apricot, rosemary and ricotta cake

apricot, rosemary and ricotta cake

• 24 Nov 2025

I've had this Elizabeth Hewson recipe for a tinned apricot, ricotta and thyme cake bookmarked for quite some time. When the time finally came to make the cake the first apricots of the season had arrived at my fruit shop. As I love fresh apricots, I incorporated fresh apricots into the cake recipe. 

I didn't have any fresh thyme at home but I had rosemary. Inspired by a Nicola Lamb recipe for an apricot, rosemary and polenta cake from her cookbook Sift, I decided to combine the 2 recipes. I used Elizabeth Hewson's cake recipe for the base and topped the cake with the apricot and rosemary topping from Nicola Lamb's recipe. I'd also run out of lemons so I made another change and used grated lime rind in my cake. 

She's a sturdy thing this cake, more cheesecake in texture than cakelike but she's very delicious. Elizabeth doused her cake with a syrup made from the tinned apricot juice, but as I'd not used the tinned variety I served my cake simply topped with double cream.

Here's the recipe for you, inspired by this recipe from Elizabeth, which makes a 17cm cake. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C. 

Apricot, rosemary and ricotta cake - makes a 17cm cake

Ingredients
100g room temperature unsalted butter

160g well drained full cream ricotta from the deli

150g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Zest of 1 lemon or lemon

2 eggs
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

40 mls Greek yoghurt

Apricot topping

20g unsalted butter
20g caster sugar
1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped and 1 sprig of fresh rosemary

4 fresh apricots, halved and stoned

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C, conventional or 160°C fan-forced. Grease, flour and line the base of a 17cm-cake tin with a removable base.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the butter, ricotta, vanilla, zest and sugar together and mix until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides. Sift the flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt into a bowl then fold the flour mixture through the ricotta mixture in thirds, alternating with the yoghurt. Mix until combined then spoon the batter into the tin and smooth out the top with an offset spatula. 

Apricot topping

Melt the butter, add the sugar and heat until bubbling and browning slightly. Add  the chopped rosemary leaves and bubble for 30 seconds or so, then place the apricot halves into the pan, cut-side down. Add the rosemary sprig and cook for 5 minutes over a low heat. Check to see if the apricots have coloured a little, and if so, carefully remove the apricots. The butter/sugar should be dark in spots like a dark caramel. If not, then cook the caramel for a few more minutes before turning off the heat. Nestle the apricots in the batter, cut-side up then pour the rosemary/butter/caramel over the top.

Place the cake on the centre rack of the preheated 180°C, conventional oven. Bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes or until golden and when you insert a skewer into the cake, a few crumbs adhere. 

Place onto a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmoulding the cake. Cool completely before serving.

When cool, slice and serve with thick cream.

I took this to my brother's place and I'm pleased to say, the cake went down a treat. Now I'm kind of itching to make the apricot, rosemary and polenta cake.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian