Apricot Sharlotka

Lately I've been crazy about canned peach and apricot halves. I'm not sure why, but I'm nuts about 'em. They're so juicy, and they remind me of summer. So yesterday, I got the idea to make a sharlotka using apricot halves instead of apples. This is what I did:

Apricot Sharlotka

Ingredients:

1 860 g can apricot halves
3 eggs
1 c sugar
1 c flour
1/4 t ground clove
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 c whole almonds
Oil + flour to grease and flour a cake pan

Method:

Preheat the oven to 325 Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a cake pan. Drain the fruit halves from their syrup or juice; discard or save for other use. Beat eggs with sugar until well combined (I just use a wooden spoon for this). Stir in flour and spices carefully (or you'll make a mess). Resulting batter will be quite thick. Arrange apricot halves along the bottom and sides of the cake pan. Sprinkle almonds over the halves. Spread batter onto the halves that are on the bottom of the pan. Bake at 325 for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

Notes: This sharlotka is much wetter than the apple one, so I decided to bake it for a longer time at a lower temperature. It came out done nicely, the very bottom was a tiny bit gooey. It wasn't gross though; reminded me of peach cobbler. I had to place a piece of aluminum foil under the cake mid way through baking, because syrup from the halves was leaking over the sides, spilling onto the oven and making a mess (and smelling like burning stuff). Next time I will drain the fruit better. I think that will make the bottom more cakey and will prevent mess. Some other things I'll try will be to put a small layer of batter before the fruit goes in, or to just grease the pan instead of grease + flour. Like I said, the slight gooey-ness wasn't gross, but I would have preferred it be more like a cake texture than a cobbler one. That's what I had had in mind, really. My boyfriend and I both liked it, though. It would be good with a nice hot cup of tea! Another idea I have is to grease the pan and then coat it with roughly ground nuts instead of flour. I think I'm not finished experimenting with this recipe.

Serving Suggestion: I waited for the cake to cool, slid a butter knife around the edges, and then carefully tipped it onto a plate so that the fruit side was facing up. It was very easy to cut this way and keep the cake more intact. Then when I put an individual slice on a plate, I turned it so you could see the crunchy top side and the fruity bottom.