Ingredients

• 125g/4 ozs. butter
• 125g/4 ozs. caster sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 100mls/3½ fl. ozs white wine
• 1 dessertspoon Amaretto liqueur
• 50g/2 ozs. finely chopped ready to eat apricots
• 150g/6 ozs. self raising flour
• 50g/2 ozs. ground almonds
• Few drops pure almond extract

Method

1. Snip the apricots finely
2. Mix the wine, Amaretto and almond extract together and drop in the snipped apricots to soak.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until light in colour and fluffy.
4. Gradually mix in the beaten eggs.
5. Tip in the flour and ground almonds by the spoonful alternately with spoonfuls of the liquid in which the apricots were soaking.
6. When all the liquid has been incorporated, drop in the soaked snipped apricots and mix them into the mixture.
7. Level the top of the mixture in the cake tin and put in the oven to bake.

Baking
AGA - 2 OVEN : Bake on bottom shelf of roasting oven (with cold shelf over) about 45 mins.

AGA - 4 OVEN: Bake on lowest shelf of baking oven about 40 minutes.

8. Test to see if the cake is baked by putting a cake testing needle into the middle of the cake.
9. When it comes out of the oven, leave it in the tin for 15 minutes before turning on to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.

Options for topping:

1) Flaked almonds can be scattered over the cake mixture before it is put into the oven.

2) To ice: Take some sieved icing sugar and mix with a little fresh orange until it is a creamy consistency. Pour over the top of the cake.

This cake is delicious served as a dessert accompanied by poached fresh apricots.