Liana’s Kitchen: Apricot Spice Cake 

This moist, rich breakfast cake is similar to carrot cake or banana bread, but with a tangy kick from sour cream and pureed Turkish apricots.

My original intention was to coat the cake with cream cheese frosting. Then, I noticed I had a mixture of sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom leftover from baking my new favorite holiday cookie: snickerdoodles rolled in chai spices, by food writer Priya Krishna. The flavors in Priya’s chai spice snickerdoodles are already front and center in my cake recipe, so sprinkling the batter with the sugar mixture was a no-brainer. It’s less heavy than frosting and adds a crunchy, sparkly coating. 

Cake

1 cup dried apricots

½ cup oil 

2 eggs

½ cup sour cream

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder 

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Sugar Topping 

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom

1. Place apricots in a small bowl and cover with water. Soak, ideally overnight, until soft and most of the water has been absorbed. Drain excess liquid. Puree apricots in a food processor or blender. Set aside. 
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9 inch round or 9 x 13 inch rectangular baking pan.
3. In a medium bowl, combine whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom. 
4. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, sour cream, pureed apricots, and eggs until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla.
5. Add flour mixture, stirring until just combined. (Be careful not to overmix.)
6. Pour batter into prepared pan. 
7. Prepare the sugar topping: In a small container or jar, combine sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom. Sprinkle as much topping as desired over the cake (you probably won’t use all of it, and can store the leftovers for later use.)
8. Bake for around 35-40 minutes, until a fork or cake tester inserted into the middle is mostly clean. Let cool before serving. 
9. Store leftovers at room temperature in an airtight container.

Liana’s Kitchen is a column by Michigan-based chef and foodie Liana Grey. Check out her food blog Bakerwithoutborders.