Every Saturday morning my local PBS station plays cooking shows. Jacques Pepin has been a long time mainstay in the line-up. So I guess you could say that I have grown up with Jacques Pepin over the course of many a Saturday morning. I love the man. But maybe in his old age, he has gotten health conscious, perhaps a little too health conscious if you ask me. On numerous occasions he expounds on the virtues of fruit for dessert– just fruit.

Now Jacques is not talking about pies, cakes adorned with fruit, or even baked fruit of some sort. He is speaking about good ol’ sliced fruit, with maybe some booze spilled over top for good measure. I love fruit as much as the next girl; there is nothing better than the perfect peach, juice dripping onto your chin in those warm summer months. But if I were to dine at Jacques Pepin’s house in Connecticut some evening in late spring, where we would share a delightful meal and stimulating conversation, and then dessert would roll around, my stomach eagerly gurgling at the thought of some chocolate coated masterpiece, and if he came merrily out of the kitchen with a bowl of pineapple spears with a bit of rum poured on top…I would be PISSED! I would expect such behavior from a novice chef– but this is Jacques Pepin!

On the other hand, if I were to go to Australia to have tea with the young, superstar chef Bill Granger, author of Bill’s Open Kitchen amongst others, and he came strolling merrily out of his kitchen, a pot of tea in one hand, and a lovely Apricot Slice in the other… I would be thrilled! It’s not that I’m against having fruit for dessert, its just that a little something must be done to it.

Apricots are back in the market in California, and I couldn’t be happier to see my sweet, stone fruit, friends again. It has been a long and rainy winter, one filled with far too many oranges and grapefruits to count. But the stone fruit is making its first appearances, and bringing cherries, and numerous other berries with it. This recipe is simple and superb, and was one of my favorites from last summer. A dense, vanilla sponge cake with halved, fresh apricots baked on top, the cake is not too sweet, making it the perfect snack for an afternoon tea. With apricots still slightly tart, yet getting carmelized by the addition of some raw sugar part way through the baking process– this cake is what I’m talking about when I mean fruit for dessert.

Apricot Slice
from Bill’s Open Kitchen

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 1/2 ounces butter, softened
10-14 apricots, pitted and halved
2 tablespoons additional sugar

Preheat the oven to 315 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13 inch baking pan, and set aside.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Place eggs, milk, and vanilla in another bowl, mix to combine. Pour the egg mixture, and the butter, into the well of dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes, or until smooth. Spread the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

Push the apricot halves, cut side up, evenly into the batter, in approximately 4 rows of 7. Place the cake in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle additional sugar over cake, and bake for another 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cut into fingers with 2 apricot halves per slices, and serve.