Moist, creamy cake is best when punctuated by sweet, scrumptious apricot!
Springtime calls for the ushering in of new desserts! This Apricot and Mascarpone Cake just looks like spring, with its pastel, apricot colors and its refreshing sprig of cooling mint. It’s a light and fluffy cake that won’t weigh you down, literally and figuratively. This fruity dessert is made with clean ingredients and natural sweeteners, giving you all of the great taste of an indulgent cake without the processed ingredientsย and refined sugars!
Apricots are a sweet, strongly flavored fruit that is a perfect addition to cakes, cobblers, and even pancakes or cereals. Its flavor is a real standout, and it’s no slouch on the nutrition front, either! Apricots are an excellent source of fiber, vitamins A and C, and phytonutrients that fight free radical damage. We’ve baked our apricots in a cake made with whole wheat flour andย coconut sugar, or sucanat. Sucanat is an unrefined, completely whole cane sugar which retains all of the nutrients lost when sugar is refined into white sugar, including iron, calcium, potassium, and vitamin B6. Using these substitutions will ensure that your cake is wholesome and nutrient-rich.
We add mascarpone cheese to this cake, which gives it a moist texture that can’t be beat. Mascarpone is an Italian cheese with a creamy texture similar to cream cheese. It has a flavor that is more mellow than cream cheese, and a smoother texture, which makes it perfect for baked goods. While mascarpone does contain a bit of fat and calories, we use just a small amount to enhance the cake’s texture. Every forkful will have friends and family clamoring for more!
Apricot and Mascarpone Cake
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 2/3 cup coconut sugar or sucanat
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/8 cups mascarpone
- 2 1/4 cups white whole-wheat flour sifted
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 pounds apricots or nectarines, fresh, divided (half finely diced, half thinly sliced for garnish)
- 3 tablespoons all-fruit apricot spread or other fruit-sweetened apricot jam (Polaner is a good brand)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 8 mint leaves fresh (optional for garnishing)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a bowl, beat the eggs with sugar and salt until the mixture becomes light-colored and fluffy.
- Put the mascarpone in another bowl and stir it to soften. Add about a couple of tablespoons of the egg & sugar mixture to make it less dense. Then mix all the remaining egg & sugar mixture in the bowl. Mix gently.
- Add the sifted flour, baking powder & vanilla extract to the mascarpone. Mix gently to combine.
- Add the diced apricots (or nectarine). Mix gently.
- Transfer the mixture to an 11-inch cake pan that had been greased with coconut oil or cooking spray and sprinkled with flour.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour. If the cake's surface becomes too dark in the middle of cooking, cover it with an aluminum foil and continue cooking.
- Check if the cake is cooked by inserting a toothpick at the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, then it's already cooked. If not, leave the cake for a few more minutes in the oven.
- Let it cool. When it has cooled, take it out from the pan.
- Arrange the sliced apricots on top.
- Over low heat, in a small saucepan, warm up the apricot jam for about 2 minutes.
- Brush the jam on the sliced apricots carefully.
- When you have covered all the apricots, sprinkle with cinnamon on top. Decorate with some mint leaves.
Nutrition Information
Have you made this recipe?
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