Apricot Upside-Down Torte & an INCREDIBLE Weekend

Crazy busy can translate to stress or it can translate to an incredible fun time. This past week and weekend was most exciting and very incredible. The Heavenly Cake Baker chose Rose's Plum & Blueberry Upside-Down Torte for this week. I decided to take Rose's suggestion and substitute the plums and blueberries for some golden, deliciously sweet apricots which are is season in here now. I knew it would be impossible to bake over the weekend so I completed the project during the week instead. After all I had already missed a couple of weeks and didn't want to miss another so lets get goin'.

As with most of the recipes in Rose Levy Beranbaum's book there are three components to this cake. The first up is to prepare a caramel sauce using sugar and water. This is quick and easy as long as you remain attentive. The sauce is poured into the carefully prepared pan.

Next the sweet, floral apricots are nestled cut-side down into the sauce. The third and final component is the cake batter.

Ingredients:

flour sugar (super fine, please)

baking powder

salt

butter (room temp, of course)

eggs

vanilla

The instructions suggest using a food processor to blend the ingredients. Since I don't usually do this I figured it was worth a try. The batter came together quickly and was silky smooth. After baking, the cake needs to cool slightly before inverting on a dish. Unfortunatly I left it to cool a bit longer than suggested and was dreading the results. But....fear not! Having used my smaller cake pan with it's removable bottom, the cake released without a hitch! In my humble opinion this cake is one of the easiest yet, one of the most flavorful. "J" and I both enjoyed the sweetness of the apricots in its caramel sauce together with the moist vanilla flavoring of the cake. I hope you give it a try.

Now just for peak I'll explain briefly the reason for the "incredible part of this weekend.

I was truly lucky enough to be able to participate in a cake sculpture workshop with none other than the most talented Colette Peters. If you do not know who this incredible lady is and have even the slightest interest in cake sculpting and decorating then please take a look at her website. I hope to have an entry dedicated to this weekend soon. In the meantime here is just one picture>