Organic Fresh-Old-Fashioned Apricot Cake

I'm usually not a huge apricot fan, but I thought their over-ripeness and sweetness would be milder after baking, and I was right.
The fact that I had half a kilo of apricots lying in my refrigerator also made a good excuse to get rid of them (I sound cruel).
And what a better way to do that than to bake a homemade cake, and in this case, quite healthy, organic and fulfilling.
I was looking through old cooking books in order to find a nice and simple recipe for my cake.
And there it was- the simple, rustic recipe I was looking for, found in "Cakes for all seasons by Nira Scheuer", which looked like the old-fashioned homemade cakes from the 70's…
Since it wasn't interesting enough, I made changes and refreshed it by choosing healthier ingredients like organic white whole wheat flour with a touch of quinoa flour, which added a nutty flavor and a nice crumbly texture to the cake.
I also used a bit of date molasses along with natural cane sugar, which made it not too sweet, and added this unique complex taste.
As for the added fat amounts, I know real pastry chefs would want to hunt me down for this, but there are times I just cut it almost in half. And believe me, my baked goods don't turn out dry at all. Sometimes I add just a bit more yogurt to the batter to keep it moist.

For this cake I chose ripe and turning-a bit-mushy apricots, so I found it unnecessary to cook them beforehand.
Although I sprinkled some sliced almonds on top of the cake before baking, I suspect it would be wonderful with sugar crystals sprinkled on top, to give it a nice crunch and a bit of sweetness to compliment the tart apricots.

Organic Fresh-Old-Fashioned Apricot Cake

1 1/2 cups organic white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of fine grain sea salt
3/4 cup natural cane sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
About 1 1/2 tbsp date molasses*
50g soft unsalted butter (3 1/3 tbsp butter)
2 organic free-range eggs
1/4 cup yogurt (I might add a bit more)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
500g ripe apricots, pitted and halved

Sliced almonds or sugar crystals (optional)
Apricot jam (optional. I used Nectarine jam)

*I believe it also works well with honey if you prefer

* * *
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350F) and grease a 26 cm (10-inch) round cake pan.
In a large bowl combine together the flours, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon. Add the butter, date molasses, lemon juice, zest, vanilla extract, eggs and yogurt, mix until combined, but avoid over mixing the batter.

Pour the batter into the pan and smooth as needed. Place the halved apricots nicely on top, close to each other, round side up.
Sprinkle some sliced almond on top, or some sugar crystals (optional) and bake for about 40-50 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Optional: Before serving, glaze the apricots with the jam mixed with a bit of water to give it a nice shine (and make them look happy..).

Vanilla ice cream. Enough said.

I'm sending this recipe to Mansi's Healthy Cooking event. You should have a look at her lovely blog about healthy eating.