Apricot upside-down cake

Apricot upside-down cake

20oz can apricot halves (568ml)

¼ cup melted

½ cup brown sugar packed

¼ cup coconut

Maraschino cherries (optional)

1/3 cup butter

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1 1/3 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2/3  cup milk

½ tsp almond extract

½ cup flaked almond

Heat oven to 350 F(175 C) Have ready a 9 inch (23-cm square cake pan)

Drain apricots well. Stir butter, brown sugar and ¼ cup coconuts together in cake pan. Lay apricots halves, some cut side up and others cut side down with a cherry tucked underneath, in the butter sugar mixture.

Combine butter, egg and sugar in small mixing bowl. Beat at high speed until fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Combine milk and almond extract. Add sifted dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Stir until smooth after each addition. Stir in ½ cup of coconut.

Spread over apricots. Bake 55-60 minutes or until center springs back when touched lightly.

Invert on serving plate and let pan stand over cake a minute to be sure all apricots mixture drops out. Serve warm.

( I tried it and used 2 eggs instead of 1 and increased the quantity of flour to 1 2/3 cups)

I baked it for 40 minutes) I suggest omitting the cherries.

Apricot Bars

Apricot Bars

2/3   cup dried apricots

½ cup soft butter

¼ cup sugar

1 cup flour

2 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ cup chopped almonds

1 tsp almond extract

Icing sugar

Cover apricots with water in small saucepan. Bring to boil, turn down heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Drain, cool and chop finely.

Heat oven to 170c 350f.  Grease 8x8 –x2 inch (20.5 x20.5-x5c) cake pan

Mix butter sugar and 1 cup flour with a fork then with your fingertips until crumbly. Press firmly in an even layer in prepared pan.

Bake 20 – 25 minutes or until set and lightly browned.

Beat eggs well. Beat in brown sugar gradually. Sift 1/3 cup of flour, baking powder and salt into egg mixture and blend well. Stir in apricots, almonds and almond extract. Spread over baked bottom crust. Return to oven and bake for 30 minutes longer.

Cool to lukewarm and sift icing sugar generously over top. Cool before cutting into bars.