A versatile recipe that you can bake with different fruits – next time try plums or pears, both of which are delicious when served warm with vanilla custard!

Ingredients:
For the cake:
250g dried apricots
175g soft butter
175g golden caster sugar
2 large eggs
80g ground almonds
175g self-raising flour
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Few drops of vanilla extract

For the crumble:
100g plain flour
75g butter, cubed
2 tbsp demerara sugar, plus extra for the top
3 tbsp jumbo oats
2 tbsp flaked almonds
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Icing sugar to finish

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan 140°C, gas mark 3) and line the base of a 22cm round tin with non-stick baking paper. Put the apricots in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat so they simmer gently for 20 minutes then turn off the heat and leave to cool for a little while.

2. To make the cake, beat the butter and sugar in a food processor for 5-7 minutes until light and pale. Break the eggs, beat them gently just to mix the yolks and whites and then add them gradually to the mix with the food processor on slow. Fold in the ground almonds, flour, cinnamon and the vanilla extract. Scrape into the lined tin and smooth the surface.

3. To make the crumble topping, blitz the flour with the butter to crumbs in a food processor (or rub them together using your fingertips). Tip the topping into a bowl, add the demerara sugar, oats and flaked almonds and mix lightly. Next, add a few drops of water. Shake the bowl a little – or run a fork through the mixture – so that some of the crumbs stick together like small pebbles. This will give a more interesting mix of textures.

4. Drain the apricots, then roughly chop them and scatter on top of the cake mixture in the tin, followed by the crumble topping. Finish by sprinkling a pinch of cinnamon and a little more demerara sugar on top of the crumble. Bake the cake for about an hour, checking for doneness with a skewer. Remove the cake from the oven and set aside. Dust with a little icing sugar and slice as required.

Once baked, the cake will keep well for a couple of days.