Apricot Cake is so easy to make from scratch! This simple but so flavorful cake is topped with fresh apricots and is perfect for summer entertaining.
Apricot Cake is a must-make cake in the summer: it’s easy to make, uses simple ingredients, and is perfect for entertaining! This coffee cake has a moist and soft crumb with bursts of apricot flavor in every bite. It is made with 2 pounds of fresh apricots and tastes so delicious even if your apricots are not-so-tasty.
A few year ago when we went to Mallorca, a Spanish Island in the Mediterranean Sea, I had the most delicious apricots ever! I think that spoiled me for the rest of my life. Those apricots were so good, perfectly ripe and so flavorful.
Now I’m always disappointed when I buy apricots at the grocery store. The often look better than they taste, most of the time they’re bland in flavor and mealy in texture. But miraculously when you bake these not so perfect apricots they will get sweet and flavorful with just the right amount of tartness.
So if you also suffer from not-so-tasty apricots this recipe is perfect to transform them into a delicious summer dessert!
Tips and Tricks for making this Apricot Cake
- This recipe works great with every apricot – even underripe (or overripe) ones! I often bake this cake when I don’t want to eat the apricots I bought.
- In Germany, this cake is called Aprikosenkuchen and it is often served with a cup of coffee in the afternoon.
- This cake is super moist because of the pureed fruit in the batter. Make sure to test with a skewer if the cake is done. The skewer should have only a few moist crumbs attached.
- If you have apricot jam on hand brush 1 tbsp over the apricots after you’ve taken the cake out of the oven for a more intense flavor.
- I like to dust my cake with powdered sugar before I serve it, especially if the apricots are not as sweet.
- Instead of apricots, you could also use fresh peaches!
- You can bake this cake in a regular 9-inch baking pan. To get the cake out of the pan use parchment paper strips to lift it out or use parchment paper rounds with tabs (link below).
- This cake should be stored in the fridge. Take it out ½ hour before serving to come back to room temperature.
Looking for more cakes made with fresh fruit?
- German Apple Streusel Sheet Cake
- Plum Cake with Streusel
- Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake
- Easy Cherry Cake Recipe
- Covered German Apple Cake Recipe
Many of these recipes work with all kinds of fresh fruit!
Tools used for making this Apricot Cake Recipe
Springform Pan: A springform pan works best for this recipe! This one is high quality and is perfect for cheesecakes, coffee cakes, and many European Cakes.
Immersion Blender: I love my immersion blender! You can puree soups right in the pot and it’s super easy to clean.
Parchment Paper Rounds with tabs: These make it super easy to lift out the cake of the pan if you don’t have a springform pan! Or make your own with parchment paper strips.
Easy Apricot Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh apricots, halved and pit removed
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp powdered sugar, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) and grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with baking spray or butter. Set aside.
- Using a food processor, blender, or immersion blender puree half of the apricots with the lemon juice and set aside.
- Quarter remaining apricots and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream butter and sugar together at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time. Then add vanilla extract and beat until combined.
- In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add to the mixture and beat until just combined.
- Add pureed apricots to the batter and beat until just combined.
- Transfer batter to the prepared springform pan. Distribute the quartered apricots evenly on top of the batter and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few crumbs attached.
- Let cool then dust with powdered sugar.
Nutrition Information
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Ros (Ontario) says
Made with peaches. Cake turned out perfectly. Am baking another today such a simple recipe to follow.
Groovy says
Scrumptious! Beautiful recipe and lovely finished edible! Thanks, Julia.
Steffen Godtfredsen says
So nice cake, the taste is soooo good, thx for recipe.
Pauline Stewart-Long says
Is it possible to freeze the cake once cooked?
Frankie says
Hi tried the apricot cake recipe. Moist and beautiful. A bit tart. Next one I added 1/8 t of almond extract. Yum! Thank you!
Kim says
Hi there – is it 2 lbs of apricots AFTER they have been halved and pitted? Or 2 lbs of whole fresh apricots that you then pit and halve? Thank you.
Julia Foerster says
2 lbs of whole fresh apricots that you then pit and halve.
Kim says
Thanks so much. Will let you know how it turns out.
Kim says
Hi Julia – I just had a slice of the cake and the crumb is very fine and moist. Amazing! I will put powdered sugar on the top once it has cooled as the apricots on the top are very tart indeed. Do you have any tips on freezing this? Thank you.
Julia Foerster says
You could freeze individual slices then they thaw faster. I would wrap them in plastic foil.
Amrutha Jaideep says
Hi , tried the recipe. Texture of my cake turned out great. Taste was a bit tangy but slightly bitter. The recipe was quite easy to follow.
Kerrie Matthews says
Beautiful cake using apricots out of our orchard, light, fluffy and moist. This is definitely a new favourite
Kate says
Absolutely delicious! Loved every mouthful. It was moist, tasty and fresh. Husband made it in July this year with apricots from our garden. We plan to make it again next year and the year after that and so on!
Geri Hyatt says
Mine didn’t turn out to be cake like. It was more of a cheese cake consistency. It also wasn’t very sweet. I would leave out the lemon juice. It looked pretty but lacked something. Probably won’t make it again.