a lovely little apricot ricotta (apricotta?) cake

to make on the hottest weekend of the year so far

What I’m reading: the National Restaurant Awards list featuring Canteen at number 27!! I am so delighted for the team and feel very lucky to share a building with such a brilliant group of chefs

What I’m listening to: Professor Bruce Hood on the science of happiness on Blindboy’s podcast

What I’m eating: a selection of pastries dropped over to work by the lovely owner of Layla (below). My current fave is the miso bun (front left)

This week is due to be one of the hottest weeks of the year so far - it’s going to reach 32 degrees on Saturday, and it has been absolutely sweltering in the kitchen this week. It was perfect weather for our staff summer party on Monday, which featured a paddle board race in the canal (won by the Fat Badger team), a barge trip and a boiler room set on a boat. Needless to say there were more than a few sore heads on Tuesday morning.

This cake is something I’m working on for the next dessert at the Fat Badger. The stone fruit is slowly coming into season, and I’m finding the apricots and cherries at the moment especially good. The cake batter for this recipe uses the creaming method and is fairly straightforward - with the addition of ricotta (which adds a lovely lightness) and almonds (for extra moisture). I’ve added some flaked almonds on top pre-bake and an apricot glaze post-bake. This would be the perfect picnic cake (and I can confirm it travels well), or would be lovely for dessert with a little ice-cream or crème fraîche.

Above is a little test I did of different stone fruits in this cake (plum, peach and apricot) to see which worked best. Apricot was by far my favourite, but the plums also worked very well. The peaches aren’t at their best yet, but when they’re in full swing, I feel like this would be delightful with peaches. It’s a very adaptable recipe which would also work with berries, or even later in the year with pears - although I would recommend poaching the pears first as they won’t cook through in the time it takes the cake to bake.

recipe: apricot ricotta cake