apricot slice and a kitchen mystery

apricot slice and a kitchen mystery

13 Apr 2026

I've been away for the past week, staying at Farmer Andrew's house in Dungog. As I was in the country, I thought it only fitting to bake something deliciously old fashioned like this Apricot Slice. At it's heart is a simple butter cake, flavoured with vanilla then topped with apricot halves and a dusting of sugar. The original recipe comes from Bill's Open Kitchen by the one and only Bill Granger, who sadly passed away a few years ago. There are some lovely recipes in the book and its probably time to revisit some more of them.

Apricot season has come and gone in Sydney so I used bottled apricot halves and  added some finely grated lemon rind to the batter to replace some of the lost zing. The original recipe was a mix it all in batter but as I didn't have a stand mixer, I went the old fashioned route of creaming the butter and sugar before adding the eggs and flour. The baking powder had expired so instead of all plain flour I used a combination of self raising and plain flour instead. I'd not used Farmer Andrew's new oven before and as he was away and I couldn't locate the manual, I just twiddled the dials and hoped for the best.

Here's the recipe for you which was adapted from a recipe from Bill's Open Kitchen. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced, you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Apricot slice – makes 9 slices
Ingredients
150g unsalted butter, softened

125g caster sugar

1½ tsp vanilla extract
finely grated rind 1 lemon

2 eggs
¾ cup (110g) SR flour

¼ cup (40g) plain flour 

a pinch of salt

60 ml (¼ cup) milk
8-10 apricots, pitted and halved (this may vary depending on the size of the apricots). If fresh apricots are out of season you can use tinned or bottled apricots
3 tsp caster sugar, extra

Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C, conventional. Grease and line a 7 x 11 inch slice tin with baking paper.

Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon rind in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add in the room temperature eggs one at a time until combined. Sift the flour and salt and add the flour to the batter in 2 batches alternating with the milk to form a smooth batter. Spread the mixture evenly into the slice tin.

Push the apricot halves, cut side up, evenly into the cake mixture into 5 or 6 rows of 3. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, sprinkle over extra sugar and cook for another 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

When cool, cut into fingers to make 9 slices.

I cut and photographed the slice and when I returned to put the cooled cake into the cake tin, the cut slice you see here had disappeared.

I'd not eaten the slice and as only the dog and I were in the house at the time, I asked Mavis if she knew what had happened. Mavis assured me that she'd not eaten it, and as she's a pretty honest girl, (and she was quietly snoring on my bed when the slice was snaffled) I believed her. I cut myself a piece of the slice and it was so delicious I can't really blame the cake thief.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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upside down fig and mascarpone cake

upside down fig and mascarpone cake

6 Apr 2026

Sometimes my fridge is filled with bits and pieces that need to be used in a hurry. I had some mascarpone that was close to it's expiry date and in the freezer were the leftover figs from the fig galette I made a few weeks ago. I hunted through my recipe books for a recipe that used both ingredients.

I found a lovely recipe for a fig and mascarpone cake in Skye McAlpine's book, A Table in Venice. I was going to top the cake with fig slices until I found a few other recipes online that topped the cake with figs flavoured with Marsala. That sounded like a good idea to me so I decided to combine the two recipes and came up with this upside down fig cake.

Here's the recipe for you that makes a 17 cm cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced, you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Upside down fig and mascarpone cake – adapted from a recipe from A Table in Venice by Skye McAlpine and a recipe from Olive magazine.

Marsala figs

6 figs halved lengthways or quartered depending on the size of the figs.

2 tbs caster sugar

45 mls Marsala

Cake

125g room temperature mascarpone

100g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 room temperature eggs

125g self-raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

a good pinch of sea salt

4-6 fresh figs, stems removed, chopped into chunks

Method

Heat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease and line a 17-cm cake tin with baking paper. If using a springform tin, wrap the base with foil to prevent any leaks.

Put the halved figs into a bowl with 1 tbs of the caster sugar and the Marsala, and toss well. Set aside for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone, sugar and vanilla together until creamy then add the eggs and mix until well combined. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and stir until well combined. Gently stir in the fig pieces.

Scatter the bottom of the tin with the remaining caster sugar and then arrange the fig halves, cut-side down. Carefully spoon the batter into the prepared tin and place the tin on a baking tray on the middle shelf of the oven, to catch any drips. 

Bake for 1 hour or until golden, risen and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. The cake is quite delicate, so cool the cake in the tin for 10-15 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack. 

Pour over any remaining marsala syrup and leave to cool before cutting into slices. I served my slice with a dollop of double cream.

The marsala figs are genius but I wasn't sold on the texture of the cake. I think I'll revisit the recipe using a tried and true butter cake batter for the base, so watch this space.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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