Apricot Beaumes-de-Venise cake
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This cake is uniquely delicious! The key to it’s flavor in my mind is the addition of diced dried apricots that have been soaked in muscat Beaume-de-Venise, a well known regional French dessert wine along the lines of Sauternes. Moist with a hard to pin down hint of spice on the tongue (the muscat perhaps?), the cake has a dense crumb and a lovely hint of crunch from the butter/sugar topping.
As you can see, I used organic dried Turkish apricots from Whole Foods. I’ll admit that as I was planning to bake this cake, it became a matter of convenience to stop by that particular grocery, since I had no apricots in my larder and Steve and I happened to be passing by the place. And, as luck would have it, a nearby wine vendor had bottles of the muscat I sought! A win-win in my book.
A note on organic dried apricots - they’re un-sulfured which allows them to darken when dried; non-organic are treated with sulfur dioxide which keeps them brighter orange. Apricots in general are good for you, being high in iron, potassium and fiber and a good source of Vitamins A and C. Another win-win.
First - a quick back story - Steve and I moved back to Grand Rapids, Michigan in the summer of 2015 - we can’t believe it will be 10 years in July!!! One day in the spring of 2016 we were browsing in a nearby Barnes and Noble and on the magazine stands I spied an issue of “Bake from Scratch”, a publication I had not seen before. What really got my attention was the header “The French Issue” and the simple fact that it contained recipes for all manner of French baked goods. I bought it!
After some quick research I was reminded that the first issue of the magazine was released in the fall of 2015. Since then there have been special issues, some focused on certain countries like Ireland and Italy, some on specific topics like cakes or breads or holiday cookies. Each year the company publishes a hard cover compendium of the previous years recipes. It’s still going strong and, in fact, is now celebrating its 10 year anniversary.
After subscribing on and off over the years I finally let it go. In addition to so many of my tried and true base recipes that I tailor to different flavor profiles, I have plenty of baking and pastry books on hand that will keep me inspired for quite a while. But I did save a number of issues and had pegged the section on “easy French Gâteaux” in this particular one all those years ago. It’s been sitting on my “to do” pile ever since.
I was very familiar with and had already made a number of the highlighted gateaux well before discovering this magazine: Gâteau Basque, Gâteau Breton, dacquoise, fraisier and clafoutis. Finally it’s time for apricot Beaumes-de-Venise! Let’s go!!
Mise en place
Here’s my adaptation of the recipe. You know my mantra about planning ahead. You need a 9” springform pan, bottom lined with parchment, then bottom and sides brushed with olive oil. NOTE: one can substitute other Côte du Rhône varietals such as Marsanne, Viognier or a Rhône white blend for the Beaume-de-Venise.
Here’s the mise set up.
Dice about 140 g / 5 ounces dried apricots; heat one cup muscat to a simmer, add the diced apricots, remove from the heat and let cool about 30-40 minutes. You can do this earlier in the day and let them sit until you’re ready.
Soften 113 g / 4 ounces unsalted butter and let 2 large eggs come to room temperature.
Have extra virgin olive oil (3 tablespoons + extra for prepping pan) and vanilla extract (1 teaspoon) handy.
Have 150 g / 3/4 cup sugar in a separate bowl along with the zest of one orange and one lemon.
Have 200 g / 1.5 cups all purpose flour, one teaspoon baking powder and one teaspoon kosher salt whisked together in another bowl.
You’ll be topping the cake toward the end of the bake with a couple tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons diced butter.
The steps are very familiar to all of you cake bakers out there. Remember - here’s the recipe.
Heat oven to 350ºF.
In a stand mixer with the paddle blend butter with 3 tablespoons EVOO for about 30-40 seconds; add sugar, zests, one teaspoon vanilla and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time, beating just til combined, scraping down after each.
Add flour mixture alternating with apricot/wine mixture in three additions, starting and ending with flour.
Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top.
Bake 35-40 minutes until nicely browned and a tester comes out clean. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar (I like raw sugar for this) over the top and dot with the 2 tablespoons of diced butter. Bake an additional 5 minutes.
Remove from oven, let cool 20 minutes then release from pan to continue cooling.
Toppings added
Just out of the oven
Once released from the pan sides and cooled, gently slide an offset spatula under the cake to separate it from the parchment lined bottom and carefully lift the cake onto a platter.
Steve and I enjoyed our first slices with a small scoop of vanilla mascarpone ice cream (homemade of course) and some oat crumble. Oh so good. We shared a couple of slices with neighbors and enjoyed additional small slices (au naturel) as post lunch or dinner treats.
The cake keeps covered at room temperature for several days. Is it worth it? You bet!
A hearty thank you to “Bake From Scratch”!
It’s officially spring on the calendar, my tulips are already coming up and our travel to France is getting closer. Enjoy spring!
