How good is the Apricot EVOO Upside-Down Cake that Chef Ken Arnone produced at a recent lunch celebrating Colavita Olive Oil? So good that I’m publishing a recipe, which you may know is not what I usually do here at FoodStarter.
At the lunch we had a chance to taste a range of Colavita olive oils and hear about their stake in California olive oil; in late 2018, they will begin bottling California olive oil in Dixon, in the heart of California’s olive-growing region.
You need to try this recipe!
Let’s put it this way: I’m still coming off 3 days tasting hundreds of foods, sweet and savory, at the Fancy Food Show. Still, the thought and sight of this buttery olive oil-y apricot upside down cake is still making me swoon. Even after I just ate a Fran’s Gold Bar sample.
Recipe Courtesy Colavita’s Master Chef Ken Arnone
APRICOT EVOO UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE
You can make this either as a cake or individual mini-cakes which is how we enjoyed this decadent apricot delight.
Yield: 12 Individual molds or 9” pan
Ingredients
- 6 T Unsalted butter, room temperature (A total of 12 T needed, including for the cake, below)
- 1 cup Packed golden brown sugar
- 1 T Honey
- 7 Apricots, sliced in half (1/2 per mold)
For the cake
- 1 cup AP flour
- 1/2 cup Corn meal, fine ground
- 2 tsp. Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon, ground
- 1/4 tsp. Sea Salt, fine ground
- 6 T Unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup Sugar, granulated
- 2 Eggs, large
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp Almond extract
- 1/4 cup Milk
- 1/3 cup Colavita Spanish EVOO
Baking Instructions
1. Preheat convection oven to 325°F.
2. For the caramel: In a medium saucepan combine 6 T butter, brown sugar and honey. Cook over low heat until all ingredients are melted and combined evenly, forming a thick smooth caramel sauce.
3. Carefully pour the caramel into the individual pans or the 9”.
4. Once the sugar mixture has cooled to room temperature and is solid, arrange the apricots in overlapping circles on top of the caramel.
For the cake:
5. Mix flour, corn meal, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and set aside.
6. Combine the wet ingredients and set aside.
7. Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment cream together remaining butter and 1-cup sugar until smooth.
8. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat until light and fluffy. Clean the sides of the bowl as needed.
9. On slow speed begin to fold in the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time alternating with the wet, mixing until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.
10. Spoon batter evenly over the apricots.
11. Bake cake until golden brown and just set, approximately 25-30 minutes for individual and 50-60 minutes for a 9”. Test by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake and it should come out clean.
12. Transfer to rack; cool in pan for 30 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream if desired.
