Fresh or dried apricots can be used for apricot cake.
Apricot cake is a type of cake with apricots in the mix or placed on top. Both dried and fresh apricots can be used in pies, but fresh apricots are usually added to the top of the pie before baking. Apricot cake often incorporates flavors like cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla.
Apricots are peach-like fruits in the same fruit genus as plums, nectarines, and cherries. The skin of an apricot can be any color from yellow to orange, and this can be one way of knowing the quality of the fruit. In general, lighter-skinned apricots should be avoided, along with any apricot with bruised or wrinkled skin. Apricots have large pits that can be easily removed if the fruit is ripe. The skin of the apricot is smooth and velvety and the pulp should be firm but not hard.
Some apricot pie recipes call for dried apricots to be added to the mix.
The cake has its origins in ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman societies and has been a popular dessert in the West for centuries. It is similar to bread, but sweeter in flavor, and usually includes eggs in the mix. The Romans are the oldest civilization known for making fruitcakes, often using ingredients like raisins in the mix. This is essentially the origin of apricot pie, although it is unknown if the Romans specifically used apricots. Cakes are usually made very sweet, often incorporating chocolate or thick icing to sweeten the flavor. Cakes are eaten on many celebratory occasions such as birthdays and weddings.
Apricot cake can be made in many different ways, using the same methods as making any other fruit cake. Many cakes, for example, have a thin layer of jam in between two sections of the cake, and this can be done with apricot jam. Other ways to make an apricot cake include mixing dried or fresh apricots into the cake mix and layering fresh apricots on top of the cake. Including apricots in the cake mix makes for a traditional-style fruitcake, while layering them on top is a more decorative approach.
Some general cake recipes may not be suitable for including apricots, but most work just fine. Ingredients for an apricot cake can include self-rising flour, butter, granulated sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. The mixture is combined and then baked in the oven.