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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 1/2 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
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 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 spring form pan with baking spray or butter. Set aside.
- Using a food processor, blender, or immersion blender, purée half of the apricots with the lemon juice and set aside.
- Quarter the remaining apricots and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the 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 puréed apricots to the batter and beat until just combined.
- Transfer batter to the prepared spring form 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.
Notes
- This cake is super moist because of the puréed 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.
- This cake should be stored in the fridge. Take it out 1/2 hour before serving to come back to room temperature.
Nutrition
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I followed the recipe to a T, but my cake turned out to be very tart. Not at all sweet. Very disappointed.
Sorry, this recipe didn’t work out for you, Hareem! To me, it sounds like your apricots were not ripe. This cake should definitely not be very tart, it is not super sweet, but the sweetness is well balanced so the fruit flavor is the star.
Absolutely perfect! I followed the recipe exactly with one exception: I let the apricots sit in lemon juice and sugar while I prepared the rest of the cake batter. I had seen this tip in another recipe for apricot cake. I also was very lucky to find beautiful sweet red apricots. The cake is moist and perfect. I love the addition of the apricot puree to the cake. Thanks for this winner of a recipe!
My cake turned out a bit dry. If I make it again I will top it with a glaze and bake if a few minutes less. Nice cake to serve with coffee, especially for those who do not enjoy overly sweet cake.
This cake will get moister on the second day. Most German cakes that have fruit baked into it are dry on the first day and will soak up the juices from the fruits while they sit overnight so on the next day they are perfectly moist and taste great served with whipped cream on top.
Very easy to make. I just wish my fruit had been a bit sweeter. I thought the cake was a little on the dry side. If I make it again, I may add a couple of tablespoons of canola oil.
I’m about to make this beautiful cake. I have a question though. I always weigh my flour in grams. I know 2 cups of flour (4.25 Oz per cup) would be 241 grams. (8.5 x 28.35). I’m wondering how you got 260 grams. Are you using a different weight for All Purpose Flour?
I bet this would be amazing with Georgia Peaches too!
Thank you for your comment, Lorraine! Depending on the cup size (US cups vs GB cups) 2 cups will be between 120 and 130 grams. Cup measurements are not as accurate as weighing ingredients. But rest assured the 19 g difference will not be a problem.
Thank you for the lovely, easy recipe. I made it today for a little celebration party and it was a big hit! I sliced the top apricots rather thinly — about a quarter-inch — , and overlapped the slices so it looked really beautiful. The crumb was perfect, flavorful, moist and not super-sweet, which was just fine with my friends. This one’s a keeper.
Can I use apricots already preserved in syrup?
Made this a few days ago. The cake part is good, even those in my family who don’t like apricot liked it. But we didn’t like the fresh fruit on top, it made the cake right underneath a bit soggy. Plus the fruit tasted sour next to the cake, even with generous powdered sugar topping (that batch of fruit tasted sweet when eaten fresh). I used a glass 9×13 cake pan because I don’t have a spring-form pan. Baked for about 30 min at 350. Will make again when apricot harvest is in full swing.
Made this cake yesterday for my (horonary) Mother-in-law for her birthday, couldn’t find any apricots (must be out of season here on the UK) so I used peaches (not very ripe ones at that) and it worked great! I peeled the ones that I pureed but not the ones I put on top. Partner said it’s the best cake I’ve ever made so thanks for the great recipe. It’s delicious with fresh whipped cream – we ate the whole thing between the three of us in a single day! Think it might work quite well with apples or pears too…
I made this cake today,and it tastes wonderful!!
But texsture of mine is not like cake it turned out kinda gummy,does that mean i overbaked it or underbaked? Thank you fot the recipe! :)
So glad you liked it even so it didn’t come out as expected. Overmixing can cause too much gluten production and can result in a rubbery texture. So I don’t think you overbaked or underbaked. Perhaps you mixed too long after adding the flour. I try to mix as little as possible (at low to medium speed or with a rubber spatula) after adding the dry ingredients, you don’t want flour pockets but you should stop mixing after everything is just combined. I hope you give the cake another try! Have a great day! – Julia
Just wondering if it ould work using canned apricots?
Yes, canned apricots work too! Drain them really good before using them. Have a great day! – Julia