Apricot and almond cake

Serves 8 Prep time: 15 mins Cooking time: 1 hour Ingredients For the cake: 175g: unsalted butter, soft, diced, plus more for the tin 150g: self-raising flour 1 tsp: baking powder 75g: ground almonds 3 eggs, lightly beaten 175g: golden caster sugar finely grated zest and juice of 1 large lemon 1 tsp: almond extract (optional) 250g: ripe apricots, stoned and sliced To decorate: 100g: golden caster sugar 2 squeezes of lemon juice 4 apricots, halved 3 tbsp: apricot jam icing sugar, to dust Preparation 1. Preheat the oven to 170C. 2. Butter a 20cm round cake tin and line with parchment. 3. Sift flour and baking powder in a bowl. Beat in all ingredients, except apricots. You could use a food processor or a bowl and an electric whisk. Do not over mix. 4. Spoon half cake batter into prepared tin, level it and sprinkle apricots over cake. Spoon remaining mixture over top and level the batter. Bake for an hour or until the centre springs back to the touch. Leave in tin for a few minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack to cool. Remove parchment papers. 5. To decorate, bring 600ml water and caster sugar to a simmer and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Add apricots and simmer for a few minutes. Remove from syrup, dry on kitchen towel and cool. Place on top of cooled cake. 6. Warm apricot jam, then sieve. Place into a clean pan, add a squeeze of lemon juice and brush over apricots. Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream if desired.