This week’s weekly bake-off from Mary Berry’s 100 Cakes and Bakes, was apricot Swiss cakes. A very similar recipe can be found here HERE, but they are not cakes in the sponge sense, much more like Viennese whirls. For me there was an additional challenge, I just had to make the jam.
I didn’t have any apricot jam and jam is one of the things I never buy as I have a larder full of homemade stuff. As it isn’t the season for apricots, my little tree has only just blossomed, I turned to the dried ones. I made the decision not to chop the apricots as I thought a whole one would look best in the middle of these cakes and that was my undoing!
The were so easy to make and I was delighted that I had the chance to pull out my piping bag to get the mixture into the cases. I used cup cake cases but I think the smaller fairy cake cases would have been better as they did sink a bit when they came out of the oven. Also if I made them again, I wouldn’t move them from the bun tin to the wire rack until they have a had a chance to cool a bit as they did tend to crack while hot.
When they were unveiled for the tasting, I was a little concerned as they resembled jam tarts and Himself is not keen, however when it came to the tasting, he loved them. The score was 9/10 and the only reason I lost that one point was because I didn’t chop the apricots. When he bit into them, the whole apricot came with the first mouthful not leaving any for the rest of the cake.
Apricot jam
- 400g dried apricots
- 400g sugar (I used a mix of jam sugar and caster sugar)
- 900ml water
- Put the dried apricots in a large bowl and add enough water to cover them (if you want to chop them, do it before soaking).
- Leave to soak overnight.
- Transfer the apricots and any water that hasn’t soaked in to a thick bottomed pan and add the 900ml water.
- Bring to the boil and simmer for around 15 minutes until the apricots are soft.
- Add the sugar and stir until it has dissolved.
- Simmer the jam for around 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Bring to the boil and cook until setting point is reached.
- Ladle into sterilised jars and seal.
