Fresh Apricot Cupcakes

This is one of the rare moments in my experimental baking that a seemingly good idea actually turns out great. It started from a pile small California apricots I saw at the supermarket. They looked so pretty I couldn't help but bought about 2 pounds of them. At home, I bit into one and almost spit it out. They were so tart I decided it's humanly impossible to eat them without sugar. So I decided to make cupcakes.



I wanted to preserve the tartness somewhat and decided to use only three-quarter amount of sugar I usually put in a batch of cupcakes. For the frosting, I decided on cream cheese which always works well with tart/fruity cupcakes.



I pretty much followed this Lemon Blueberry Cake recipe except I:

1. used 3 cups of all purpose flour


2. added only 1 1/2 cups of sugar


3. omitted lemon juice and peel


4. substituted chopped s small apricots for 2 1/2 cups of blueberries


5. baked in lined muffin pan for 22 minutes at 350 degrees

For the frosting I beat a stick of butter with a package of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of confectioner sugar and 1/2 cup of apricot preserve.



I really love the resulting cupcakes. As usual, since this has been my favorite fruity cupcake recipe, the cakes are soft, tender and exploded with fruit. You can tell they are made from apricots, not only because they are orange, but they are tart and full of flavor.

Apricot Clafoutis

My first try at clafoutis turned out so simple and well that I have been dreaming up different ways to make it. And yeah, sometimes things that sound good in my head don't actually work.

Like this...

Clafoutis are traditionally made with cherries. Wouldn't it work as well with apricots? After all they are both stone fruit. And wouldn't it be so pretty and easy if I just half the apricots and arrange them nicely, then blanket them with the liquidy batter.



It looked good, right? It tasted not bad either when it was warm. But the next day, the soft pudding became old omelette like texture. It's probably because I went gluten-free with it. I used 1/3 cup of almond flour and 1/3 cup of rice flour. Plus because I didn't peel the apricots, it was a quite difficult to eat elegantly. Lucky for me I don't care about elegance.



Well, at least I had a few days worth of healthy low sugar breakfast with lots of fiber.

Baked Sesame Apricot Chicken

I was going to make this sesame orange chicken and used my apricot preserve that I had left over from white chocolate cake with apricot for which the recipe required apricot preserve but I ended not using it.

Problem was that I didn't have soy sauce.

You would say what kind of an Asian I am. Well - these things happen. Occasionally I run out of kitchen essentials and never have a chance to get more. Plus I use fish sauce as my savory source for my food most of the time....

Enough with excuses. Here's what I did with the chicken which came out just ok... A little on the dry side...



Ingredients

• About 3 pounds chicken boneless chicken breast - thinly sliced


• 1/2 cup apricot preserve


• 2 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes


• 1/2 cup roasted sesame seeds


• 1/2 cup matzo meal (or bread crumb)

Directions

1. Coat chicken with apricot preserve, salt and red pepper flakes and let sit in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.
2. 
   
3. Heat oven to 425 degrees and spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.


4. Mix sesame seeds and matzo meal on a large plate. Press both sides of chicken on the plate and line on baking sheet. Bake for about 25 minutes.

White Chocolate Cake with Apricot and White Chocolate Frosting

I have been dreaming of making this cake since I started planning this Sunday's dinner a month ago. I've never really baked with white chocolate or fresh apricots. The original recipe from epicurious.com. I followed the cake recipe almost exactly but I reduced butter and sugar in the frosting by a lot. I also made only 2 layers instead of 4.

So I started baking on Friday. Good thing I started early. I burnt the cake. My oven went out again. But this time I knew how to fix it by myself. Thing is I didn't realize it didn't work until I had already prepared my batter. So of course I was restless. I couldn't wait to bake the cake. When the thermometer hit 350 degrees I put the cake in trusting the thermostat. Big mistake. The temperature went up to 425. When it's time to check for the cake. It was already burnt...

Second attempt worked out beautifully.... The final product was delicious. The sweetness of white chocolate balanced out tartness of fresh apricot perfectly. And the cake looked beautiful.



Ingredients

• For cake -- I got 1 9-inch round cake and 12 cupcakes out of this


• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour


• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 10 tablespoons butter - room temperature


• 1 1/3 cups sugar


• 4 eggs


• 1 1/4 cup white chocolate - chopped and melted (I did in microwave)


• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1 cup milk



• Apricot filling


• 2 apricots - chopped and let sit in 2 tablespoon sugar


• 4 apricots - sliced thinly (I got 12 pieces out of each apricot)



• White chocolate frosting -- enough for the 2 layer cake but not for cupcakes


• 1 stick butter - room temperature


• 1 cup confectioner sugar


• 3/4 cup or 1/2 pound white chocolate - chopped and melted


• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

Half a pound of chopped white chocolate.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick baking spray. Line a muffin pan with liners.


2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.


3. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each addition. Beat in melted chocolate and vanilla.


4. Alternately add flour mixture and milk into the wet mixture in 3 batch. Stir until well combined.


5. Divide the batter in prepared pans and bake cupcakes for 20 minutes and cake for 33 minutes. Let cool.



6. To make frosting, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add melted white chocolate and Grand Marnier. Beat until creamy. Add sugar or more liquid to taste. I kept the frosting overnight in the refrigerator and it became hard. I had to let it thaw and re-whip it before assembling.



7. To assemble, slice the cake in half horizontally. Line the outer edge of the first layer cake with a third of sliced apricots. Spread 2/3 of chopped apricot in the middle. Pile half of the frosting on top. Top with the second layer. Frost the top. Decorate with the rest of chopped apricots and sliced apricot.


8. If keep the cake in refrigerator, let it thaw a few hours before serving. Otherwise, the frosting becomes hard.