Apricot And Almond Sponge Pudding

This is a guest post from the lovely Mandy at Sneaky Veg

Mandy is a mum of three from London. She blogs over at www.sneakyveg.com about her continued mission to feed her kids more fruit and veg. You can also find her at www.facebook.com/sneakyveg and www.twitter.com/sneakyvegblog

As readers of my blog, Sneaky Veg, will know my eldest child, R, 5, does not eat any fruit. He’s not very keen on veg either but he has a real aversion to fruit. Someone eating a ripe banana or fresh strawberries nearby can reduce him to tears. I have no idea why this is the case, and whether he’ll grow out of it one day or steer clear of fruit for life. I hope it’s the former.

I feel sad for him that he’s missing out on so much amazing fruit, especially at this time of year when all the delicious summer fruits are in season.

He will usually eat cooked fruit it’s in a pie or a crumble. Even I prefer apricots when they’ve been cooked, as cooking them brings out such an incredible sweetness.

This apricot and almond sponge pudding, made with almonds and fresh apricots was gobbled up in a flash by all of us. A layer of fresh fruit is topped with an almondy sponge cake and syrup poured over the top gives it a lovely moistness.

Delicious warm, with custard or cream, or cold the next day, eaten with a spoon standing next to the fridge!

Ingredients
90g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
zest of one lemon
2 large eggs
140g ground almonds
100g plain flour
8-10 fresh apricots

For the syrup
Juice of one lemon
1 tbsp caster sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Chop the apricots and place into a small roasting dish.

In a large mixing bowl beat together the butter, sugar and lemon zest. Beat in the eggs, one by one.

Beat in half the ground almonds, then the second half and finally fold in the flour.

Pour the cake mix over the apricots and smooth the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

When the cake is almost done heat the lemon juice and sugar in a small pan until it comes to the boil, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven brush this syrup over the top.

Thanks to Angela for having me as a guest poster on The Life of Spicers and I hope to see you soon over at Sneaky Veg.