ONE CAKE TWO WAYS

I have made the cake in the first picture- Plum & Cinnamon, numerous times over the past year, with great success. The other day I decided to mix it up and use apricots instead. I was half asleep when I made the cake to take to a dinner with my dear friends. Frankly, I was worried that it would taste terrible. I cursed myself for not conducting a trial run with this new apricot cake at home. I watched hesitantly as my friend served the cake around the table. I needn’t have worried myself, as they all loved the cake, and one of the girls asked if she could keep the leftovers for a dinner the next night!

This experience made me think. There is always a certain amount of fear in tackling the unknown, but one cannot let this prevent them from attempting new things. 

PLUM & CINNAMON CAKE / APRICOT & CINNAMON CAKE 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup low-fat margarin/ spread
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 eggs, separated into egg whites and egg yolks
• 1/4 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
• 3/4 white self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 4 whole canned plums in syrup, drained, seeded and cut into half OR around 12 canned apricot halves in syrup. 
• Optional- pinch of nutmeg 

Cooking 

1.  Preheat oven to around 160 degrees celsius. Grease a round cake pan. 

2. Using an electric mixer, beat margarine, sugar and egg yolks until light and fluffy. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and mix in the flours, cinnamon and nutmeg if desired. 

3. Beat egg whites by using an electric mixer until soft peaks begin to form. Gently fold the egg whites into the flour mixture. 

4. Place the batter into the prepared cake pan. Place plums or apricots on top, cut side down. Bake, uncovered, in the oven for around 30 minutes. (Another way to tell if a cake is ready is to press the blade of a knife into the middle of the cake. If the knife comes out completely clear, with no cake batter attached, then the cake is ready). Stand for ten minutes, then turn upside down to cool. You can serve the cake dusted with icing sugar if desired.

Recipe adapted from AWW 'Low-fat' cookbook. 

x E