Apricots and coconut are an excellent combination, especially in a cake with a crunchy crumble topping. Using rapadura sugar or coconut sugar gives a beautiful caramel richness to the batter, which is offset by the tang of the apricots.
Ingredients
Coconut crumble
Method
Main
1.Preheat oven to 170C. Butter a 15cm x 32cm cake tin or a 21cm-diameter cake tin and line it with baking paper. Beat butter, sugar, rind and vanilla seeds in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (4-5 minutes). Scrape down sides of bowl and add eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping down sides of bowl between additions. Stir in flour, coconut, baking powder and ½ tsp salt, then stir in coconut milk. Stir in dried apricot, spoon batter into prepared tin and smooth top, then scatter with chopped apricot.
2.For coconut crumble, rub ingredients and a pinch of salt in a bowl until coarse crumbs form, scatter crumble around apricots, then bake until golden brown and centre springs back when lightly pressed (50 minutes to 1 hour). Cool in tin for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Cake will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Rapadura sugar and coconut sugar are available from select health-food shops and supermarkets. If they’re unavailable, substitute brown sugar.
Notes