Ingredients:
- 175g unsalted butter, softened
- 175g caster sugar
- 175g self-raising flour
- 3 medium eggs
- Grated zest and juice from 1 small orange, plus extra zest to decorate
- 75g ground almonds
- 125g ready-to-eat dried apricots, chopped
- Icing sugar, to dust
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170C/fan 150C/gas mark 3. Grease a 900g (2lb) loaf tin and line the base and two long sides with baking paper.
- Place the butter, sugar, flour, eggs and the orange rind and juice in a bowl. Beat with an electric whisk until thoroughly combined. Toss together the ground almonds and apricots and fold into the mixture.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and gently level the surface. Bake for 50 minutes – 1 hour 10 minutes until risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Serve dusted with icing sugar and decorated with the extra orange zest.
TIP: If the top of the cake starts to over-brown before the end of the cooking time, cover loosely with a piece