Apricot, Raspberry and Pistachio Cake, the Perfect Gift for Mother’s Day

What could be better for Mother’s Day than a homemade apricot, raspberry and pistachio cake? This cake is light & fruity with a gentle pistachio flavour.

Our weekly shop is now delivered. In exchange for some clicking online, a helpful man lugs our weekly shop up two flights of stairs to our flat and at a time convenient to me. What could be better? I just love it and but it does mean you miss the supermarket-early-warning system. What do I mean? Well, this year I nearly missed Valentine’s Day because I hadn’t seen the display, usually a sea of eye-catching red, and with every card you could want (and maybe a few you wouldn’t!) clearly reminding you. Luckily, this week I happened to wander into my local Sainsburys in time to be reminded that Mother’s Day was coming up fast – gone were the reds of Valentines Day, replaced by pinks, whites and lots of flowers.

Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day – what to do for Mother’s Day? As I walked round the shop picking up items I’d missed off the online shop, ideas for a cake formed in my head. What could be better than a proper homemade cake? I picked up some extra ingredients and headed home.

That night when the flat was quiet, I began. There is something so calming and relaxing about making a cake when that’s all you need to be doing. I creamed the butter and sugar, mixed in the eggs, added the flour and baking powder and then folded in the apricots and pistachios (aren’t they beautiful).

Now here’s a tip. In the baking aisle that day, I had found 7″ cake-tin liners. These aren’t necessary and previously I have lined my cake-tins with baking paper cut to size. But liners make cake making just that bit easier and quicker and so all I had to do now was divide the mixture between the two lined cake tins and put straight into the preheated oven.

When the cakes were baked, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to top with whipped cream or buttercream icing. So I did half and half. With lots of raspberries between the two layers and on top, Dave and enjoyed a tasting. The cake felt full of the promise of spring – it was light and fruity with the gentle pistachio flavour lingering longest in the mouth. In fact, I’d call it a triumph! The only issue was that Dave thought the buttercream icing was best whereas I preferred the whipped cream. Both worked well, it was just that the cream appealed to me because it was less sweet. I have given both as options in the recipe so you can decide depending on how sweet your Mum’s tooth is.

If you are interested in the technique behind making a Victoria Sponge cake, which is what this cake is based on, click here.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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