospital food and illness. I was so sorry to hear about that. In the meantime enjoy!!!

 
At 7:28 pm, Blogger Amanda at Little Foodies said...

HI KJ, hope you're feeling better now. Celebration cake all the way...

 
At 11:29 pm, Blogger Patricia Scarpin said...

What a joy it is to know you are not in the hospital now!
And this cake.. Yum. I love each and every ingredient in it.

 
At 3:10 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just baked your cake! It looks good, true test will be how it goes down tonight at dinner!!

 

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